DURHAM, N.C. – Saturday didn't start out well for the Virginia Tech baseball team, as the Hokies dropped the conclusion of their Friday suspended ACC game to Duke 4-0, but Nic Enright and Jaison Heard limited the Blue Devils offense to six hits in a 6-2 Tech victory to end the night at Jack Coombs Field.
With the win, Tech won its fifth road ACC game of the season, the most since the 2013 season when the Hokies won eight. In 15 years in the league, the Hokies have reached the five-win plateau in road league games just six times.
Tech, who won a series at Pitt earlier this year, will be looking for their second road ACC series win on Sunday, which also hasn't happened since the 2013 season as well. The rubber match between the two teams is now set for an 11 a.m. first pitch.
Tech (21-15, 6-11 ACC) has a chance for the series win as the offense got out of its first-game rut with an early run in the first, then scored five times in the middle frames.
Kerry Carpenter gave the Hokies a 1-0 lead with a sacrifice fly that scored Jack Owens in the first, and Dalton Harum's two-run home run in the fourth made it 3-0. It was Harum's fifth long ball of the season and scored Kevin Madden. All five of his home runs have been hit in the month of April.
Carson Taylor knocked home Tanner Thomas in the top of the fifth with a double, but in the home half, the Blue Devils cut that four-run lead in half.
Duke (19-16, 7-10 ACC) squandered an early opportunity in the second, running themselves into the unusual 2-5-3 double play as the team failed on a sacrifice bunt attempt and both base runners were doubled off - as Nick Biddison threw to Madden at third to get the lead runner then a throw to Taylor at first got the trail runner trying to go back to first.
In the fifth, Ethan Murray doubled home Erikson Nichols and then crossed the plate himself on a Joey Loperfido triple. However, Enright ended the threat right there with his career-high eighth strikeout of the night.
The Hokies got their four-run cushion back in the sixth as Nick Owens and Thomas notched an RBI each that scored Carpenter and Madden.
Heard then took over for Enright with two outs in the sixth and did not allow a hit in 3.1 innings of work, a season-high. He retired 10 of 11 batters faced, with the only one reaching base on an error.
Heard picked up his second save of the season as he added a season-high tying four strikeouts to his effort. Enright improved to 1-1 with the win.
The day started with one out and a runner on second in the bottom of the fourth, where the first game was suspended due to lightning Friday night. The game resumed almost 24 hours later with the Blue Devils holding the 1-0 lead. They would tack on single insurance runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth to pad their lead.
Seymour, who started the game, had six strikeouts in 3.1 innings of work, but did not pitch at all after the resumption. Biddision and Madden each had two hits, combining for all of Tech's hits in the game.