WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Virginia Tech baseball team continues league play this weekend with a three-game ACC series versus the Wake Forest Demon Deacons that starts on Friday at 6 p.m. Wake Forest enters the series with a 16-14 overall record and is 5-7 in the ACC, while the Hokies are 17-12, 4-8 in conference play.
Wake Forest had won two ACC series in a row - over Boston College and at Duke - before getting swept at Louisville. They ended a four-game losing streak Tuesday night with a 10-6 win at Appalachian State. Tech ended its six-game losing streak with a dismantling of VMI on Tuesday, winning 13-1 - the team's eighth time reaching double figures in runs scored (8-0). Links for this weekend's games, which includes broadcast, audio, stats and game notes, are below.
Virginia Tech at Wake Forest
April 5-7, 2019
David F. Couch Ballpark
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Gameday Links
Broadcast: ACC Network Extra - Stats: WF Statbroadcast
Game 1 - Friday, 6 p.m. - Stats
Game 2 - Saturday, 4 p.m. - Stats
Game 3 - Sunday, 1 p.m. - Stats
Audio (all three games): VT/IMG Radio Network
Tech Game Notes (PDF)
Wake Forest Game Notes (PDF)
Road Warriors: During the month of April, Tech is scheduled for 19 games with 14 of those being contested on the road – including three of its four ACC weekend series. In contrast, Tech will close out the regular season in May without having to leave Blacksburg, with a seven-game homestand.
The Hokies opened the month on Tuesday at VMI, taking the game by a 13-1 score, and will stay on the road this weekend, heading to Winston-Salem, N.C. to take on Wake Forest at David F. Couch Ballpark.
Home Runs a plenty at VMI: In that 12-run victory in Lexington, the Hokies blasted a season-high five home runs, the most by the team in a single game in two years. Tech last hit at least five home runs on March 28, 2017 at home versus Campbell (interestingly enough in a 15-8 loss). The last time they hit at least five on the road was February 26, 2017 at Nevada - the Hokies hit six in a 24-10 win.
There were three other noteworthy events that took place with the home run onslaught on Tuesday.
- Dalton Harum hit three home runs in the win, marking the first Tech player to hit three in a game since Rahiem Cooper belted three in that win over the WolfPack in Nevada on Feb. 27.
- Harum's second home run followed Kevin Madden's three-run shot, which marked the first Hokies to hit back-to-back home runs since May 2, 2018 - Tom Stoffel and Sam Fragale at Liberty.
- Nick Biddison started the fireworks show in the third inning with a grand slam, the third of the season hit by the team. The 2017 squad was the last team to hit three grand slams in a single season.
Strikeouts a plenty at VMI: It wasn't just a home run party in Lexington on Tuesday, the Tech pitching staff combined to strike out 16 Keydets in the victory, with Luke Scherzer striking out the side twice en route to a career-high nine-strikeout performance. Peyton Alford (4), Jack Goonan (1) and Dillon Larsen (2) contributed to the season-high tying 16 K-effort. At Florida State on March 8, the Hokies also struck out 16, but in 10 innings (the team had 15 through nine).
Since 2005, when Tech joined the ACC, the pitching staff has struck out 16 or more batters just six times in a nine-inning game with the high being 18 vs. Navy on Feb. 20, 2005. The other five were 16-K games, a total of three times vs. VMI (also on April 4, 2007 and March 30, 2010), vs. Savannah State (May 8, 2010) and the last time - and only time in ACC play - was on April 10, 2011 at Wake Forest.
Winning big, playing close: Eleven of Tech's 17 wins have been decided by five or more runs, the team is 11-2 in such games, opposed to 8-14 last year. Meanwhile, of Tech's 12 losses, seven have been decided by one or two runs. The Hokies are 4-3 in one-run games and 1-4 in two-run games - they were 5-11 and 5-4 last year. And until last weekend, Tech pitching had not allowed an opponent to reach double figures in scoring - Clemson did it twice. At this point last year, opponents reached 10 runs six times.