BLACKSBURG – No. 24 Virginia Tech baseball battled back from a five-run deficit to win its home ACC opener, 10-6, against No. 25 North Carolina at English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park to improve to 6-1 on the season and 3-1 in ACC play.
The Hokies (6-1, 3-1 ACC) beat the Tar Heels (6-2, 2-2) to win their third game against a ranked foe behind 15 hits and an ACC era best 21 strikeouts.
Peyton Alford (0-0) got the start for the Hokies, marking his second start of the season. He pitched 4.1 innings, allowing two hits and throwing a career-high 10 strikeouts.
Then Ryan Okuda (2-0) would come in for relief and earn the win, earning a strikeout and facing two batters. Shane Connolly (0-0), who's been steady all year, picked up his fourth save of the season with five strikeouts in 1.2 innings to close it.
Cade Hunter hit his third home run of the season in the fifth inning to give Tech the lead, followed by a homer from Jack Hurley in the sixth, his first as a Hokie.
THE GAME
The Tar Heels scored first in the second inning. Hurley followed in the bottom of the inning with a single to tie the game, knocking Schobel. After UNC tacked on one more in the third to make it 2-1 and a scoreless fourth inning from both sides, the fifth inning was about an hour long with a combined 11 runs.
UNC took a 6-1 lead in the fifth inning, but the Hokies added seven runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a lead, 8-6. Tech got those runs off a double down the right field-field line by Gavin Cross, RBI singles by TJ Rumfield and Kevin Madden, a two-run triple by Schobel and a two-run blast by Hunter to right. Schobel added two more RBIs to his season total in the inning, taking his team lead to 12.
Tech would add two more runs in the sixth with Hurley hitting a solo shot to right center and Madden singled up the middle to score Cross. Jason Heard came in for 2.1 innings and shoved, getting five Ks of his 11 batters faced. Then Connolly came in with one out in the eighth and would shut it down to preserve the win, allowing no runs.
NOTES
- Tech's win against UNC marks the third time in four games the Hokies have beat a ranked team. The last time Tech beat ranked foes three times was in 2019.
- The Hokies had 21 strikeouts against UNC, marking the most since they joined in the ACC in the 2005 season. The 21-strikeout total topped the previous high of 19 set against Georgia Tech on March 8, 2020.
- This is the fifth time in Cross' career with three or more hits in a single game, topping his last one on March 7, 2020.
UP NEXT
Tech will play UNC on Saturday to continue the three-game series with Game 2 of the series starting at 3 p.m. ET on ACC Network Extra at English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park.
Gallery: (3-5-2021) 2021 BASEBALL vs. UNC FRIDAY