BLACKSBURG – Overpowering its in-state rival at the plate on Sunday, the Virginia Tech baseball team scored a momentous victory against No. 5 Virginia as the Hokies put away the Cavaliers, 12-7, at English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park to clinch the sport's point in the Commonwealth Clash presented by Smithfield.
Coupled with Saturday's 12-10 win during game two, Virginia Tech (17-10, 4-8 ACC) rallied back from Friday's 9-5 defeat to secure its first series victory against a D1Baseball ranked opponent this season. Including their accomplishment against Virginia (24-4, 8-4 ACC), the Hokies have now won seven consecutive regular season series against D1Baseball's top 25 poll, including four straight sets against top-15 foes.
Within the Commonwealth Clash, Virginia Tech locked up the baseball point for the second consecutive season, using it to tie Virginia at 7.0-7.0 with seven points remaining. As an athletic department, the Hokies are seeking their second straight Commonwealth Clash title.
After starting 0-for-2 on Sunday, junior outfielder Jack Hurley smacked a double and two home runs down the stretch to lead Virginia Tech to victory.
Hurley's two-run home run during the bottom of the sixth inning energized the home crowd of more than 2,000 strong and put Tech in front for the final time at 7-6. Two innings later, the Preseason All-American slugger put the icing on the Hokies' upset win, homering the opposite way to left field for his seventh home run during a seven-game stretch.
Mirroring Friday's three-run first inning, Virginia charged in front, 3-0, on Sunday courtesy of Kyle Teel's RBI single and Ethan Anderson's two-RBI double. Punching right back, Tech rallied immediately for four runs to take the 4-3 lead – three of which came home on Carson DeMartini's game-tying triple into the left field corner.
With Ethan O'Donnell's RBI double knotting the game at 4-4 during the second inning, the Cavaliers continued to find success against the Hokies' starter, Anthony Arguelles, who was lifted after conceding the go-ahead RBI single to Casey Saucke during the third inning. Brody Donay helped the Hokies answer during the bottom of the third inning, bouncing a ground-rule double over the right field fence and later scoring the tying run on Chris Cannizzaro's sacrifice fly that induced a diving catch by Harrison Didawick.
Rookie right-hander Griffin Stieg steadied Virginia's lineup into the fourth inning, though was responsible for offering Jake Gelof and Teel looks at a pair of doubles that put the 'Hoos on top, 6-5. With the Cavaliers filling the bases behind Teel's go-ahead hit, Stieg made Saucke swing through strike three to strand the bases loaded and keep Tech's deficit at a run.
Grant Umberger, Kiernan Higgins and Jonah Hurney combined to close the final five innings on the mound for the Hokies, uniting to allow one Virginia hit while striking out four.
Looking to break the game open, Tech caught a fortunate break during the bottom of the seventh inning when replay review – as requested by head coach John Szefc – overturned the Cavaliers' doubling up of Brody Donay at first base. The successful challenge made more work for Virginia reliever Jake Berry, who walked Garrett Michel on seven pitches and let Cannizzaro tee off on the three-run homer that widented the Hokies' lead to 10-6.
NOTEWORTHY
• Virginia Tech has now won consecutive regular season series against Virginia for the first time since the 1999 and 2000 campaigns, though games were not played consecutively in weekend-series format. The Hokies' last prevailed during multi-game series against the Cavaliers during the 1983 and 1984 seasons (back-to-back, three-game sweeps).
• Tech center fielder Carson Jones recorded 10 putouts during Sunday's victory.
• The Hokies have now won 10 of their last 12 regular season series against D1Baseball ranked opponents, including seven victories against top-15 competition.
UP NEXT
Virginia Tech is off until Friday, April 7, when it will resume ACC play at Duke. First pitch of the series-opening game between the Hokies and the Blue Devils at Durham Bulls Athletic Park is scheduled for 8 p.m.