WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Ending the regular season in style on Saturday afternoon, the Virginia Tech baseball team put up four crooked numbers at No. 1 Wake Forest as the Hokies dominated the top-ranked team in the country, 14-6, at David F. Couch Ballpark.
With the victory, Virginia Tech (30-21, 12-17 ACC) eclipsed 30 wins for the second consecutive season under the leadership of John Szefc, who has now guided 12 teams during his career to the 30-win plateau. The Hokies' 75 combined wins spanning the 2022 and 2023 seasons are the most the program has laid claim to during back-to-back years since the 1999 and 2000 campaigns (76).
Additionally, Virginia Tech chalked its third all-time victory against a No. 1 opponent (as ranked by D1Baseball) with the previous two instances having taken place during the 2017 season against Florida State. With Saturday's road victory, the Hokies' ranking in the NCAA Division I Baseball RPI shot upward by approximately 12 positions (according to warrennolan.com), vaulting Tech to No. 43 on the eve of league championship week.
Considering Saturday's results around the ACC, Virginia Tech managed to leapfrog Georgia Tech to control the No. 10 seed in next week's conference tournament. The Hokies will be pitted in Pool C against third-seeded [No. 7] Clemson and sixth-seeded [No. 22] Boston College with the pool champion advancing to the league semifinals.
Virginia Tech's 14 runs scored on Saturday equated to a season high by an opponent of Wake Forest (45-9, 22-7 ACC). The Demon Deacons – who entered the game with the lowest team ERA among NCAA Division I programs (2.52) – surrendered 13 earned runs to the Hokies while allowing their highest combination of walks (eight) and hit batsmen (five).
Christian Martin's base hit through the right side during the second inning moved two hit batsmen into scoring position and set the table for Tech's four-run opening rally. After Chris Cannizzaro had drawn an RBI walk and Lucas Donlon had delivered a sacrifice fly to center field, Garrett Michel brought in two more runs with his two-RBI base hit into left center field to set the Hokies' offense off and running.
Martin was at the center of Tech's theatrics during the third inning, dropping an RBI single into center field that kicked off outfielder Tommy Hawke and left runners at the corners. Midway into Cannizzaro's at-bat, Martin initiated the double steal that allowed Brody Donay to dart home and slide under the tag of Gio Cueto, shooting the Hokies out to the 6-0 lead.
Virginia Tech received three combined shutout innings at the start from Jonah Hurney and reliever Griffin Stieg, who combined to record four strikeouts. Nick Kurtz's solo home run off Andrew Sentlinger finally put Wake Forest on the scoreboard during the bottom of the fourth inning while the Demon Deacons slid within 6-3 during the fifth inning courtesy of Pierce Bennett's RBI double and another RBI hit by Kurtz.
Unleashing its home run swings, Tech broke the game open during the top of the sixth inning behind Martin's leadoff home run and Carson Jones' grand slam. Martin finished 3-for-3, matching Cannizzaro with three RBIs behind Jones' team lead in the category (four).
Brock Wilken notched his ACC leading, 25th home run during the bottom of the seventh inning before the Hokies tacked on three insurance runs during the eighth inning. With the bases loaded and a run home during the eighth inning, Cannizzaro belted a two-RBI double into right center, extending Tech's lead to 14-5.
UP NEXT
Virginia Tech will await Sunday morning's reveal of the 2023 ACC Baseball Championship schedule before heading down this coming week to Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, North Carolina. As the tournament's No. 10 seed, the Hokies would need wins against both third-seeded Clemson and sixth-seeded Boston College to advance to the Saturday, May 27, semifinal round.