DURHAM, N.C. – Led by sophomore right-hander Drue Hackenberg's eight strikeouts on Wednesday night, the 10th-seeded Virginia Tech baseball team gave third-seeded [No. 6] Clemson an upset scare, despite the Hokies ending their 2023 ACC Baseball Championship stay in defeat, 14-5, at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
Hackenberg opened with four strikeouts through the first nine batters he faced on his way to pitching into the sixth inning, where Tech held the 5-3 lead. Earning a swing-and-miss strikeout of Benjamin Blackwell for the second out of the sixth inning, the Hokies' lead soon unraveled when Jacob Jarrell's fly ball to left field dropped errantly in left field, leaving the door open for the Tigers to plate seven team unearned runs.
With the loss, Virginia Tech (30-23) finished winless in Pool C at the 2023 ACC Baseball Championship. The Hokies' 30-win season marks their second consecutive achieved under head coach John Szefc.
Sophomore designated hitter Carson DeMartini accounted for one of five multi-hit performances made by Tech's starting nine. The 2023 All-ACC Third Team selection batted 2-for4 with a run and three RBIs, rocketing an RBI triple into the right field corner during his first at-bat that plated the game's first run.
From the leadoff spot, 2023 ACC All-Freshman first baseman Garrett Michel went 3-for-5 while veteran outfielder Carson Jones cracked two hits behind him, finishing the Hokies' two pool games this week by swinging the combined 4-for-9.
Virginia Tech upperclassmen Lucas Donlon, David Bryant and Eduardo Malinowski combined to yield five hits from the bottom third of Tech's lineup, which charted 13 hits in total on the night.
Hackenberg was charged for seven runs, three earned, while introducing 109 pitches for the Hokies. Sixth-year graduate student Kiernan Higgins registered three strikeouts during two and one-third innings of relief, mopping up the end of the Tigers' sixth inning.
Clemson (40-17) tied the game during the second inning via Blackwell's RBI single and brought seven batters to the plate during the third inning, where it took the 3-2 lead courtesy of Billy Amick's RBI double.
Tech charged back during the fourth inning, rallying for three runs on four hits. With two runners in scoring position, DeMartini delivered a two-RBI single into left field, soon scoring on Sam Tackett's pinch-hit RBI base hit up the middle that resulted in his first career postseason hit and RBI.
Virginia Tech's downfall occurred on a miscommunication in left field during the sixth inning when Bryant retreated into the lane of the charging Jack Hurley, who made a late extension to catch Jarrell's fly ball. The two-base, two-run error (charged to Hurley) knotted the game at 5-5 before Cam Cannarella's RBI single and Caden Grice's grand slam broke the game open, 10-5, in Clemson's favor.
Gallery: (5-24-2023) BS: ACC Game 2 vs. Clemson