Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – Charging back into Friday’s series opener with rookie Hudson Lutterman’s three-run home run during the sixth inning, the Virginia Tech baseball team nearly turned the tables on No. 12 North Carolina, despite having to settle for the 9-6, series-opening defeat at English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park.
Lutterman’s homer quietly hugged the left field line during the sixth inning until it pinged off the foul pole, trimming the Hokies’ 5-1 deficit in an instant to 5-4 before the late innings. With one swing, the third baseman hammered the third home run of his freshman season – his first recorded in Blacksburg – while cementing his second consecutive mutli-RBI game of the week.
Sam Tackett and David McCann both homered inside their 2-for-5 performances for Virginia Tech (24-14, 9-10 ACC), helping the Hokies tie their season high in home runs (three) for the fifth time. Tackett pulled a 406-foot blast to left field during the third inning to tie the game at 1-1, later providing the leadoff, ground-rule double during the sixth inning that preluded Lutterman’s momentum-turning home run.
North Carolina (30-8, 12-7 ACC) roughed up starter Brett Renfrow for five runs on eight hits through five and two-thirds innings, despite the right-hander registering eight strikeouts. Luke Stevenson answered Tackett’s solo home run by leading off the fourth inning with one of his own, gifting the Tar Heels their final lead of the night.
Renfrow was a strike away from finishing six innings of work when his seventh pitch to cleanup third baseman Gavin Gallaher missed the zone, resulting in a two-out walk. On Renfrow’s ensuing delivery to Hunter Stokely, the UNC first baseman took the Hokies’ ace the opposite way for a two-run home run, lifting the Tar Heels to the 5-1 lead.
Kane Kepley’s one-out triple against Preston Crowl during the top of the seventh inning sparked a two-run scoring frame for North Carolina. Jackson Van De Brake drove in Kepley with his RBI single against Crowl, two batters before Gallaher was able to crack a two-out RBI single through the left side.
Virginia Tech made a run at the Tar Heels’ 7-4 lead during the bottom of the eighth inning, staging a two-out rally that kept the Hokies in the contest. After Cam Pittman’s base hit had put runners at the corners, Clay Grady beat out the potential inning-ending groundout at first base – a call overturned by head coach John Szefc’s successful challenge.
While held to a lone run during the eighth inning, Virginia Tech’s bullpen struggled keeping the game’s 7-5 margin, combining to issue four walks during the ninth inning, two of which pushed runs across the plate. McCann’s two-out solo home run during the bottom of the inning proved to be little consolation as North Carolina secured the 9-6 victory.