Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – Despite eight distinct players recording a hit on Tuesday night, the Virginia Tech baseball team struggled finding timely swings that drove in runs as the Hokies lost their midweek affair to Liberty, 13-4, at English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park.
Sophomore catcher David McCann went 2-for-5 with a double and a home run to lead Virginia Tech (27-18), which slipped to 10-2 this season during midweek play. Junior shortstop Clay Grady dropped down an RBI bunt single during the second inning and later doubled inside his 2-for-4 evening while rookie first baseman Anderson French (2-for-4) completed the Hokies’ trio of multi-hit efforts.
Virginia Tech had its chance to stake a hefty lead during the bottom of the second inning, loading the bases with two outs to spare behind Grady’s RBI hit that had opened the scoring. Ahead in the count, 2-1, against the Flames’ starter, Caleb Lingenfelter, center fielder Jared Davis ended up grounding into the inning-ending, 6-3 double play that killed the rally, leaving the Hokies lying a skinny run.
McCann pushed Virginia Tech’s lead to 2-0 during the third inning with his opposite-field, solo home run against Lingenfelter. The sophomore’s eighth home run of the season carried 416 feet to left field, denting the roof of the program’s pitching lab on its way out of the yard.
After shutting out the visitors through three innings, Chase Swift witnessed his command fade during the top of the fourth inning as Liberty (26-19) loaded the bases with a single and two walks. Continuing to find contact against reliever Mathieu Curtis, the Flames rallied for four runs, plating one on Michael Gibson’s RBI single, two on a two-RBI base hit by Seth Christmas and another on Michael Robertson’s sacrifice bunt that left Curtis only one defensive play at first base.
Virginia Tech slid within 4-3 of Liberty during the bottom of the fifth inning when Sam Tackett manifested leadoff singles by Cam Pittman and Davis with his roaring RBI knock through the left side. However, the Hokies’ troubles bringing in runners on base carried over as Cooper Harrington successfully stranded Davis and Tackett in scoring position, preserving the Flames’ one-run lead heading to the sixth inning.
There, Liberty broke the game open, scoring six runs on six hits. Landon Scilley accounted for the bases-clearing, three-RBI double that catapulted the Flames to the 7-3 lead while Gibson – who had led off the sixth inning with a base hit – delivered a two-RBI single during his second plate appearance of the frame.
Ironically, Liberty’s 19 hits on Tuesday equated to a season high and were also the most allowed by Virginia Tech during the 2025 campaign. Seventeen of the Flames’ 19 hits were recorded from the fourth inning onward.