Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG, Va. – Beginning with five strong innings by junior right-hander Brett Renfrow on Saturday, the Virginia Tech baseball team had a firm grip on the middle game of its weekend series against Duke, despite allowing pockets of late scoring and having to settle for the 8-6 defeat at English Field.
Logging his best start to date in 2026, Renfrow held the Blue Devils to a run on four hits, setting a season high with eight strikeouts – seven of which were earned during his first three innings on the mound.
Benefitting from Pete Daniel’s go-ahead, two-RBI double during the bottom of the third inning, Renfrow cruised through the end of his outing, departing in line for the victory with the Hokies leading, 3-1, after five innings of play.
Turning to right-hander Ethan Grim, Virginia Tech (11-10, 3-5 ACC) was an out away from a clean sixth inning when Collin Anderson’s two-out flare to shallow right field complicated matters for second baseman Ethan Ball, dropping between him and outfielder Sam Gates for a single. Gifted new life, Duke (16-9, 4-4 ACC) took full advantage of the extended inning as Coltin Quagliano and Jeff Lougee delivered back-to-back base knocks, scoring Anderson to trim the Hokies’ lead to 3-2.
With the tying run at third base, Ball had an opportunity to make up for the missed catch and help Grim complete the inning when Jake Lambdin jammed a grounder to the right side. However, Ball mishandled the hop and recovered too late from his error to throw out Lambdin, allowing Quagliano to score and bring the Blue Devils even at 3-3.
After a quiet sixth inning at the plate by Virginia Tech, Duke turned up the volume during the seventh inning, batting itself into the lead for the first time during the series.
With RJ Hamilton aboard as a hit batsman, Kaden Smith belted a well-placed RBI double through the right side of the infield, ending Grim’s time on the mound and putting the Blue Devils ahead, 4-3. Matching up against Preston Crowl, catcher Matthew Strand greeted the right-hander with a two-run home run down the left field line, jumping the visitors out to the 6-3 advantage.
Virginia Tech earned a run back during the seventh inning when Treyson Hughes and Sam Grube opened with consecutive doubles, trimming the margin to 6-4. However, despite moving the potential tying runs into scoring position as the inning unfolded, the Hokies were left asking for more, abandoning Grube at third base.
Down by two runs during the eighth inning, Virginia Tech made another pass at plating the game-tying runs, receiving a leadoff single by Daniel – his second hit of the game. With runners at first and second base,
Henry Cooke belted a single into left field that loaded the bases and induced an errant throw home by the left fielder (Hamilton), allowing Daniel to dart home and Gibson to move up to third base.
Two batters later, Grube lifted the game-tying sacrifice fly to right field for the first out of the inning, scoring Gibson while advancing Cooke to third base. With Mycah Jordan pinch running for Cooke, the Hokies
squandered a look at the go-ahead run when Jordan came too far off the bag on Nick Locurto’s safety bunt, inviting Duke to throw Jordan out at third base, 3-5, en route to preserving the 6-6 score line.
Crowl was an out away from giving Virginia Tech a chance to win the game during the ninth inning when Strand greeted him a second time exactly as he had done the first time. On Crowl’s first pitch to Strand, the Blue Devils’ catcher hit another two-run home run down the left field line to stake the 8-6 lead.
After being held to two runs through the first 14 innings of the series, Duke plated seven runs from the sixth inning of Saturday’s game onward against the Hokies’ bullpen.
Grube and Daniel shared in two-hit outings for Virginia Tech, chalking two RBIs apiece. As a team, the Hokies hit 1-for-10 with two outs and left 11 runners on base, batting 4-for-18 in such situations.
Strand went 3-for-5 with four RBIs to lead the Blue Devils, who produced six two-out hits. Peter Lemke provided three and two-thirds innings of relief behind starter Jack Hedrick, who allowed three runs on four hits.
UP NEXT
Virginia Tech will look to win the rubber match against Duke on Sunday, March 22, at English Field. First pitch between the Hokies and the Blue Devils is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.
REMAINING SERIES PROBABLE STARTERS:
• Sunday (March 22): Andy Leon (1-1, 4.05 ERA) vs. TBA