Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – Locked in a 3-3 ballgame after five innings of play on Sunday, the Virginia Tech baseball team was unable to break its stalemate with Stanford, having to settle for the 6-3 defeat in 10 innings during the teams’ three-game series finale at English Field.
Virginia Tech (13-13, 5-7 ACC) received six strong innings from starter Griffin Stieg, who weathered through seven hits by the Cardinal that resulted in three runs spread across three run-scoring innings. Despite quietly recording three strikeouts – his lowest count spanning three career quality starts – Stieg routinely delivered in difficult situations, ultimately stranding six runners on base.
Stanford (13-13, 3-6 ACC) greeted Stieg with contact early, charting five hits during the right-hander’s first trip through the lineup. Teddy Tokheim doubled two batters into the game and scored on the ensuing RBI single by Charlie Bates, issuing the first blow by the Cardinal.
Leading off the bottom of the first inning, Sam Grube dropped a textbook bunt hit in front of the plate that drew an errant throw out of play by catcher Luke Lavin - a play that through umpire video review awarded Grube second base. Grube completed his trip around the bases by advancing on each of Virginia Tech’s next two fly balls, knotting the score at 1-1 heading into the second inning.
There, Stanford continued to find success against Stieg, though played itself out of a run with a base running miscue by Eric Jeon. Attempting to turn a single into a double, Jeon was thrown out at second base by center fielder Sam Gates, who delivered a sharp relay to Ethan Ball for the 8-4 putout that kept the bases empty.
Jeon would have scored on Cort MacDonald’s ensuing double to left field, which properly set the table for the inning ahead. Two batters later, Lavin redeemed himself by knocking an RBI single into center field, scoring MacDonald and putting the Cardinal back on top, 2-1.
Virginia Tech was gifted the tying run in return during the bottom of the third inning, benefitting from three walks by reliever Brock Ketelsen that followed Pete Daniel’s leadoff single. However, the Hokies were held to a skinny run due to the work by incoming bullpen arm Cohen Gomez, who picked up successive outs of Owen Petrich and Gates to shut the door and leave the bases juiced.
With the game tied at 2-2 during the fourth inning, Stieg was a strike away from taking Virginia Tech off the field when Lavin connected on a solo home run to right field, reinstating a one-run lead for the visitors. By the fifth inning, the Hokies had again manufactured their game-tying response, turning Nick Locurto’s leadoff double into the RBI single by Gates that deadlocked the score at 3-3.
In a game open for the taking, Virginia Tech had ample chances to swing the score in its favor, but was limited by its 3-for-22 batting mark with runners on base. On three occasions from the fifth inning onward, the Hokies abandoned the potential go-ahead runner in scoring position, leaving the bases loaded during the fifth and ninth innings.
After also having left the bases loaded during the fifth and seventh innings, Stanford broke through for three two-out runs during the top of the 10th inning, sparked by Brock Sell’s ground-rule double that landed on the left field foul line before bouncing out of play. Tokheim proceeded to deliver the go-ahead, two-RBI single for the Cardinal while Bates plated an insurance run with his RBI single up the middle.
In total, Virginia Tech set a season high with 17 runners left on base – four more than the Cardinal (13).
Seven distinct starters produced the Hokies’ nine hits while five Stanford players notched multi-hit games. Bates went 3-for-6 for the visitors, bookending their scoring with his pair of RBI hits during the first and 10th innings.
UP NEXT
Virginia Tech will travel to Radford on Tuesday, March 31. First pitch between the Hokies and the Highlanders at Williams Field at Sherman Carter Memorial Stadium is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET.