Hokie ClubATLANTA – Pouring on six unanswered runs with its best offensive performance of the season on Sunday, the Virginia Tech baseball team bounced back from three runs down to better No. 5 Georgia Tech, 9-6, during the teams’ ACC-opening series finale at Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Sam Grube went 3-for-3 with a double and three RBIs to lead Virginia Tech (8-7, 1-2 ACC), which snapped its six-game skid and picked up its first victory of the spring against a ranked opponent (per D1Baseball). Batting with the bases loaded during the bottom of the seventh inning, Grube drove a line drive into the right field corner, scoring Pete Daniel (2-for-4) and Sam Gates for two meaningful insurance runs before the game was halted by a weather delay lasting one hour, 57 minutes.
Upon play resuming, Preston Crowl pitched the final three innings for the Hokies, collecting nine outs from nine batters faced, striking out four. Crowl fanned leadoff men Drew Burress and Alex Hernandez, back-to-back, to close the seventh inning and ended the eighth inning with a 6-3 double play that helped the right-hander recover from an inning-opening error by his own wrongdoing.
Freshman second baseman Ethan Ball notched the seventh multi-hit game of his rookie season, delivering the two-RBI double that prompted Virginia Tech’s three-run sixth inning. After Grube had continued the inning with a base hit up the middle, Hudson Lutterman stroked the game-tying single into center field, plating Ball to even the score at 6-6.
Luke Craytor shut down Georgia Tech (14-2, 2-1 ACC) during the bottom of the sixth inning to earn the winning decision, picking up strikeouts of Will Baker and Drew Rogers. In total, the Hokies’ arms combined to yield 12 strikeouts, keeping the home side scoreless following its two-run fifth inning.
Right-hand starter Griffin Stieg weathered four strong innings for Virginia Tech, pocketing five strikeouts while holding one of the nation’s best offenses to four runs on six hits. Ryan Zuckerman did Stieg in for a two-run home run during the second inning while Vahn Lackey added a solo shot during the fourth inning that put the Yellow Jackets ahead at the time, 4-3.
Nine distinct players - including eight starters - combined to swing the Hokies’ 14 hits, equating to a season high.
UP NEXT
Virginia Tech is off until Friday, March 13, when it treks to Virginia to contest the Commonwealth Clash presented by Smithfield. Game times between the Hokies and the Cavaliers at Davenport Field at Disharoon Park are scheduled for 4 p.m. on Friday, 1 p.m. on Saturday (March 14) and 1 p.m. on Sunday (March 15).