Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – Locked in a 31-run, 30-hit slugfest on Saturday afternoon, the Virginia Tech baseball team needed to click into one more gear for a chance at chasing down UNCG as the Hokies were set back, 18-13, at English Field.
Offensively, six starters barreled multiple hits for Virginia Tech (26-22), which held its final lead at 6-4 during the third inning after a two-run home run by Nick Locurto. Senior catcher Henry Cooke waited until his final at-bat of the day to extend his home run streak to four consecutive games, hammering a three-run blast during the ninth inning that awarded him the team high in RBIs (four) ahead of freshman Ethan Ball (three).
As the Hokies’ cleanup batter, Ball began the day 3-for-3 with two doubles and a home run, upping his season counts to 16 and 13, respectively (both team-best figures). Ball’s extra-base hit production helped the home team open with five straight scoring innings – one more than the Spartans’ game-opening string of four – as both sides ran up the score to 9-9 by the end of the fifth inning.
Virginia Tech’s four home runs (producing seven runs) were the undercard to the six homers hit by UNCG (21-28) that resulted in 13 runs, all charged as earned to the Hokies’ bullpen. Luke Jenkins homered twice for the Spartans, who also received fence-clearing swings from Jacob Dilley (two-run), Jacob Budzik (three-run), Jacob Mueller (solo) and Luke Holland (three-run).
After UNCG had taken the 1-0 lead courtesy of its three-hit first inning against starter Brett Renfrow, Ball made starter Noah Chapman pay for his walks of Ethan Gibson and Cooke, doubling both runners in during the first inning to scoot Virginia Tech ahead, 2-1. However, the Hokies’ lead was short-lived when Jenkins led off the second inning with his solo homer against reliever Logan Eisenreich, evening the score at 2-2.
Mimicking Ball from the previous inning, Sam Grube delivered the go-ahead RBI double for Virginia Tech during the bottom of the second inning. With rookie Willie Hurt aboard at first base, Grube knocked Chapman’s first pitch down the right field line, encouraging the Hokies to wave in Hurt, who slid home for the 3-2 lead.
Despite putting Virginia Tech back in front, Grube’s two-base knock was quickly surpassed by a spurt of three home runs during the third inning – one by UNCG and two by the Hokies. Dilley’s two-run homer off Eisenreich temporarily plopped the Spartans ahead, 4-3, only to be outdone by Ball’s leadoff shot (estimated at 400 feet to right center field) and Locurto’s two-run bomb (estimated at 427 feet to left center field).
Virginia Tech carried the 6-4 lead into the fourth inning, where UNCG found success against Aiden Robertson, burning the right-hander for five two-out runs. Having walked two of the inning’s first three batters, Robertson surrendered the game-tying, two-RBI single to Mueller before another walk to Dilley led to Budzik’s three-run homer that rushed the Spartans out to the 9-6 lead.
Gibson helped Virginia Tech shave a run off the deficit during the bottom of the fourth inning, lifting a solo home run – his fifth of the season – clear of the left field foul pole. Picking up a new rally during the fifth inning, the Hokies brought seven batters to the plate to knot the game at 9-9, receiving an RBI single by Treyson Hughes and a game-tying RBI fielder’s choice off the bat of Cooke.
Asserting itself against the Virginia Tech bullpen, UNCG broke away with three massive home run swings spanning the next three innings. Mueller’s two-out solo homer against Brendan Yagesh during the sixth inning supplied the Spartans with their final lead of the game (10-9) with Jenkins adding a three-run homer during the seventh inning and Holland adding a three-run blast during the eighth inning.
Gibson’s RBI single during the seventh inning – his second run-scoring hit of the game – brought Virginia Tech within 13-10, marking the closest the Hokies would come of UNCG the rest of the way.
Together, Virginia Tech and UNCG combined to score during 15 of 18 half-innings of play.
UP NEXT
Virginia Tech eyes a bounce-back performance on Sunday, May 10, when it plays to salvage a split of its two-game series against UNCG. First pitch between the Hokies and the Spartans at English Field is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.