The Virginia Tech baseball team lost to East Tennessee State University, 9-4, on March 24 at Thomas Stadium in Johnson City. The defeat prevented the Hokies from sweeping the home-and-home season series against the Buccaneers.
The game was notable for freshman Willie Hurt’s first career start. Hurt went 2-for-3 as designated hitter and was hit by a pitch, accounting for half of Virginia Tech’s four hits—its second lowest total of the season. Ethan Gibson and Pete Daniel contributed doubles in later innings, with Gibson driving in Sam Gates for one of the Hokies’ runs.
Virginia Tech (12-11) managed two of its four runs during innings without recording a hit. In both the third and seventh innings, three consecutive leadoff walks loaded the bases but resulted in only one run each time due to outs on subsequent plays. Hurt played a key role early by helping manufacture a go-ahead run in the second inning through aggressive baserunning that allowed Hudson Lutterman to score.
On the mound, Danny Lazaro made his first NCAA Division I start with two scoreless innings before running into difficulty in the third. Reliever Jacob Exum surrendered key hits that put ETSU ahead. Later, freshman Jake Wise gave up back-to-back home runs during a decisive fifth inning that extended ETSU’s lead to 7-2.
Aiden Robertson provided relief pitching that kept Virginia Tech within reach through part of the late game but allowed additional runs in the eighth inning as ETSU secured its win. The top three hitters for ETSU combined for six hits and eight RBIs out of nine total for their team.
Looking ahead, Virginia Tech will begin a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series against Stanford starting Friday, March 27 at English Field.
