Virginia Tech faced a tough start in its Atlantic Coast Conference baseball opener, losing 16-1 to No. 5 Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Friday night. The game, held at Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium, was shortened to seven innings due to the run rule.
The Hokies (7-6, 0-1 ACC) began with promise as Treyson Hughes and Nick Locurto opened the game with consecutive singles against Georgia Tech’s starting pitcher Tate McKee. Despite this early momentum, McKee managed to retire Ethan Ball and Sam Grube and left two Hokies stranded in scoring position.
Georgia Tech (13-1, 1-0 ACC) quickly took control during the bottom of the first inning. Virginia Tech freshman pitcher Ethan Grim allowed seven of eight batters he faced to reach base. Drew Burress started the rally with a double, followed by run-scoring singles from Kent Schmidt, Ryan Zuckerman, and Caleb Daniel. Schmidt and Daniel each drove in two runs during the inning.
After Grim exited with Georgia Tech leading 5-0, play was delayed for nearly two hours due to inclement weather. When play resumed, reliever Preston Crowl entered but surrendered RBI singles to Carson Kerce and Burress while also allowing additional baserunners via walks and a sacrifice fly by Jarren Advincula.
By the end of the first inning, Georgia Tech had scored eight runs—marking the most first-inning runs Virginia Tech has allowed since May 14, 2005, also against Georgia Tech.
Anderson French put Virginia Tech on the scoreboard in the second inning with an RBI double after Sam Gates and Henry Cooke drew consecutive walks from McKee. Gates scored easily on French’s hit to right field.
Georgia Tech extended its lead further with five more runs in the third inning and added two more in the fifth before finishing their scoring with an RBI single by Drew Rogers in the sixth.
Five different Virginia Tech starters recorded hits during the game. Ethan Gibson contributed a double in the fourth inning but did not score. Relief pitchers Josh Berzonski and Danny Lazaro both set season highs for innings pitched out of the bullpen; Lazaro also struck out three batters—a personal best for this season.
Carson Kerce led Georgia Tech offensively by going 3-for-4 with three RBIs from ninth in their lineup. Burress finished his day 2-for-5 after starting strong while Zuckerman reached base three times and scored twice.
Virginia Tech will continue its series against No. 5 Georgia Tech on Saturday, March 7 at 2 p.m. ET at Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Probable pitching matchups for Saturday are Brett Renfrow (0-2, 4.50 ERA) for Virginia Tech versus Dylan Loy (1-0, 2.08 ERA) for Georgia Tech; Sunday’s probable starter for Virginia Tech is yet to be announced while Cooper Underwood (1-0, 6.75 ERA) is scheduled for Georgia Tech.
