Griffin Green could see his own breath as he stepped up to the mound to open the season for Virginia Tech.
Six months removed from starting the first game of the Cape Cod championship series for the Brewster White Caps, the sophomore, tabbed with his first-ever Opening Day start, shoved.
“Them giving me the ball [in that series], gave me so much confidence,” Green said of his start for the White Caps. “It let me know I could pitch with some of the best players in the entire country.”
Starting opening day on the bump for an ACC team is tough enough, sure. But following up a rotation that watched two Major League teams draft three of its starters — while a fourth signed with another — is an even tougher one. But before the season, head coach John Szefc knew Green would be ready for it.
“[Green is] very dependable — you know what you’re getting from him,” Szefc said.
On Tuesday, Szefc talked about how fewer and fewer pitchers in the ACC were making “efficient starts,” meaning a pitcher throws six or more innings.
Green’s outing, though, almost mirrored one. He pitched five shutout innings, setting up the Hokies’ 17-3 win over UNC Asheville on Friday afternoon at English Field. He struck out five batters, only allowed two hits and didn’t walk a batter on 64 pitches (42 strikes) in his second career start.
“It’s awesome,” Green said on being named the Opening Day starter. “But I just see it as a label. I don’t really care if I’m the first guy out or just the last guy in the bullpen. I just wanna help the team out as much as possible, and I was glad I was able to do so today.”
And it was quite evident from the get-go. He caught the Bulldogs’ lead-off hitter looking with two straight strikes before Ty Kaufman grounded out to begin the afternoon.
Seven pitches after that, Green struck out Dominic Freeberber and Dylan Bacot on swings and misses. He used his two-seam fastball effectively, keeping it low in the zone to force opposing hitters to hit into ground balls, while also keeping them off-balanced as he mixed in his off-speed pitches.
That strategy certainly helped Green get out of a jam in the third inning. After setting down the first six batters in order, UNC Asheville's Fermin Osio reached on a single. A sacrifice bunt moved him to second, which rattled Green's confidence a little.
Green lost control of a fastball and hit Grayson Preslar, putting runners on first and second base with one out. Three pitches later, though, he got Kaufman to ground to Carson DeMartini at third base for a 5-3 double play to end the inning.
“I tried to attack the zone as best as I could and just relied on my stuff,” Green said. “I just used two pitches the whole day and got easy ground ball outs and trusted the guys behind me.”
It was plays like that over the summer — ones that taught him not to panic if he was in a jam — during Green’s time in Cape Cod that boosted his confidence and changed him from the pitcher he was last year into a “brand new” one, as he described.
“Last season, I was probably half the pitcher than I [am now],” Green said. “Maturity-wise, pitching-wise, really nailing down my mechanics leading into this [season].”
Replacing the professional talent that left last season won't happen overnight. Tech lost four solid pitchers — Anthony Simonelli, Chris Gerard, Shane Connolly and Peyton Alford — to the pros. But Green’s start is certainly a step in the right direction.
“It was cold, a very tough day to pitch,” Szefc said. “He got it done.”