If you told Carson DeMartini at the end of last summer that he’d hit two home runs in his first two collegiate games, he probably wouldn’t have believed you.
Virginia Tech’s third baseman had just come off a monster high school season. However, he only hit .177 with the Peninsula Pilots in the Coastal Plain League last summer.
The true freshman called his summer-long slump an “ego check.” But after hitting his first homer on the first pitch he saw — a deep drive into left field — in the Hokies’ 17-3 win on Friday afternoon, his confidence returned.
And after DeMartini pulled a homer to right field after the pitcher hung a change-up in the sixth inning of Virginia Tech’s 8-1 victory on Saturday, he was on top of the world.
Before the homer, Tech wasn’t hitting well with runners in scoring position, only having scored two runs. The swing capped off a four-run sixth inning on Saturday, one that injected the Hokies with momentum before they scored three more runs in the eighth.
“It’s just another step in the right direction,” DeMartini said. “We were struggling to get it going on offense, but two guys got on in front of me, and they didn’t have a choice but pitch to me.”
When he began playing in one of the toughest summer collegiate leagues in America, DiMartini had just graduated high school. It’s tough enough for a collegiate player to see some of the best arms in the country day-in-day-out. But as a high schooler, that’s a much, much tougher challenger.
He called it important for his development as he begins his career as an everyday player.
Coming in as a freshman, it didn’t get any easier. He had a tough void to fill at third. Fan favorite Kevin Madden, who transferred to South Carolina over the summer, was Tech’s third baseman from 2019-21 and hit .306 with 10 home runs and 75 RBIs in 118 games.
Through two games, he’s exceeded those national expectations. Perfect Game ranked him as the No. 437 overall freshman across Division I baseball and the No. 83 overall freshman in the ACC. Before that, he led his high school to the Virginia 6A regional championship and was the 6A Region Player of the Year in 2019.
But DeMartini’s head coach, John Szefc, said he expected his third baseman’s success all along. Before the season, he raved about DeMartini’s bat and his glove.
“He's one of the rare guys as a true freshman that should be an immediate impact player,” Szefc said on Tuesday. “He’s a pretty advanced guy for his age, defensively, offensively, kind of the way he thinks and how he plays. He had that experience in the [Coastal Plain League]. I think it will really help him to be an immediate impact player.”
The glove, too, was on full display on Saturday. In the third inning, he dove to his left to rob a hit, throwing the runner out at first all in one motion as he preserved Ryan Okuda’s third of five shutout innings.
DeMartini was bumped up to the two-hole after Gavin Cross got the day off. But it seems like wherever he hits, he produces.
“Hopefully I hit another,” DeMartini said with a laugh.