There was no doubt and very little drama for No. 21 Virginia Tech on Friday night. No wondering if the bullpen could hold the lead once Drue Hackenberg, who didn’t throw a single pitch in the fall because of his summer workload, handed the baseball off to Sean Fisher once he departed following the eighth inning.
There was, however, a loud, resounding 13-2 victory for the Hokies (23-8, 9-6 ACC) over No. 2 Miami (27-8, 13-4 ACC) at English Field. In typical Virginia Tech fashion, the offense scored early and often (four runs in the first and fourth innings) and Hackenberg shoved, which resulted in a fifth-consecutive series win for the Hokies.
“[Hackenberg] is just very calm and collected,” Tech head coach John Szefc said after the win, the 500th in his career. “There’s no up and down with him.”
And they didn’t just take the series from Miami; they’ve manhandled the Hurricanes. On Thursday, Tech won by seven. And on Friday, the Hokies controlled the game from the first pitch to the last. They’ve now put up 25 runs on the Hurricanes in two days.
“That’s maybe one of the biggest wins I’ve had since being here,” Szefc said.
A year ago this weekend, the Hokies began their stumble from sole possession of first place in the Coastal Division to becoming the last team to qualify for the ACC Championships. Tech had a 2-15 stretch during their last 17 conference games, which began when Georgia Tech took 2-of-3 from VT in Blacksburg.
This year, the narrative is a bit different. Miami, who had only lost back-to-back games for the once this season before this weekend, came into Blacksburg as the bully. The Hurricanes had just whipped up on then-No. 3 Virginia in Coral Gables, Fla., when they swept the Cavaliers last weekend.
But Virginia Tech didn’t bat an eye, handing Miami its first ACC series loss this season.
Szefc knew he had a good team coming into the year, and his players believed it. Everyone on the inside knew it. The public is just now seeing it come to fruition.
The fireworks started early when Tanner Schobel beat out a hard-hit infield single with two outs in the bottom of the first inning. Jack Hurley doubled him home from first on a 1-2 pitch that one-hopped the visiting bullpen in right field. Then Eduardo Malinowski singled home Hurley on a base hit to center field.
And finally, to cap the inning off, the Cade Hunter resurgent season surged once more when he homered over Miami’s bullpen and slammed the home run hammer for the fifth time in the Hokies’ last six games.
The Hurricanes countered for a run in the second when Mike Rosario singled Jacob Burke home, cutting the lead to three. But Tech’s offense added another run in the third when a Malinowski fielder’s choice manufactured a run and gave the Hokies their second four-run lead of the night.
Then, the floodgates opened in the fourth. After Carson DeMartini tripled when Burke lost the baseball in the lights in center field, Nick Biddison extended his hit-streak to 12 games when he singled home DeMartini. Gavin Cross walked on five pitches, which set up a Schobel RBI single, good for his sixth RBI of the weekend.
Lastly, Malinowski smoked a double to the left field line that drove in Schobel and Cross to extend the lead to 9-1 once Hunter flew out to Burke ending the fourth.
“During the pregame, we were really focused on our approaches,” Malinowski said. “They were super-duper good. I just hit the ball where it was pitched and it was a super good night.”
From there, Hackenberg cruised. Aside from two singles and an error that resulted in a run, he set 11 of the last 13 hitters he faced, pitching a career-high eight innings on 114 pitches along the way. He was met with a Tech crowd that was eerily similar to a regional round crowd that was loud from the first pitch to the last out.
“I try and zone in on the plate,” Hackenberg said. “I try and just block [the crowd] out and not worry about it.
He was met with hugs, high-fives and handshakes as he walked off the mound and into the dugout for one final time on Friday night.
And for the first time since Virginia Tech reached a NCAA Regional with Pete Hughes in 2013, it feels like baseball fans have something to cheer about in Blacksburg.