Virginia Tech and Rhode Island will face off on the diamond for the first time in 11 years as the Rams travel to Blacksburg on Friday for the Hokies’ first home series of the 2024 season.
Tech leads the all-time series 6-1 with six of the seven games coming from its time in the Atlantic 10. In 2013, the teams met for the first time as non-conference foes at the Irish Baseball Classic in Cary, N.C. — a 7-3 win for the Hokies.
URI (1-2) is led by head coach Raphael Cerrato, a two-time A-10 Coach of the Year (2015, 2016). Cerrato is in his eighth season as head coach but has been with the program since 2012 and played his college ball there from 1990-93. He led the team to an NCAA Regional in 2016 but is coming off back-to-back losing seasons. In 2023, URI finished 23-29.
The Rams are coming off back-to-back double-digit losses against University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg, Texas. After their first game was canceled and they won their season opener 4-3 in 11 innings, they lost on Sunday and Monday by a combined score of 28-4.
The Hokies won their first series of the season at Charlotte, powered by 10-0 and 10-5 victories on Friday and Saturday. After dropping the Sunday game, they were walked off by James Madison in a thriller in Harrisonburg on Wednesday.
Despite a couple of poor offensive outings in its last two games, Rhode Island still has some heavy hitters in its lineup. Leading the way is sophomore third baseman Anthony DePino, who hit 14 home runs last year and holds the program record for long balls (30). Another name to watch is first baseman Michael Anderson, who was Second Team All-Atlantic 10 a year ago after slashing .316/.396/.555 with 10 home runs and 43 RBI. The Rams hit a program-record 78 homers last season, so this is a lineup with no shortage of power.
Rhody’s 2024 rotation features two of its primary starters from a year ago: fifth-year senior Sean Sposato (2023: 6.50 ERA in 72 innings) and senior Trystan Levesque (2023: 4.01 ERA, 101 strikeouts in 83 innings). Sposato was the team’s Friday arm; Levesque was its Saturday starter. In the preseason, Levesque was selected to be the Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year by D1Baseball.
They are the most experienced pitchers in the rotation, which should be rounded out by Connor Grotyohann (2023: 9.49 ERA in 12 ⅓ innings), a sophomore who started the team’s first game of the season.
Tech figures to roll out the same rotation it did last weekend in Charlotte, especially considering the success that Brett Renfrow and Wyatt Parliament had on Friday and Saturday, respectively. The newcomers shined, combining for just one hit, three walks and 11 strikeouts. Renfrow didn’t allow a run while Parliament gave up just one.
Griffin Stieg struggled on Sunday against the 49ers, being pulled before recording an out in the third inning, but he remains one of the best arms on the Hokies pitching staff. It’s difficult to see head coach John Szefc making any changes to his rotation this weekend, unless he wants to give Brady Kirtner a shot at starting as he mentioned at the team’s media day a few weeks ago.
The Hokies’ lineup shouldn’t feature many changes or shifts either. Christian Martin has struggled in the leadoff spot, hitting just .083 to start the year, but he’s still second on the team in walks (5) and has a .421 on-base percentage. Chris Cannizzaro has been excellent in the three hole, posting a 1.567 OPS with two homers and seven RBI — he’s 7-for-11 in his last three games.
Tech’s choice of catcher will depend on its starting pitcher, but both options have been excellent. Henry Cooke leads the team with a .571 avg and 1.810 OPS while Gehrig Ebel is right behind him with a 1.571 OPS. Both of them homered in Charlotte and have played good defense behind the dish.
If the Hokies want to bounce back from consecutive tough losses, they will need better pitching and defending. The bullpen arms have been decent but have left a bit to be desired in recent games. Meanwhile, the defense has committed an error in each game this season, including a backbreaking E5 on Carson DeMartini in the bottom of the ninth inning against JMU.
Charlotte was a great opening test — it was a projected No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament by D1Baseball in February — and James Madison was a feisty midweek team which just knocked off No. 2 Arkansas. Back at home, this series figures to be a good spot to get right for the Hokies.
Times, Streaming Designations:
Friday, Feb. 23: 4 p.m. ET on ACC Network Extra
Saturday, Feb. 24: 2 p.m. ET on ACC Network Extra
Sunday, Feb. 25: 1 p.m. ET on ACC Network Extra
Projected Pitching Matchups:
Friday: RHP Sean Sposato (0-1, 15.00 ERA in three innings) vs. RHP Brett Renfrow (1-0, 0.00 ERA in five innings)
Saturday: LHP Trystan Levesque (0-1, 12.27 ERA in 3 ⅔ innings) vs. RHP Wyatt Parliament (0-0, 2.25 ERA in four innings)
Sunday: RHP Connor Grotyohann (0-0, 3.60 ERA in five innings) vs. RHP Griffin Stieg (0-1, 22.50 ERA in two innings)