In what felt like a microcosm of the season, Virginia Tech dropped its first game of the 2024 ACC Baseball Championship 11-8 against No. 17 Duke at Truist Field in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday night.
After going up 5-0 with a massive second inning, the Hokies (32-21) gave up nine unanswered runs and allowed the Blue Devils (38-18) to score in four of the final six innings while only mustering four hits in the final seven themselves.
It was Tech’s fourth loss this season after leading by five or more runs, its second consecutive such loss against Duke and in general after doing so on Saturday against Virginia.
Despite a five-spot in the second inning, Tech gave up six in the bottom of the third to instantly squander its advantage, and the Blue Devils didn’t look back from there. They grew the lead to as big as five runs.
The Hokies jumped out in front thanks to four consecutive walks worked against Duke starter Ryan Higgins. With the bases loaded, David McCann nearly missed a grand slam, resulting in a sac fly, before Carson DeMartini cleared them all with his 21st home run of the season — becoming the first Tech batter to reach that mark since Trey McCoy in 1988 — to make it 5-0.
It helped that Tech starter Wyatt Parliament cruised through the first two innings, retiring each of the first six batters he faced, four by strikeout. But even with the big cushion, he began to falter in the third and yielded a triple, a walk, a double and finally a three-run home run to First Team All-ACC second baseman Zac Morris.
Clinging to their two-run lead, the Hokies sent Matthew Siverling to the mound to cool things down. But he was unable to do so, hitting the first batter he faced before giving up back-to-back singles that brought home Duke’s go-ahead runs, making it a 6-5 ballgame.
Tech had a chance to instantly punch back and put the tying run 90 feet away with runners on the corners and one out in the top of the fourth, but McCann’s sharply hit ball to third base was heroically snared by Duke’s Ben Miller, who stepped on the bag for the inning-ending double play.
In the fifth, Tech nearly tied it again on a would-be RBI single from Ben Watson, but DeMartini was thrown out at the plate on a tremendous play from Duke’s left fielder Chase Krewson. The Hokies had the tying run aboard one more time in the top of the sixth with runners on first and second while down two but were again unable to deliver as McCann struck out looking.
In that time, the Blue Devils continued to pad their lead with the longball. Alex Stone launched a solo home run off Jordan Little in the fifth before Morris cranked his second longball of the game in two-run, two-out fashion in the sixth to make it 9-5 and put the game out of reach.
It felt like every time Tech strung together a bit of momentum, it was immediately met with a more powerful punch.
After cutting the deficit to three via a Ben Watson sac fly in the seventh, Jacob Exum took over on the mound to keep things within striking distance. He only threw four pitches but gave up a single, an RBI double and then hit a batter.
And when David Shoemaker relieved him, he gave up the RBI single that gave Duke its largest lead of the game at 11-6.
The Hokies had one last gasp with McCann blasting a two-out, two-strike, two-run home run in the top of the eighth to get back within three, but it was too little, too late. First Team All-ACC reliever Charlie Beilenson mowed them down for the final three innings of the game, striking out six while giving up just that one hit to record his 12th save of the season and lock up the win for the Blue Devils.
The two big swings from DeMartini and McCann disguised what was a rather quiet offensive day for Tech. Those were the only two run-scoring events on balls in play, with the only other two RBI coming on a walk and a sac fly. It only registered five hits as a team, although it did work nine walks.
And despite getting the Blue Devils to strike out 12 times — Duke led the ACC in strikeouts in the regular season — the Hokies’ pitching staff lacked consistency and timeliness. They gave up 11 runs and allowed Duke to hit 6-for-17 with runners aboard, 5-for-11 with RISP and 4-for-12 with two outs.
The Hokies will play one more game in Charlotte on Wednesday night against No. 3 seed NC State (32-19, 18-11 ACC) at 7 p.m. ET on the ACC Network, but the game carries no meaning for either squad. Tuesday’s loss means Tech cannot win Pool C and advance to the tournament semifinals, and even if the Wolfpack was to lose on Wednesday, it could still win the group if it beat Duke later in the week.
As such, it’ll be the last game of the season for Virginia Tech. Its chances of receiving an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament have dwindled by the weekend in the last couple of months until now, when they no longer exist.
Despite opening this season with the program’s best ever start to ACC play and being on the fast track to host a regional, the Hokies aren’t going dancing for the second consecutive year.
Box Score: No. 17 Duke 11, Virginia Tech 8