After beating No. 14 Wake Forest 4-0 on Tuesday, UNC Greensboro was justifiably confident coming into Blacksburg. With absent bats and walk-heavy pitching, the Hokies were next on the chopping block, falling 6-2 to the Spartans on Saturday.
Virginia Tech (3-2) didn’t score a run after exiting the fourth inning with a 2-1 lead. UNCG (4-1) plated five runs after that point. Brett Renfrow tied his career-high four walks, and three more came after his removal. Spartans starting pitcher Sam Murchison — who allowed two earned runs across 99 pitches en route to his second win of the year — and his relief, Mayson Dear, walked just one batter apiece. The Hokies’ defeat was unsurprising with that in mind, despite outdoing UNCG 8-6 in the hit column.
“We walked seven guys, it wasn’t good,” Tech head coach John Szefc said. “Seven walks and 11 free bases. You’re not gonna beat a team like that.”
“That’s a good arm, man,” Szefc added, glaring at the mound Murchison commanded for seven innings. “He just stopped our guys pretty solidly. That’s the best arm we’ve faced, and it’s not a lot of velocity, just a lot of pitchability. And he’s good. He’s kind of what they said he’d be.”
Murchison retired the Hokies in order in the first inning, striking out Garrett Michel while forcing Cam Pittman to pop up and David McCann to fly out. Like Szefc said, it wasn’t the blinding, “you can’t touch me” fastballs with Murchison. Tech found plenty of contact but struggled to put his pitches in play.
“He was spinning the ball very well,” Hokies second baseman and Florida SouthWestern transfer Jared Davis said. “I guess we weren’t standing back on his off speed.”
Davis (3-for-3 and two stolen bases) was one of few Tech batters who found success off Murchison and UNCG. In the second inning — just after Sam Tackett’s fourth home run of the season put Tech ahead 1-0 — Davis was struck in the head by a Murchison pitch. He was shaken up, but relieved concerns after stealing second base two pitches into the subsequent at-bat.
His next time up, he blazed to first base for a bunt single. His speed manufactured a second steal, then a go-ahead run after Treyson Hughes singled up the middle of the infield to make it 2-1.
“For me, I always grew up just running. Just run, that’s all,” Davis said. “So when I get on, see [the pitcher] pick his foot up, it’s just go. I think it brings a lot. I think it helped the team a lot, bring in runs, and then help people behind me get better counts so they can hit the ball and get runs.”
But after going up 2-1 on Hughes’ RBI knock in the fourth, Tech failed to string together another sequence of baserunners, much less hits. Their next seven at-bats featured three strikeouts, two flyouts and a single — Davis again. Across the final four innings, the Hokies had two hits — both doubles that were left stranded. One was Davis.
“I was just seeing the ball very well,” Davis said. “The approaches my coaches and my team gave me, I think that played a big part. And my bat showed that at the plate.”
His two-base knock came in the bottom of the ninth inning at the leadoff spot — one final opportunity for Tech’s offense. Hughes struck out, Henry Cooke grounded out and then Dear retired Clay Grady on three pitches.
The ultimate four-run deficit was initially two. It came in a fifth inning that saw Renfrow — who had five strikeouts and one earned run across 64 pitches to this point — reach the end of his line. Jacob Budzik led off with a first-pitch double and reached third off the subsequent groundout. Tech’s Ethan Gibson, who replaced David Lewis at third place to begin the inning, fumbled a ground ball to score Budzik and give Jeremy Wolf a free base.
Andrew Sentlinger relieved Renfrow but hit his first batter, Zachary Walsh. His second, Luke Holland, doubled to score Wolf and put two runners in scoring position. The next batter hit a dribbler back to Sentlinger that the righty hesitated to throw home. He ultimately did, but it came a split second too late — a review determined that Walsh was safe, and the deficit was 4-2.
Sentlinger settled in, striking out the next five Spartans batters and retiring seven of the next eight. Jacob Exum replaced him and got the final out of the seventh inning with ease. He struck out three straight in the eighth, then walked a pair in the ninth that his relief, Marcel Kulik, couldn’t keep from home plate.
The series continues on Sunday at English Field. If UNC Greensboro’s opening series is any indication, Jay Miller will start on the bump. The Hokies started Grant Manning in last weekend's second leg and again Tuesday, though he struggled in both games. As a result, Manning, Preston Crowl, Jake Marciano and Logan Eisenreich are in the mix to throw Sunday’s first pitch.
Box Score: UNC Greensboro 6, Virginia Tech 2