Besides a fourth-inning weather delay, marginally weaker pitching and a wealth of stolen bases, Virginia Tech baseball’s 15-5 run-rule victory against Norfolk State on Wednesday mirrored its 13-0 win the day before.
Each game lasted just seven innings, with the Hokies’ (10-3) batters drawing 10 or more walks and racking up 10 or more hits, including two home runs. In other words, both games showcased overwhelming performances by Tech’s offense
The biggest difference, though: The Hokies had two steals against the Spartans (0-10) on Tuesday. They quadrupled that on Wednesday. Jared Davis and Sam Tackett had three apiece while Garrett Michel and Cam Pittman had one. Eight is Tech’s season-high steal mark and the program’s most since finding as many against Bryant on Feb. 28, 2020.
It was the culmination of a slew of speedy offseason additions — Davis, Treyson Hughes, Cam Pittman — that strayed away from the “Hammerin’ Hokies” moniker of past years. With Hughes and Pittman — transfers from Ole Miss and Radford, respectively — back from injury, along with Clay Grady, Tech found it the perfect game to send a barrage of steal attempts, going 8-for-8.
“It’s all dependent upon what your personnel is and what the game situation is,” Hokies head coach John Szefc said, who’s stressed that his personnel is picked based on overall talent and not speed or strength, despite Tech’s seminal nickname.
“But I mean, you have guys like Davis and Pittman and Grady and whenever Hughes is healthy. Those guys should be able to eat bags.”
But that’s not to say Tech is devoid of power. David Lewis (2-for-3, two walks, five RBI) smashed his third home run in four games, a three-RBI moon shot to abruptly go up 10 and trigger the run-rule. Davis’ (4-for-5, three RBI) first long ball of the year came as a 389-foot beam to the pitching lab beyond left field in the fourth to make it 7-3. Henry Cooke and David McCann both doubled, with the latter setting up the final run before a 50-minute weather delay.
The sophomore took second base, then came around after a Lewis single. Lightning struck and both teams filed back into their locker rooms with Tech up 8-3.
Hokies freshman pitcher Marcel Kulik was two innings deep into an unsteady three-strikeout, two-earned run outing that — combined with Penn State Harrisburg transfer Josh Berzonski’s one earned run in his first career start — kept the score out of run-rule range.
Tech freshman arm Brandon Cowen (three Ks, no hits in 2 ⅓ IP) relieved Kulik out of the break and the bats behind him stayed sharp. Szefc said the delay was a good obstacle to face.
“I thought having a delay was good, and then [our players] having to come back after that [and keep their momentum],” Szefc said. “You’ve seen a lot of things in 13 games. I think leading up to ACC play, that was valuable.”
Michel grounded into a double play for the first at-bat in almost an hour to end the fourth, then the Hokies started the fifth with three straight walks. An action clock violation, then a balk by Norfolk State pitcher Donovan Whitfield plated a Tech run. Davis knocked a two-RBI double to make it 11-3. Another Spartans miscue — a common theme throughout the short series — came as a passed ball to score Davis, who previously stole third.
The game was knotted at 12-3 until the seventh and final inning, but a two-run top side came for Norfolk State before Lewis’ walk-off.
Indian River State transfer Cade Drohan took over for Cowen after the freshman’s leadoff strikeout. The junior surrendered three hits across five batters, two of which were doubles, to plate a pair of Spartans runs. The inning still ended fairly quickly, with the other two batters grounding out.
In the bottom side of the seventh, Davis singled and stole second before advancing to third on a wild pitch that walked McCann. With runners on the corners, Lewis ended the game with a crack reminiscent of the thunder once threatening to annul it.
It marked not just the end of the game against Norfolk State, but Tech’s last non-conference matchup before ACC play. An uptick in challenge is ahead for the Hokies, and it begins with Georgia Tech (11-2) on Friday (4 p.m. ET, ACC Network Extra), the first of a three-game series.
“I think we’ve done the best we could do to this point,” Szefc said. “You’d like to not lose three games. Yeah, I do think the loss at East Carolina, playing in that atmosphere kind of helped prepare us a little bit for the ACC and the postseason, hopefully.
“I can’t really complain about where we’re at right now. We’re pitching better with different arms. We’re throwing a lot of strikes, avoided three-ball counts today, which is good. I think our guys have done a pretty good job leading up to ACC play.”