After blowing two games to Georgia Tech in the ninth inning last weekend, James Madison’s two-on, one-out threat in Tuesday’s final frame was unnerving for the Hokies, to say the least.
But with the help of a flashy defensive assist from infielder Ethan Gibson, redshirt junior Luke Jackman notched two quick outs in relief to hold on, earning Virginia Tech (12-4) a 5-4 win over the Dukes (5-11) in Harrisonburg. It marked a season sweep for the Hokies against their commonwealth foes — the first victory (7-2) came on Feb. 26.
JMU showed much more fight in round two, though. The Dukes threw out 10 different arms — with starter Timothy Tyler the only one to toss more than an inning — to keep the Hokies guessing. It culminated into a late opportunity to hand Tech a come-from-behind loss.
Up 5-4 in the ninth, Tech’s Mathieu Curtis — who got out of the previous frame with a double play that saw JMU score before its completion — walked Maddux Fleck, who advanced a base off Wyatt Peifer’s sacrifice bunt. Curtis’ walk thereafter marked Tech’s third two-walk ninth in its last four games. But against the Dukes, a reliever corrected course — something the Hokies couldn’t say of the last two episodes.
Jackman’s first three pitches were strikes thrown at Dukes’ pinch-hitter Jack Guerrero. He sent two more to first baseman Corey Dowdell before the 6-foot-3, 285-pound slugger chopped a hard-hit ground ball at Gibson, who subbed in for David Lewis that inning. Having to glove the ball in shallow left field, Gibson hurled it to Garrett Michel at first, who extended off the bag and then body-tagged Dowdell to secure the winning out. Tech was a few inches away from another disastrous ending. Instead, it won off a golden-glove highlight.
Hokies freshman Alex French’s first career home run gave his team a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning — one that was largely uncontested on account of a bend-don’t-break start by fellow-rookie Chase Swift and Marcel Kulik’s (you guessed it, another freshman) clutch relief appearance.
Swift held JMU to 0-for-4 batting with runners in scoring position through the first two innings, allowing just one hit. He started the third but gave up a Peifer double and subsequent four-pitch Eli Steadman walk, so Tech head coach John Szefc sent Kulik in relief.
The Eastchester, N.Y., native kept the Dukes at bay until a fourth-inning sequence in which he consecutively surrendered a single, a hit batter and a double to make it 3-1. Tech pitcher Josh Berzonski inherited two runners in scoring position, who came around after a Peifer sac-fly and Steadman double.
In the following side, Ben Watson doubled to plate Jared Davis, then soon scored himself by beating out Henry Cooke’s double-play groundout.
From there, the Hokies’ offense was stonewalled by a five-pitcher front that fared far better than the Dukes’ last five arms. In the final four innings, Tech managed just a single hit and three baserunners, all of which were stranded — two in scoring position.
Fortunately for the Hokies, Berzonski (win, one hit across 10 batters) was dealing a cut above all 16 pitchers that both teams combined to send on Tuesday. The Penn State Harrisburg transfer retired seven batters in a row between the fourth and sixth innings, giving way to Grant Manning’s four straight retirees in the seventh and eighth. The graduate student’s run ended with a one-out hit batter in the eighth, leading to Curtis’ turn, and eventually Jackman’s first career save.
The Hokies’ road trip continues this weekend as they face off against NC State on Friday, March 14 (6 p.m. ET, ACCNX). The Wolfpack (12-5) has yet to see ACC competition this season.
Box Score: Virginia Tech 5, James Madison 4