Virginia Tech, riding two consecutive ranked series wins and a high the program hasn’t felt in years, crashed head first into the same brick wall that stunned it two years ago: Radford.
The Highlanders (13-14) took advantage of the complacent Hokies (20-9) in their 8-1 loss on Tuesday at English Field, evening the season series, snapping their five-game win streak and handing them their first midweek loss of the season.
To say it carried tinges of 2023’s heartbreaker — which Tech entered having won four of its last five games — would be an understatement.
“That was probably one of the worst performances we’ve had in my eight years here,” Tech head coach John Szefc said. “Definitely at home, for sure. But that’s my fight. Guys weren’t prepared to go.”
There were differences from the Hokies’ offensively manageable 19-8 loss to the Highlander two years ago. They had just four hits on Tuesday before a much-too-little ninth-inning spurt, and instead of Tommy Szczepanski’s one-inning floundering in 2023, Chase Swift delivered a career day on the mound. But the root of Tech’s second loss to Radford in three years was the same as the first.
Overconfident and lethargic baseball — the Hokies tied their season-high three errors — was detrimental.
“Doesn’t matter who the opponent is. Always come 110 percent [prepared]. Anyone can beat you any day,” said Swift on what Tech learned from the loss.
Sam Tackett, who hit to keep Tech’s starting one-through-five batters — Jared Davis, Ben Watson, Tackett, Henry Cooke and David McCann — from going 0-for-14, echoed Swift’s takeaway.
“We just weren’t prepared, which is easy coming off a weekend like we had, sweeping Wake Forest, a ranked sweep,” Tackett said. “And then coming in, you’ve got an early midweek against the team that we beat last week, so it’s easy to look over [Radford]. But that’s the game of baseball for you. It’ll hurt you like that when you don’t take care of the little things.”
Although his next two at-bats ended fruitless, his first-inning double was encouraging for Tech’s star after hitting 3-for-23 since last Tuesday’s win at Radford.
“I feel like the same person I’ve been in the box all year,” Tackett said. “This week just didn’t go the way that I wanted it to. It’s baseball. Have to flush it and move on.”
Third baseman Hudson Lutterman and shortstop Ethan Gibson recorded doubles in the second and fifth innings, respectively — both were briskly stranded — to give the Hokies just three hits before emptying their bench in the seventh inning. Before the ninth inning, they had just six total baserunners.
“It wasn’t really anything [Radford’s pitchers] were doing,” Tackett said of Tech’s offensive faults. “Going from seeing the pitchers that we saw at Wake Forest, an elite pitching staff, to this. It’s a little bit different, but we just didn’t make adjustments like switching our fields, sitting on certain pitches when we probably should’ve, or even just moving around the box. We just did the same thing over and over.
“With Wake Forest, it’s how their pitchers’ stuff moves and what they throw. It’s power stuff over there, and then over here, they’re trying to get us off balance and chase out of the zone.”
That was Radford starter Brecklin Nace’s strategy as he surrendered just three hits and one walk over 5 ⅓ innings. He recorded just one strikeout — indicative of his strategy of forcing Tech batters to chase and make awkward contact on well-placed pitches.
Reliever Trey Ludy echoed his success, allowing just three hits and striking out five over the next three innings. He surrendered Radford’s lone earned run to Tech catcher Anderson French after the freshman homered in the ninth inning, preventing the Hokies from being shutout by a non-conference opponent for the first time since 2021.
Swift was reliable in his own right for the Hokies, delivering six strikeouts and yielding just three hits across a career-long 4 ⅓ inning start. He allowed an earned run in the fifth inning but spent much of the game opening windows for Tech’s offense, on which it failed to capitalize. Swift earned his first career win last week against the Highlanders, but took his first loss on Tuesday despite an admirable appearance.
“Usually, playing a team twice in one week is harder, but keeping them uncomfortable at the plate helped me,” Swift said. “Fastball up in the zone and throwing strikes was working for me.”
Relievers Marcel Kulik, Luke Jackman, Luke Craytor, Parker Sweeney and Cade Drohan followed Swift to varying degrees of success. Kulik, Sweeney and Drohan allowed an earned run or less, while Jackman gave up two.
Craytor significantly struggled, yielding four hits in his first five batters, then one more before his removal. He allowed four earned runs before finding his third out, making him the primary contributor to Radford’s six-run seventh inning.
The Hokies hope to get back on track in a series at Notre Dame on Friday. The Fighting Irish (14-11, 2-10 ACC) have struggled in conference play — their ACC schedule has been a gauntlet — but took a game off of No. 4 Florida State last weekend.
Box Score: Radford 8, Virginia Tech 1