Freshman pitching hoisted Virginia Tech to a series-tying win over Notre Dame on Saturday. One day later, rookie arm Logan Eisenreich rode the trend as the bats behind him burgeoned for the first time all series.
Through the first five innings of Sunday’s 11-5 win, the Hokies (22-10, 9-6 ACC) poured in 10 runs as Eisenreich struck out seven — a seamless start that led to a stress-free series finish over the Fighting Irish (15-14, 3-12 ACC) in Indiana.
Tech has won its last three ACC series and eight of its last 10 conference games. Two of those victories came this weekend, easing the pain of Tuesday’s loss to Radford. But with Notre Dame standing at No. 27 in RPI and an encouraging Game 3 win for the Hokies, hope is abound. Jared Davis (2-for-5, three RBI) and Ben Watson (3-for-6, five RBI) made sure of it.
As the first two batters in Tech’s lineup, they accounted for eight of the team’s 11 runs on Sunday. Davis now has four performances with three-plus RBI this season — and if not for a seven-RBI day on Feb. 23, 2024, against Rhode Island, the five against the Irish would’ve been Watson’s career-high as a Hokie.
For the graduate student who’s achieved plenty in his short tenure at Tech, that’s saying something.
Watson won the ACC’s batting title last year and is back to that level after struggling early this season. Once in possession of the conference’s worst batting average (.140), he’s improved to a .268 mark, with a team-high .356 rate in league play. He had three of Tech’s 12 hits in Game 3 at Notre Dame.
Watson, Davis, Henry Cooke (2-for-3, two walks) and Anderson French (2-for-3, four runs) each notched multi-hit games. French skied Tech’s lone home run of the afternoon off the first pitch of the fifth inning — a four-run frame that created a 10-0 cushion.
A run-rule finish seemed likely, but relievers Cameron LeJeune, Luke Craytor and Mathieu Curtis struggled to echo Eisenreich, allowing four earned runs to help tighten the final score. Josh Berzonski replaced Curtis to handle the final out, and forced Notre Dame slugger Bino Watters to fly out.
By the end of the game, each Fighting Irish batter besides Watters had at least one hit. Carson Tinney had three in four at-bats and Nick DeMarco homered.
But that was post-Eisenreich. When the South Riding, Va., native exited the game with one out in the fifth inning, only three opposing batters had hits, and one walked following a nine-pitch clash. The other 12? Either a victim of Eisenreich’s seven knockouts or a contact out. He saw just three batters in the first, third and fourth innings.
Since his return from a flexor tendon injury four weeks ago, the Paul VI product had yet to throw longer than 1 ⅓ innings. But back at 100 percent on Sunday, he stymied the Fighting Irish en route to arguably his best career performance. Its only competition is Feb. 24, when he tallied eight strikeouts across 4 ⅔ innings against UNC Greensboro. He had one fewer out in 10 fewer pitches against Notre Dame.
As he dealt, the Hokies’ offense managed two three-run frames. Cooke, French and Clay Grady walked to load the bases for Davis’ bases-clearing double in the second inning. Then, in a nearly identical situation in the fourth — though French singled to get on while Davis and Grady walked — Watson hooked another three-RBI double into left field for a 6-0 lead.
Up 6-0 in the fifth, French took the first pitch of the inning over the wall in right field. Three more hits — by Ethan Gibson, Watson and Cherry — helped plate as many more runs for a 10-0 lead.
Notre Dame’s first four pitchers, including starter Rory Fox (five earned runs) and typical starter Jackson Dennies (six hits, three earned runs in 1 ⅔ innings), had no answer for the Hokies’ bats.
After Watson’s RBI single in the sixth gave Tech its final run, though, relievers Justin Mayes, Xavier Hirsch and Keenan Mork steadied things. But it was much too late, even as the Fighting Irish put together a two-run eighth.
Next, Tech returns to English Field for a midweek matchup against Troy, a top-25 team coming off a series win over Old Dominion. First pitch is set for Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET on ACC Network Extra.
Box Score: Virginia Tech 11, Notre Dame 5