With their best offensive output in over a week, the Hokies rolled East Tennessee State on Tuesday, sweeping the two-game season series with an 11-4 performance in Johnson City, Tenn.
The matchup’s first rendition — a 8-6 Virginia Tech win at home in its fourth game of the season — carried far more anxiety for the Hokies (24-13), who trailed for much of that contest until pulling ahead in the seventh, courtesy of two walks and a double.
Tuesday’s game was much like that inning, with the Buccaneers (25-10) surrendering eight walks supported by 12 Tech hits — its most since finding as many against Notre Dame to close that series two weeks ago. Henry Cooke and Ben Watson homered as the offense carved through nine ETSU pitchers to slash a stretch of weak offense against No. 7 Florida State last weekend.
It didn’t come against your typical midweek opponent either. ETSU stands at No. 55 in RPI and has a slew of impressive wins since its last meeting with the Hokies, including a 7-6 extra-innings victory over then-No. 1 Tennessee on March 18. It’s 9-5 since, dropping only one series to the Southern Conference’s leader, UNC Greensboro.
The win moved the Hokies to 8-8 against Quadrant 1 opponents and 12-10 vs. the RPI’s top-100 teams. It was sealed with an eight-strikeout shove by pitcher Mathieu Curtis, but began with an arm who hadn’t started in three seasons and 46 appearances at Tech.
Enter Jacob Exum, a black-sheep arm as of late, struggling within what’s been a stout Tech bullpen. He was expected to be the first arm in relief on Fridays entering the year.
Well, that’s not to say he hasn’t been. The coaching staff trusts Exum despite allowing 15 hits in nine innings with six earned runs this year. He still tosses every Friday, and against the Buccaneers, he showed why.
In an efficient two-frame, eight batter outing, Exum set the game’s tone with three strikeouts in his first five batters. Satisfied with the righty’s back-on-track outing and his team carrying a 3-0 lead — Cooke and Watson homered around Hudson Lutterman’s RBI double — Hokies coach John Szefc elected to sit Exum for Josh Berzonski to begin the third inning.
The Penn State Harrisburg transfer’s third pitch was taken to left-center for a Jamie Palmese double before his sixth was blasted for a two-run Cody Miller homer. After the Buccaneers’ slugger rounded the bases, though, something clicked for Berzonski.
ETSU didn’t hit again until the seventh inning. Instead, its next nine batters went down, seven of which were retired by the lefty. The streak continued when Berzonski sat down midway through the fifth and Curtis kickstarted his outing with two strikeouts in seven pitches.
A defiant 13-pitch walk by Blake Jacklin to begin the sixth gave the Buccaneers their first baserunner since the third, but their subsequent fielder’s choice single quickly sent him back to the dugout. Curtis continued to tally strikeouts — doing so in three of the next six at-bats — while ETSU was walled off from any attempt to get past first base. Until the eighth inning.
Grant Gallagher blasted another two-run homer to give the Buccaneers a respectable fourth run. Unfortunately for them, the Hokies already had nine.
In the fourth, Clay Grady doubled down the right-field line to score Ethan Gibson for the first time — he was 2-for-4 with four runs on the evening — and provided Tech with some breathing room in what was previously a 3-2 contest.
Then the Hokies surpassed the Buccaneers’ eventual final run total. Watson (2-for-4, two RBI) followed his homer with a left-center double in the sixth, plating the first of two Tech walks that frame in Gibson. The sophomore’s seventh-inning two-run double, along with RBI singles from Lutterman (2-for-4, two RBI) and Davis, ballooned the margin to 9-2.
ETSU’s two-run burst in the eighth was countered by Tech’s own in the ninth — this time with some help from its bench. Lutterman was hit by a pitch to lead off before Gibson was issued a four-pitch walk by Buccaneers reliever Logan Grass.
Then came sophomore outfielder Nick Locurto, who’s 5-for-11 with six RBI in limited play this season. Once again, he took advantage of an opportunity, smacking a two-run single to cement the final 11-4 lead.
Curtis, who had already far surpassed his season-high 2 ⅓ innings pitched, capped it at 4 ⅔ with a brisk 13-pitch, two-strikeout final side.
Another midweek showcase was encouraging for Tech, but its upcoming series is even more crucial. North Carolina — and lethal arms Jake Knapp (1.58 ERA) and Aidan Haugh (1.86 ERA) — heads to Blacksburg for a pivotal weekend that begins Friday at 6 p.m. ET on ACC Network Extra.
Box Score: Virginia Tech 11, ETSU 4