In likely the last outing of his career at English Field, Grant Manning was terrific on Friday for the Hokies. (Virginia Tech athletics)

Virginia Tech bounced back from Thursday’s defeat to Virginia with a 5-4 victory behind Grant Manning’s career day and a late-game blast from David Lewis.

“We clawed back within one in the seventh [yesterday] and then to have it finish like that, I don’t think it was indicative of how our guys have fought,” Hokies associate head coach Kurt Elbin said after the game. “And you saw it today, they were good. I think scoring early and getting on top of them early was important.”

Manning lasted 5 ⅓ innings for the Hokies (30-23, 12-17 ACC) on Friday night in a game that was delayed by nearly three hours due to weather. He was terrific in the longest outing of his Tech career, yielding two hits and four walks but striking out five and shutting out the Cavaliers (31-17, 15-11).

“When I go into the game, I hope to finish it,” Manning said. “I hate being taken out. I’ve really kind of embraced this role of not really reliever or closer — I prefer the term ‘finisher.’ Whenever you put me out there … I’m going to go in and try to finish this game, so it’s worked out really well.”

In likely his last career outing at English Field, he entered for starter Jake Marciano in the top of the fourth and inherited runners on first and second with the game knotted at four. He held his ground and then some.

“It just meant the world to me,” Manning said. “I knew that this would be the last weekend coming into this game and I just wanted to be able to leave a good mark for it. I couldn’t have been happier to give 5 ⅓ out here with no runs and allowed and a pretty good outing, to be able to win this ballgame for us and allow us to win a series tomorrow.”

The Dublin, Calif., native walked UVa right fielder Henry Ford to load the bases, the first batter he faced, but got first baseman Chris Arroyo to fly out to Cam Pittman in center field to end the frame.

Manning struck out Cavaliers catcher Jacob Ference for the second out of the fifth inning before walking designated hitter Harrison Didawick, who stole second. He was initially called out, but the play was challenged by the visitors and eventually overturned. Tech head coach John Szefc, who didn’t agree with the call, argued with third base umpire Travis Carlson from the dugout and was tossed.

But the graduate student didn’t flinch, instead coming back with his second strikeout of the inning against left fielder James Nunnallee.

He found himself in a similar situation in every inning but consistently worked his way out of them. A walk and a stolen base in the sixth were sandwiched in between two strikeouts and a flyout. A two-out walk in the seventh was followed by another flyout.

“Just remembering that this game is fun,” said Manning of what he kept reminding himself to stay level-headed. “It’s a lot of fun to be able to pitch out there in high-intensity games like this against good teams and good hitters. You love the atmosphere, you love the fans cheering behind your back. … It really gets the adrenaline going. …

“Sometimes I would have my slider, sometimes I would lose it. I had some good fastballs, would lose it. I didn’t have my changeup at the start of the outing and then by the time I started getting deeper into the outing, I started to figure it out, so just determination, honestly.”

Despite yielding a leadoff single to Nunnallee in the eighth, Tech’s defense caught the runner stealing second before Manning struck out Teel to end the frame. And in the ninth, after he hit UVa shortstop Eric Becker, Ford flew out to center, which allowed Pittman, second baseman Jared Davis and shortstop Clay Grady to combine for a double play when Becker attempted to steal second but was caught.

Even when pitching coach Ryan Fecteau and the Hokies’ infield met him at the mound after he gave up a double down the right field line to Arroyo when they were one out away, Manning wasn’t fazed. Instead, he refocused, locked in and sealed the victory with a groundout.

“You have to be able to focus on the next pitch, just to be able to calm everybody down,” Manning said. “Take a quick, little breather, take a little moment to be able to really focus up on this next at-bat, so we went into the gameplan of how to be able to approach the hitter and just say, ‘Hey, be confident in your pitches.’”

Manning’s performance came a day after Brett Renfrow threw six solid innings on Thursday but lacked run support, and Virginia ultimately got to the bullpen in the final two innings. This time around, the Virginia Tech bats came to play.

While Manning & Co. kept the Cavaliers at bay, Lewis gave them some breathing room with his sixth-inning home run. He entered as a pinch hitter for Ethan Gibson and worked a full count before going yard on UVa’s Evan Blanco, who had just entered the contest. In the end, it clinched Game 2.

It was the senior’s sixth long ball of the season and the first since April 25 at Duke. Moreover, it was Tech’s third bomb from a pinch hitter this spring.

“[He] started out with a changeup, hung it,” Lewis said, recalling his game-winning moment. “I was looking heater the whole at-bat, but I was honestly just looking for something that I could handle in the middle of the zone. Fouled off a few, made some good pitches, and at 3-2, he ended up hanging me a changeup. Saw it well and was able to put a good swing on it for the team.”

“That was absolutely massive to be able to get that one run,” Manning said. “The way that I was dealing, I was just saying to the guys, ‘Just give me one run, just give me one run, I can finish this game for us.’”

It wasn’t just Lewis, though — the bats were hot from the jump. Left fielder Ben Watson, leading off for the first time in his Hokies career, roped a double to right field to extend his hitting streak to 18 games, which tied his best stretch at the Division I level.

First baseman Sam Tackett and designated hitter David McCann reached base on one-out walks — seven- and five-pitch counts, respectively — which set the table for Jared Davis. The second baseman’s sacrifice fly scored Watson while Tackett came home on an RBI single from catcher Henry Cooke.

 “[Virginia Tech head coach John] Szefc talks every day about being prepared for the first inning,” Lewis said. “He says the most important inning is the first, just how you come out and play, so I think that was very important, boys putting good at-bats together and getting runs on the board early.”

Tech quickly worked through UVa starter Bradley Hodges, who only lasted 2 ⅓. Its two first-inning runs were its first in the opening frame of a game since it plated five in a 10-6 win over North Carolina on April 19 — nearly a month ago.

After a scoreless second, the Cavaliers finally got on the board in the third when Ford smacked a two-run homer to center field, scoring Becker, who Marciano hit with a pitch.

Yet, the Hokies responded in the bottom of the inning. A leadoff single from Grady and a walk from Tackett were moved over by McCann’s sacrifice bunt. Grady scored on a bang-bang play at home via a fielder’s choice by Davis, and Cooke’s RBI single up the middle gave them another two-run cushion when Tackett crossed the plate.

Virginia tied things back up at four with Nunnallee’s RBI double and Becker’s RBI single, which scored Ference and Nunnallee, respectively. Then Manning took over and shut the door.

“He’s done it all year,” Elbin said of Manning.

The Commonwealth Clash’s rubber match is on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET at English Field. Both squads are desperate for a series win as they try to bolster their at-large NCAA Tournament hopes.

Box Score: Virginia Tech 5, Virginia 4