If the hope is for Virginia Tech baseball to be a stalwart of small-ball offense — as many thought it would be — then Tuesday's 7-5 win over ETSU at English Field was a significant step in that direction.
The Hokies (4-0) hit plenty of fruitless innings and struggled again with runners in scoring position (3-for-13), but they put together two key frames for their fourth come-from-behind win in as many games.
Starting pitcher Aiden Robertson gave up an early three-run home run but rebounded for a solid four-strikeout, four-inning appearance. Chase Swift bulldozed through two relief innings just after him while the offense played catch-up — and eventually leapt ahead.
“It’s a good thing to be able to come from behind,” Hokies coach John Szefc said. “We have guys pitching in different roles. I’d rather beat someone 20-0, but the thing is, when you spend as much time inside as we have, our hitters are still catching up. I think that’s why we aren’t scoring as much as we normally would be right now.”
The exceptions to that were a two-run second and, most importantly, a five-run fourth inning, where Tech utilized bunts, walks and singles to near-perfection — along with a major Buccaneers (3-1) error.
Though ETSU was swept in its two-game season series against the Hokies last year, it won the Southern Conference and made the NCAA Tournament, and much of that team is still around.
Take Tristan Curless, a two-way senior who pitched to the Hokies twice last year while hitting 2-for-5 with two RBI. On Tuesday, he mashed a three-RBI homer off Robertson 409 feet to straight center, putting Tech in a three-run hole in the first inning. Though Sam Grube (6-for-15 this year) stayed hot with a single in the bottom side, the Hokies didn’t respond until the second.
Freshman Ethan Ball poked a leadoff single before flashing around the bases with George Washington transfer Sam Gates’ first hit at Tech: a double that ripped past ETSU’s left fielder.
Gates struggled against William & Mary last weekend but hit 3-for-4 on Tuesday, as did the freshman he ushered home. Ball — who made his debut as designated hitter but is typically an infielder — left Tuesday with a .500/.556./.563 slashing line on the season with eight hits in 16 at-bats. If his dash home was any indication, he’s an elite athlete, too.
“Ball is gonna be one of the best hitters in the ACC at one point or another,” Szefc said. “Just a matter of when. He’s a guy that could’ve signed out of high school.
“He might be our best baseball athlete as far as what he can do. His bat speed is different. He can do things other people can’t, basically. [He’ll eventually be great] but ‘eventually’ might be next week for him.”
The Hokies cut the Buccaneers’ lead to 3-2 by the end of the second, courtesy of a deep Pete Daniel single to plate Gates. The rest of their scoring output came two innings later — their best frame of the season to this point.
A Ball base hit kickstarted things again before second baseman Ethan Gibson worked a full-count walk. Gates loaded the bases with an exemplary bunt down the third-base line, and the small ball continued from there.
Hudson Lutterman reached on fielder’s choice, retiring Gates but scoring Ball to even the score. Daniel followed with the spitting image of Gates’ bunt to give Tech a 4-3 lead, though he was narrowly called out at first.
Grube walked, Treyson Hughes stole third and both of them came home when Buccaneers center fielder Jamie Palmese dropped a routine flyout from Henry Cooke. Tech’s lead was suddenly four, 7-3.
It hit four more times across the rest of the game but was just 0-for-6 in RISP opportunities, including Gibson, Gates and Anderson French striking out in order in the fifth following Ball’s first career double.
Luckily for the Hokies, though, Robertson allowed just one hit after Curless’ homer and Swift followed with a pair of 1-2-3 innings. A sophomore righty from Chester, Swift struck out seven of the first eight batters he faced this season, and, including his relief stint Friday, downed opponents in order in each of his first four innings.
“Swift’s changeup might be the best pitch on our team,” Szefc said. “With his changeup, if you’re seeing it for the first time, it’s tough because it comes out of the window looking like 88, 89 [miles per hour], but it’s not.”
Swift also developed his slider in the offseason, along with an all-new pitch: the slutter, a slider-cutter combination that the Buccaneers were helpless against.
“I just ball,” Swift said. “I just like pitching. So we go out there and ball.”
Craytor replaced Swift to open the seventh inning and allowed two runs, cutting the Hokies’ lead to 7-5. ETSU’s Ian Guanzon and Henry Ferguson hit no-out singles and advanced a base with a wild pitch, eventually coming home with Luke Matlock’s single. Craytor earned one of those runs, with the other attributed to an errant throw to first by Gibson.
The tying run walked onto first with two outs in the top of the ninth, with senior arm Brendan Yagesh amid his second inning for the Hokies. Joey Little pinch-hit for the Buccaneers, but flied out on a 1-1 fastball to secure Tech’s win.
The Hokies remain at English Field through the weekend as they host a series against Rutgers, with Game 1 starting at 4 p.m. ET on Friday. The Scarlet Knights took three of a four-game series at College of Charleston last week.
Box Score: Virginia Tech 7, ETSU 5