In its first Power 4 matchup of the year on Friday, Virginia Tech baseball was utterly dismantled by Rutgers 16-1.
“We got our asses kicked in every phase of the game,” Hokies head coach John Szefc said. “They’re the best team we’ve played this year. They gave it to us good — outpitched us, outhit us. Everything. That wasn’t even close.”
The Hokies’ pitching caused them to fall behind early — again. Their offense generally struggled, but was even worse in crucial moments — again. But as glaring as Tech’s early-season issues have been, they didn’t result in any losses until Friday, which yielded the team’s worst deficit in a defeat since falling 19-0 to Georgia Tech in 2024.
The Scarlet Knights (3-1) hit 17-for-39 and 12-for-27 with runners in scoring position, opposed to Tech’s 7-for-28 and 0-for-10 marks. On the year, it’s 34-for-155 (.277) and 10-for-16 (.149), respectively.
“I’m not really concerned, it’s our fifth game of the year,” Szefc said of his offense. “We’ll be alright. We’re just not real good right now.”
Rutgers starting pitcher Dallin Harrison pitched 3 ⅔ innings of one-run ball before Joe Mazza struck out six of his 13 batters while allowing no walks or runs in 3 ⅓ innings.
Clean-up hitter Charlie Meglio was 4-for-5 with two home runs and seven RBI — and nearly all of his production came before the game was out of reach for Tech. Both of his bombs were exactly that — 424 and 456 feet — and contributed to the Hokies being out-homered 6-3 at English this season.
“He’s the best hitter we’ve seen all year, by far,” Szefc said of Meglio.
Four other Scarlet Knights had multi-hit games: center fielder Peyton Bonds (3-for-6, RBI) — yes, his nephew — shortstop Yomar Carreras (3-for-5, three RBI), designated hitter Matt Chatelle (2-for-4) and first baseman Ryan Jaros (2-for-4), an NC State transfer.
Tech’s unraveling was slow and agonizing, with Rutgers peppering in runs in four of the first seven frames before things boiled over in an eight-run eighth — the last inning before the run-rule was exacted.
The game was competitive early, though. Brett Renfrow started, but didn’t look like his dominant self for a second straight weekend despite picking up five strikeouts and allowing one earned run. The junior had another short outing — just 54 pitches in three innings, up from 28 last weekend — that gave way to a longer outing for Preston Crowl, who finished with 70 tosses.
Renfrow pitched a clean first inning but surrendered a pair of singles to Trey Wells and Carreras to start the second. Center fielder Treyson Hughes whiffed on the latter’s strike, which put runners on second and third with no outs. Then, Renfrow balked to plate Rutgers’ first run. His last inning was the third, when Meglio hit a solo homer to make it 2-1.
“Renfrow just wasn’t really very effective in his three innings,” Szefc said. “He balked the run in and minimized damage after … but it just wasn’t very good.”
The Hokies’ lone run was freshman Ethan Ball’s 407-foot homer into the batter’s eye in the second inning. They had six more hits for the rest of the game, and four before the game was 8-1. Owen Petrich was 2-for-3 with a double and Sam Grube was 2-for-4. Neither crossed home plate, though.
Like Renfrow, Crowl pitched a clean first inning before wavering. Also like Renfrow, Meglio was much of the reason why.
After Crowl allowed a Jaros single and four-pitch walk to Chase Krewson, Tech pitching coach Doug Wiley had a word with the junior reliever about Meglio’s upcoming at-bat.
Meglio took two balls before tattooing a three-run home run to the left, where it caught the Blacksburg jetstream and made the score 5-1. He knocked an RBI single in the seventh to end Crowl’s night with Rutgers up 6-1.
After Xavier transfer and reliever Ben Weber ushered in two more earned runs for Crowl, his final stats included six hits and as many earned runs allowed, along with three walks and four K’s. It was 8-1 — and about to get even uglier.
In the eighth inning, Rutgers blazed through four Tech pitchers — Weber and Josh Berzonski, along with freshman debutants Jake Wise and Tyler Stone — for five hits, four walks and eight runs. Bonds, Meglio, Carreras and Chattelle each tacked on RBI knocks before Stone managed a merciful pair of strikeouts. Twelve of Rutgers’ 47 plate appearances came in the eighth, though Szefc was preserving bullpen arms at that point.
The game saw a fitting end in the bottom of the eighth when, with one out and the bases loaded, Ethan Gibson grounded into a 5-4-3 double play.
With no choice but to flush a 16-1 run-rule loss, Tech returns to English Field on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET for Game 2 against the Scarlet Knights. The series wraps up on Sunday at noon, with both games available on the Virginia Tech Sports Network.
“Just got to move on from it,” Szefc said. “It’s not like one day is going to define your year or anything like that, but you can’t just look past getting your ass handed to you in a major way. You have to take some pride in what you’re doing and be able to come back and respond.
“But it wasn’t like it didn’t happen. It did happen. You have to acknowledge that you got completely boat raced in your home on Friday night. That’s a fact. You’ve got to live with that.”
Box Score: Rutgers 16, Virginia Tech 1 (8 innings)