Sam Grube’s fourth-inning grand slam was the difference on Wednesday as Virginia Tech baseball grinded out an 11-8 victory over VCU at English Field for its second straight win.
The Rams (11-9) are expected to contend for the Atlantic 10 this year, and they looked like it in some ways, though they surrendered seven unearned runs to Tech (10-9), three of which came around with Grube’s long ball.
It was the Hokies’ first grand slam of the year, and the first since now-Mercer catcher Luca Perriello blasted one in his first career at-bat in last year’s season-opening series against Bucknell.
It also got Grube back on track. The Mount St. Mary’s transfer is batting .333 this year but was just 1-for-13 against No. 9 Virginia last weekend.
“I was struggling a little bit,” Grube said. “But I stuck to my approach, seeing the ball deep into the pitch and going backside. That was huge. That's what I pride myself on doing really well, and it worked.”
The slam looked short off the bat but just snuck over the left-field wall and into the Hokies’ pitching lab, giving them a 5-4 lead that the Rams once tied but never fully snatched.
“He’s just one of our best players,” Szefc said of Grube. ‘He plays all over the place. He’s a versatile left-handed hitter that’s hitting in clutch situations and giving us good at-bats when we need him.”
Hudson Lutterman opened scoring with his third home run in as many games — a solo shot to give Tech a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Lutterman paces the team with five home runs and a .639 slugging percentage.
Down the line, Preston Crowl put together his third straight save and second in Tech’s last two games. He kept all four Cavaliers he faced off the basepaths Sunday and did the same with the six Rams he saw Wednesday, striking out the first three. Crowl didn’t add any K’s in the ninth but put VCU down in order regardless.
“Crowl been tremendous,” Szefc said. “I hate using him for two innings, but that’s just the way it worked out. We didn’t have everybody available on the mound. I give him all the credit in the world.”
Already dealing with a slew of pitching injuries, Szefc was forced to pull lefty Chase Swift early in the third inning after the sophomore felt pain in his scapular (shoulder).
Swift collected four strikeouts across eight batters before his exit, walking one and allowing a single hit. Both runners were stranded in scoring position in the second inning when Swift struck out VCU right fielder Trent Adelman.
Swift was likely only starting because midweek arm and Xavier transfer Ben Weber is dealing with a hip injury, one that still needs to be “checked out,” according to Szefc.
In the fifth inning, Rams center fielder Michael Petite answered Grube’s homer with one of his own to tie the game at five. However, Nick Locurto worked a full-count walk to force in a go-ahead run in the sixth.
The Hokies’ game-winning knock came later that inning courtesy of a severe VCU miscue. With the bases loaded, Lutterman popped an unassuming ball into left field at an uncomfortable distance for most shortstops, but that didn’t stop VCU shortstop Dante DeFranco.
He called for it, but dropped it, and since there were two outs, Tech’s three baserunners were already flying home. All of them made it, putting Tech up 9-5.
The Hokies added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth, when true freshman Willie Hurt — pinch-hitting for Anderson French (0-for-4) — and Pete Daniel struck consecutive singles to plate Sam Gates and Lutterman, who started the rally with a two-out walk and a base hit. It was 11-8, and it held there after Crowl shut the door in the ninth.
VCU’s offense was most successful in the fourth inning, when it tagged Josh Berzonski — who relieved Swift — and Luke Craytor with four runs to go ahead 4-1. Petite, DeFranco, catcher Teige Lethert and left fielder Nick Flores each singled, and all but Flores crossed home plate. Quinn Maher took a 10-pitch walk early in the inning and also came around.
All four runs were earned by Berzonski, with Craytor’s lone earned run coming in the fifth, when Petite tied the game at five with a solo homer.
Brody Roe pitched a clean sixth before the Hokies went up 9-5 in the bottom side. The Rams cut the lead to 9-8 in the seventh.
Aiden Robertson started the inning and was quickly singled off by VCU second baseman Cade Tousa, who later came around as the junior righty’s only earned run. Petite hit a sacrifice fly that was narrowly secured by Gates despite Treyson Hughes colliding into him on the play. The other two runs were attributed to Owen Petrich fumbling a line drive hit to him at third.
Danny Lazaro entered for Tech and managed a clutch third out in the eighth inning with the winning runs on second and third base.
This weekend, the Hokies play their first home ACC series against new-look Duke. The Blue Devils (15-8, 3-3 ACC) lost 13-3 to Campbell on Tuesday but took two games from Miami in their series in Durham last weekend. They’re led by first-year head coach Corey Muscara after Chris Pollard left for UVa last offseason.
Box Score: Virginia Tech 11, VCU 8