With Virginia Tech’s gauntlet over the past three weekends now in the rearview mirror, better days should be on the horizon.
The Hokies (10-9, 2-4 ACC) faced nine straight ranked teams across that stretch and went 2-7, with six losses by five or more runs and three by nine or more. That certainly isn't ideal — especially with an unranked 13-4 loss to Marshall baked in — but it’s not season-ending.
Sunday wins against No. 3 Georgia Tech and No. 9 Virginia boosted Tech’s confidence and lifted its RPI to No. 29, good for sixth-best in the ACC. It has the fourth-hardest schedule in the nation per Warren Nolan, which has raised its RPI despite the losses.
Facing a much lighter schedule for the next month or so — including Duke, Stanford, Miami and Boston College — the Hokies can’t afford to drop many more series. Their ranked wins are signs that they’ll elevate, but as they’ve said all year, their success will be dictated by what happens on the mound.
The staff is in a precarious spot. Its ACC-worst 8.05 ERA is certainly not where it thought it would be 19 games in, though right-hander Preston Crowl believes that number is partially inflated by the top offenses that Tech’s pitching corps has faced. He maintains faith that the staff is still one of the league’s best.
“You have to believe you’re the best if you want to be successful, right?” Crowl said. “We’ve been beating ourselves a little bit, but you have to think you’re the best if you want to be the best.”
If the Hokies’ arms can turn things around, they’ll look to Crowl as a blueprint. The junior struggled to start the year as the first arm out of the bullpen on Fridays, allowing 11 earned runs in 8 ⅔ innings before conference play. His first ACC appearance at Georgia Tech two Fridays ago didn’t go well, either, but things changed that Sunday in his first outing as the Hokies’ closer.
Since then, he’s retired 18 of his 19 batters. The lone baserunner only got on because Crowl, covering first, dropped a throw that would’ve led to an easy out. Still, he’s struck out 11 of the 19 aforementioned batters, and considering his competition, Crowl may be the hottest pitcher in the ACC.
“He’s in about as good a stretch as I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” Hokies head coach John Szefc said. “He has been tremendous. This is mostly against good teams on the road, too, so I give him all the credit in the world.”
Crowl closed against Virginia last Sunday and VCU on Wednesday, shutting the door on those teams as well. As natural as he’s looked as a closer, he found the role by coincidence.
“I don’t think [pitching coach Doug Willey] planned it, but it wasn't a conversation between the two of us,” Crowl said. “It just kind of happened [against Georgia Tech] and kept going.
“But it’s fun being the guy that comes to shut the game down. To be the guy that the other team thinks, ‘Oh, shoot, there’s that guy.’ That’s pretty cool. There’s just something about it.”
Crowl attributes his turnaround to a mentality shift. He found himself overthinking in his first few appearances — worrying about who was in the box, who was next and whether he could retire great hitters by attacking them. It led to an approach he called “timid,” but he’s let go of that since.
“I was trying to nibble on the zone,” Crowl said. “But I’ve been staying true to myself, trying to attack hitters early on and trust my stuff. I was just beating myself. It was nothing mechanical, all mental. I have to trust that my stuff can beat anyone.”
Redshirt junior and starter Griffin Stieg has also impressed to start conference play. The righty kept Georgia Tech at bay with four earned runs allowed in as many innings, but he completely stonewalled Virginia last Sunday. The Cavaliers managed one run in six innings against the McLean native as he tied his career-high seven strikeouts.
Stieg’s first three starts were shaky at times, but he seems to progress every time he takes the mound, which is normal for a pitcher making his first few appearances after suffering a UCL tear two seasons ago.
Kansas State transfer Brody Roe and St. Johns River State College (JUCO) transfer Danny Lazaro have been welcome surprises in ACC play. Both left-handed relievers, Roe hasn’t allowed an earned run in 3 ⅓ innings while Lazaro has yielded one in 3 ⅔.
Tech’s staff has the talent to improve over the coming weeks, but injuries could be an issue.
The Hokies added two pitchers to their availability report — Ben Weber and Logan Eisenreich — before a UVa series that saw starters Brett Renfrow and Ethan Grim exit with injuries. Then, for the third time in four games, Szefc was forced to pull his starter with an injury on Wednesday against VCU after only two frames.
Shaking his head in frustration, he pointed to the bullpen to replace Chase Swift, who was holding his left shoulder in discomfort. The left-handed sophomore struck out four of eight Rams batters before that.
“We’ve had a lot of problems with injuries over the last three years. At times, it can seem like it’s one injury after the other,” Szefc said. “It’s frustrating, but like anything else, you have to get past it.”
He added that most of the injuries are nagging ones, though, and shouldn’t keep anyone out long-term besides Weber. The Xavier transfer is dealing with a hip injury and is still being evaluated, as is Swift.
Szefc expects Renfrow, Grim and Eisenreich to play this weekend against Duke, but he wasn’t positive when speaking with the media after beating the Rams on Wednesday. Junior lefty Madden Clement is also expected back sometime this month after undergoing surgery last year.
If Renfrow and Grim can go, they’ll start against a manageable Blue Devils lineup that ranks third-to-last in the ACC in batting average. It will be a good opportunity for an underwhelming staff to get back on track.
“We’re more than capable of winning these series,” Crowl said. “We showed we could win against [ranked] teams, showed we can hang with them. We just need to be ourselves and trust ourselves. Whatever happens in your outing, the guy behind you will have your back.”