It was 2024 the last time senior pitcher Brendan Yagesh made a start.
The lefty was a sophomore at Mount St. Mary’s then, roughly a month away from transferring to Virginia Tech. He was used as a spot reliever in his first season on the Hokies; 12 of his 18 appearances went two or fewer outs. Half went one or less.
But in Tech’s 7-1 win against Duke on Friday in its ACC home opener, Yagesh made a shutout seven-inning start with as many strikeouts, no walks and just five hits allowed. It was longer than any of the 16 starts he made at Mount St. Mary’s.
"Insane,” Hokies designated hitter Hudson Lutterman said of Yagesh. “I haven’t seen him start before. That exceeded all my expectations. I wasn’t expecting seven, that's for sure. I don’t think anyone was. … He just knows the zone. He throws it up, down, in, away. He does it all.”
Yagesh’s 104 pitches against Duke (15-9, 3-4 ACC) were his most with Tech (11-9, 3-4 ACC) by 35 — and 67 more than any of his 18 outings last season. Duke didn’t touch third base once during his stint, much less home plate.
“That’s about as good a Friday night performance as you’re gonna get,” Tech head coach John Szefc said. “He’s an older guy, so he’s been around the block a little bit. Obviously, you’re not gonna expect the guy to go out there and throw seven scoreless, though. It was a hell of a job by him.”
Junior Brett Renfrow and freshman Ethan Grim have split Friday starts for the Hokies this year, with the latter taking the previous two. However, Grim exited last Friday’s game against Virginia with an injury — which is minor; Szefc said he could pitch this weekend — which influenced Szefc in handing the ball off to Yagesh.
But that was only part of it. Yagesh was simply ready for a rotation spot, even against a Duke lineup with eight right-handed hitters.
“The guy’s been throwing strikes, that’s why we put him out there,” Szefc said. “One, if you look at [Duke’s] numbers, they’re not as good against left-handed pitching. Two, Yagesh is a strike thrower. I’ve been around college baseball since the 80s, and left-handed pitchers who throw strikes win. Bottom line.”
Yagesh wasn’t nervous making his first start since May 24, 2024, and it showed as he mowed down Duke’s first seven batters, picking up four of his seven strikeouts. The Blue Devils, who learned Yagesh would be starting early Friday, looked unprepared for his mix of well-located, high-movement breaking balls. Did he think so?
“Maybe a little,” a smiling Yagesh said.
“My off-speed was really good [out of the gate]. I felt good coming in. I’m confident in my ability and I feel like I can compete in the ACC with all of these guys and be a starter.”
Yagesh retired the Blue Devils primarily via contact through the rest of his day, though they managed one hit in each inning and were hit by a pitch once.
That came in the sixth, when second baseman Collin Anderson absorbed a pitch, advancing first baseman Brooks Perez after his earlier single. Then, with two outs and two on, Yagesh punched out left fielder RJ Hamilton in three pitches.
He pitched a four-batter seventh inning after that, which was his last before left-hander Brody Roe took over. Duke pinch hitter Jeff Lougee spoiled Tech’s shutout with a solo home run in the ninth, but Roe retired all but one of his seven batters outside of that.
Offensively, the Hokies grabbed all the runs they needed with Pete Daniel’s two-RBI single in the third inning.
Duke starter Aidan Weaver appeared to be settling in, striking out Nick Locurto for his third consecutive punchout and the second out of the inning. Ethan Ball and Lutterman answered with straight singles, however, and Sam Gates followed with a four-pitch walk. Daniel went down 1-2, took two balls, then smacked Weaver’s pitch into center field to put Tech ahead 2-0.
That became 3-0 in the fourth inning when Locurto’s single drove Treyson Hughes in from third, where he reached after a wild pitch and a steal. The Hokies finished with a season-high seven steals, while Duke — who entered the day second in the nation with 98 swipes — was just 1-for-3 on steal attempts.
One opportunity was spoiled by a Yagesh pickoff and one was caught by catcher Henry Cooke. Gates, Hughes, Sam Grube, Owen Petrich and Locurto (three) combined for Tech’s 7-for-7 mark on steals. It had just 20 all year going into Friday.
Szefc said that Tech didn’t enter aiming to be more aggressive on the basepaths against a steal-happy Duke team, but Daniel disagreed.
“We talked about that amongst the players,” Daniel said, “I don’t think we have that many stolen bases as a team, and we’re looking at Duke like, how do they have 100 or something stupid like that? So we wanted to give them a taste of their own medicine and mix that into our game.”
Tech added two more runs in the seventh after taking four straight free bases, the last being a Petrich walk to force in a run. Cooke hit a sacrifice fly just after. The Hokies’ lead became 7-0 with Gates’ two-run single poked up the middle in the eighth. It scored Locurto and Grube, who stole second and third, respectively.
The Hokies hit 9-for-32 as a team with Lutterman (2-for-4, HBP) and Gates (2-for-2, two walks) impressing from the four and five spots.
Weaver and Blue Devils left-hander Marcello Mastroianni, the first out of their pen, combined for 10 strikeouts, but five walks and three hit-by-pitches hampered their arms, along with Tech’s several steals.
After winning their first series opener since opening day — having been outscored 53-8 on Fridays since — the Hokies will have a chance to take their first conference set on Saturday. Game 2 against Duke begins at 3 p.m. ET on ACCNX. Renfrow will start after exiting last Saturday’s game against Virginia with an injury.
Box Score: Virginia Tech 7, Duke 1