Saturday’s back-and-forth ballgame was ultimately decided by Duke catcher Matthew Strand and his pair of two-run home runs off Virginia Tech reliever Preston Crowl.
His first bomb put the Blue Devils (16-9, 4-4 ACC) ahead by three, and even though the Hokies (11-10, 3-5 ACC) battled back to tie the game, his second homer in the ninth inning produced the final 8-6 score. Both were in the same spot, hooking 400 feet deep near the left-field boundary at English Field.
“Strand got him good,” Hokies head coach John Szefc said. “He was the difference in the game.”
“He was just selling out to that slider,” Tech first baseman Sam Grube said of Strand’s game-winning shot. “The guy hit slider, turned on it. Then in the first homer, he was sitting fastball and just ambushed it.”
The game was winnable for Tech despite Strand’s 3-for-5, four-RBI outing. Spots of poor defense, 1-for-10 hitting with two outs and a 3-for-14 mark with runners in scoring position were perhaps even more damaging. It didn’t help that the Blue Devils’ infield made every necessary play, even when it required highlight-reel fielding and throws.
“We were hitting balls hard right at them,” Grube said. “We weren’t really striking out or taking bad at-bats.”
Brett Renfrow’s five-inning, eight-strikeout start had the Hokies up 3-1 before Strand stepped up. Renfrow struck out the side in the first and generally blew through the Blue Devils lineup, though he surrendered a ground-rule RBI double to shortstop Jake Lambdin in the second.
The junior right-hander entered with a 9.00 ERA indicative of an up-and-down start to his season, but left with that mark at 7.36. He began the year less than fully healthy, making his injury-shortened exit last Saturday at Virginia — after allowing seven earned runs over two innings — all the more concerning.
However, he said he was 100 percent after his 86-pitch shove against the Blue Devils — and he looked the part.
“It was good to see Renfrow come back and be healthy and get back in a good place,” Szefc said. “This is only the third ACC weekend and we have a ways to go, but if we’re going to be successful, we’re going to need him to be a part of it — a big part of it.”
Tech led 3-1 when Renfrow pitched a 1-2-3 fifth to end his outing. Duke quickly struck off Ethan Grim in his first career relief appearance in the sixth, though, with three two-out singles around two key defensive miscues by Tech.
Second baseman Ethan Ball couldn’t make a play on Collin Anderson’s pop-single to shallow right, but Szefc faulted right fielder Sam Gates for not calling Ball off. The blame did fall on Ball, however, when he flubbed a ground ball that would’ve ended the inning. Instead, the runner from third tied the game at three.
Duke designated hitter Kaden Smith hit an RBI double off Grim in the seventh inning before the freshman was removed for Crowl with the Blue Devils ahead 4-3. That became 6-3 after Crowl’s first pitch was taken deep by Strand to bring him and Smith around.
Crowl — who took the losing decision — allowed just one non-Muscara hit across his 2 ⅔-inning close, and only three of Strand’s four RBI doubled as earned runs.
The Hokies battled back in the seventh and eighth innings, beginning with Treyson Hughes and Sam Grube’s leadoff doubles in the seventh, with the second scoring a run to make it 6-4.
Blue Devils reliever Peter Lemke kept Tech’s offense off the basepaths between the fourth and sixth innings, but his day was done after that. The Hokies had more success off his replacement, left-hander Aiden O’Connell.
Pete Daniel and Henry Cooke singled around an Ethan Gibson walk to put the Hokies within a run. Still with no outs, Hughes was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
The Blue Devils pivoted to righty Ben Dean, who allowed one run off a Grube sacrifice fly and nothing more. Sophomore Mycah Jordan — making his on-field debut after being injured to start the year — pinch-ran for Cooke at third but was caught there after Locurto’s bunt quickly bounced to a Duke first baseman playing up. Ball struck out to strand two runners and end the inning.
“That eighth inning hurts a lot,” Grube said.
“We let them come back in the game because we couldn’t make plays,” Szefc said. “Couldn’t play defense in the seventh inning, and that kid hit two two-run homers. He just flat-out beat us.”
Strand’s second two-run bomb came in the top of the ninth, but the Hokies had a chance to come from behind after Dean sent them two early walks in the bottom side. However, Gibson struck out on four pitches before freshman Willie Hurt — pinch-hitting for Anderson French — did the same to end the game.
It was not a pretty at-bat for Hurt, ending with a called strike and a wild swing. Szefc trusted him after a late RBI single against VCU last Tuesday.
“He’s the type of guy that’s going to give you a tough at-bat,” Szefc said. “He did it the other day, got a base hit. It’s not that I don’t believe in Anderson. I just think Willie’s a tough kid.”
The Hokies return to English Field on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET (ACCNX) for their rubber match against the Blue Devils.
Tech is still searching for its first ACC series win, but Szefc is confident with Griffin Stieg set to start, who pitched six one-run innings at UVa last Sunday en route to a 6-3 win. His start at Georgia Tech led to a ranked win the week prior.
“If I’ve got Stieg on the mound after seeing what he's done the last two weekends on the road against those two teams, I don’t know how you wouldn’t feel good about that,” Szefc said. “I think he’s one of, if not the best, Sunday starter in the league.”
Box Score: Duke 8, Virginia Tech 6