Virginia Tech baseball entered its series opener against Stanford with nine of its 12 wins having been in comeback fashion and a 9-2 record in games decided by three or fewer runs.
It had the opportunity to add to both trends on Friday, but the Hokies’ previous opponents didn’t have the Cardinal’s potent one-through-three batters, who powered the visitors’ offense en route to a 9-7 win at English Field.
Leadoff man and first baseman Rintaro Sasaki, two-hole outfielder Teddy Tokheim and shortstop Charlie Bates combined for four home runs and eight of Stanford’s nine RBI.
Sasaki and Tokheim alone accounted for six hits, three homers, as many walks and five runs. Four of their seven combined RBI came off Tech reliever Logan Eisenreich in Stanford’s decisive five-run top of the eighth inning, which the Hokies entered ahead 5-4 and left down 9-5.
“Their best players beat our — their best players were their best players,” Hokies head coach John Szefc said. “They’re way better than we are right now.”
Friday featured the Hokies’ second straight blown save in ACC play after allowing Duke to tie last Sunday’s game late, even though Sam Grube walked it off in extra innings. Eisenreich allowed seven straight two-out hits or walks in Friday’s eighth inning, though one was intentional.
And no Grube-like response came — outside of Ethan Ball’s two-run double in the bottom of the eighth to make it 9-7. Stanford did too much damage in the previous side, though, grabbing the last of its four distinct leads and never let go.
Cardinal third baseman JJ Moran was 2-for-4 with two walks, pinch-hitting outfielder Cort MacDonald was 2-for-2 with a run and the team as a whole hit .333 with 10 walks. Tokheim, a true freshman, hit two home runs for five RBI in the first and eighth innings to give him six in ACC play, which paces the league.
“I talked to one of their guys on second base in the ninth,” said Tech shortstop Pete Daniel, who was 4-for-5 with two RBI on Friday. “I didn’t even know [Tokheim] was a freshman. I heard he didn’t play the first three weekends, so it’s really impressive what he’s doing. I think we were playing him straight up. He was just finding gaps and hitting balls over us.”
Duke catcher Matthew Strand is the only other batter with six home runs in ACC play at the time of writing — and two of those were mashed off Tech arms last weekend. The Hokies’ pitching staff has now allowed 40 home runs, which is four more than second-place Wake Forest for the most in the conference.
“What do I attribute it to? Bad pitches,” Szefc said of the homers. “We need to make better pitches.”
Brendan Yagesh started a second straight week for Tech and, for the most part, offered just that. He allowed three earned runs in 4 ⅓ innings while walking just one batter and notching six strikeouts. Still, he surrendered a two-run bomb to Tokheim in the first and a solo shot to Sasaki in the third. The left-hander wasn’t quite able to replicate last week’s seven-inning, one-run start against the Blue Devils.
“Stanford’s way better [than Duke],” Szefc said. “Stanford’s way better than what Yagesh faced last weekend. He just didn’t have his good stuff, but Stanford is — it’s not even close — way better.”
Preston Crowl relieved Yagesh in the fifth and gave up a home run to Bates on his second pitch, which put the Cardinal up 4-3. However, Ethan Gibson’s first home run since his freshman year later in the inning scored himself and Hudson Lutterman to give Tech its first lead at 5-4.
Crowl stranded three runners in scoring position across the next two innings, but Eisenreich struggled in the eighth despite grabbing two quick outs.
MacDonald started the rally with a bloop single into left field that may have been playable for Nick Locurto, but likely would’ve required a highlight grab. Ethan Hott followed with a base hit before Sasaki doubled MacDonald in to tie the game at five.
Eisenreich seemed shaken at that point. He surrendered Tokheim’s three-run blast and then threw eight straight balls. Brody Roe relieved Eisenreich and grabbed the final out, but not before walking in Jeon to put Stanford up 9-5.
Ball answered in the eighth, but Stanford righty Trevor Moore clinched the save by striking out Locurto, Sam Gates and Treyson Hughes in order in the ninth. The Hokies were hitless in the sixth, seventh and ninth innings, which was primarily reliever Toran O’Harran (2 ⅓ scoreless innings) and his infield’s handiwork.
“They definitely adjusted to hitters,” Daniel said. “I can even give an example. In my fourth at-bat [the only one in which Daniel did not hit], they shifted me up the middle, which probably would have been a hit. They adjusted to the swings we were taking.”
Tech had tied or triumphed over all of Stanford’s leads before O’Harran entered. Daniel’s RBI single knotted things at two in the second inning and Locurto’s double made it three-all in the third. Stanford left-handed starter Quentin Marsh and first-out-of-the-pen righty Nick Dugan allowed nine hits in the first 4 ⅔ innings.
The Hokies return to English Field on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET for an opportunity to get even with the Cardinal. Ace Brett Renfrow will likely start, coming off his best outing of the season last weekend against Duke.
“We ran through a lot of their bullpen arms, which is huge,” Daniel said. “A lot of guys they like to go to and trust, so hopefully that helps us out over the weekend. Getting all those hits and runs [today] helps our hitters’ confidence going into tomorrow and Sunday.”
Box Score: Stanford 9, Virginia Tech 7