Virginia Tech baseball’s ace, Brett Renfrow, blazed through Stanford’s lineup on Saturday at English Field, picking up a career-high 12 strikeouts through 7 ⅓ innings of two-hit, one-run ball for his first win of the year.
“I’m used to it with him,” senior catcher Henry Cooke said. “He’s had a shaky start, but he’s getting back to doing what he does best.”
With the pressure off the Hokies’ offense, their six-through-nine hitters combined for nine RBI to aid a 10-2 win and even the series. Cooke and Ethan Gibson did much of the work with two- and three-run home runs, respectively.
“[Renfrow] takes tremendous pressure off of us,” Gibson said. “You know he’s gonna go out there and shove. … Being able to go up there and be freed up is a huge advantage to us today.”
Renfrow became the first Tech (13-12, 5-6 ACC) pitcher to record 12 or more strikeouts since Drue Hackenberg threw as many against Florida State on April 22, 2023. The Manassas native didn’t do it against just any program, either. The Cardinal (12-13, 2-6) boasts the highest home run total of any ACC team in league play (22), which included four against the Hokies on Friday.
In that game, first baseman Rintaro Sasaki and left fielder Teddy Tokheim combined for three bombs, 6-for-9 batting and seven RBI. Sasaki managed a solo homer off Renfrow on Saturday — for his only earned run and one of his two hits allowed — but he and Tokheim were 0-for-5 against the righty outside of that.
“I know they’re good hitters, but I know my strengths and I was using them out there today,” Renfrow said. “I just go out there each time and know that I’m elite.”
Between his last two starts, Renfrow has notched 20 strikeouts while allowing six hits and two earned runs through 12 ⅓ innings. His five starts before that featured 17 earned runs and seven homers allowed across 17 innings.
The junior and high-end MLB Draft prospect wasn’t fully healthy across that span, but there’s no doubt that he’s back in the swing of things now.
“Honestly, I think he was like, I’ve had enough of being average. I’m not average,” Szefc said. “All these guys that come to see me, that are gonna draft me in a few months, they don’t think I’m average. Those guys are waiting for [a performance like Saturday’s] basically.
“The fact that he’s healthy helps things, because he was a little slow in the preseason and it slowed his start. But it’s not about how he starts, it’s about how you finish.”
Renfrow punched out five of his first six batters — he hit shortstop Charlie Bates in the first inning — and didn’t allow a hit until Sasaki’s solo home run in the third.
However, with the Hokies’ four-spot in the second inning, they were already ahead 4-1 at that point. Hudson Lutterman, Nick Locurto and Sam Gates cracked straight singles, with Gates’ plating Lutterman. With one out and two on, Owen Petrich worked Stanford starter Sam Garewal but ultimately took a 3-2 strikeout.
Cooke followed with a three-run home run, his second of the year, to empty the bases. The senior, who was batting 2-for-36 through February, owns a team-high .344 batting average in conference play with hits in his last seven ACC games. He’s 4-for-6 this series with just one strikeout, an area that plagued him for much of the season.
“With the beginning of the season, it was all mental stuff,” Cooke said. “I know it’s not the type of hitter I am. I just stick to a plan now and follow it — and don’t ever think much.”
“He and [associate head coach] Kurt Elbin have been working on staying through the middle, staying through the right-center gap,” Szefc said. “It’s so much about trust and confidence in yourself, and it’s not like he hasn’t done it before. His experience is beginning to kick in.”
Gibson’s second homer of the series brought him and Cooke (who walked) around for a 6-1 lead in the fourth frame. Renfrow picked up his 200th career strikeout on Eric Jeon earlier that inning.
Then in the fifth, he allowed his final hit to catcher Luke Lavin before hitting outfielder Ethan Hott to put two on. With Sasaki and Tokheim up next, it was a prime opportunity for the Cardinal to get back in the game.
Yet, Renfrow was walking back to the dugout five pitches later. He fouled out Sasaki in two tosses — with help from Petrich’s over-the-shoulder grab along the left-field line — before striking out Tokheim on a 1-2 fastball.
Lutterman and Gates walked in the fifth and came around with Petrich’s two-RBI single, putting the Hokies ahead 8-1. They walked or hit four more times in the sixth inning for a 9-1 ballgame, with Gates taking the last one for his second RBI.
The George Washington transfer was hit by a pitch in the eighth inning with two outs and Locurto on third, which led to a successful double steal to engineer the 10-2 final score. Stanford hit or walked the Hokies 11 times on Friday, with right-hander Parker Warner accounting for four and as many earned runs.
The visitor’s second and final run came in an eighth inning that began with Renfrow’s 12th and final strikeout, followed by his removal. Danny Lazaro and Ethan Grim were the first out of the bullpen but they failed to get an out, instead allowing two walks, a Tokheim single and a hit by pitch to force in a run.
However, Chase Swift entered with the bases loaded and grabbed the last two outs quickly and emphatically, striking out Jimmy Nati first. Then, he knocked down a laser of a comeback by Jeon and made the play at first, celebrating animatedly.
He did so again after putting Stanford down in order in the ninth, recording two more punchouts.
“He’s shut-’em-down Swift,” Renfrow said. “[His assist] was funny, He’s got a lot of emotion out there and I think he uses it really well.”
With the series even at one apiece, the Hokies and Cardinal will decide things on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. Griffin Stieg is expected to start one of Tech’s highest-stakes games yet.
Box Score: Virginia Tech 10, Stanford 2
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