A two-out RBI single by Nick Locurto and a three-run home run by Ethan Ball in the ninth inning against Miami weren’t enough to overcome Virginia Tech baseball’s earlier struggles.
The Hokies (14-15, 5-9 ACC) managed an 8-6 final but could only put together a run in two of the other eight innings. Hurricanes (24-7, 6-5) starter Lazaro Collera allowed just five hits and one earned run over six innings while striking out five. Miami has now won 10 of its last 11 while the Hokies move to 1-4 in ACC series and have dropped two in a row.
Tech starter Brett Renfrow was blown up in the fourth inning and ended with seven earned runs. That frame was ultimately the difference in the game, and nearly all of Miami’s production in it came with two outs.
Left fielder Max Gelvin and shortstop Vance Sheahan were on first and second with base hits when designated hitter Alonzo Alavarez struck out for out two. Then center fielder Fabio Peralta singled, second baseman Jake Ogden tripled and third baseman Daniel Cuvet homered. Ogden and Cuvet’s hits came on the first pitch of their at-bats while Peralta’s came on an 0-1 count, meaning the game ballooned from 1-1 to 6-1 in four tosses.
Renfrow was allowed one more inning, the fifth, and gave up a sacrifice fly to Sheahan, who plated first baseman Brylan West after his leadoff seven-pitch walk.
Logan Eisenreich anchored the final three innings for the Hokies, allowing a walk and three hits, one of which was Ogden’s to score an insurance run in the eighth.
Ogden, Miami’s leadoff hitter, finished 4-for-5 with three RBI, two triples and was a home run shy of the cycle. Behind him was Cuvet, who was 2-for-5 with a homer and two RBI. Sheahan (2-for-3, RBI) and Peralta (2-for-4, RBI) have also impressed at the bottom of the order for the ‘Canes all series.
Like Friday, the game got off to a competitive start, and Tech even punched first. Sam Gates and Pete Daniel (who scored) struck consecutive doubles in the top of the second to put the Hokies up 1-0. Miami tied it in the bottom of the third with Sosa’s sacrifice fly, plating a Cuvet triple — one of four for the Hurricanes this series.
The game was tight for the next half inning — in which Tech went down in order — before Miami pulled away in the fourth.
The Hokies’ second run came off Miami reliever Lyndon Glidewell — the team’s first reliever of the game — in the seventh. Willie Hurt struck a leadoff single, and eventually came around after a Locurto RBI knock with two outs. Locurto finished 3-for-5 with two RBI at the leadoff spot. Hudson Lutterman and Ethan Gibson were the only Tech starters to not record a hit, though only Locurto managed more than one.
The junior’s run-scoring hit in the seventh paired with Tech’s four-run ninth for a valiant finish, but it was ultimately too little, too late. Before Collera exited, he put the Hokies down in three batters in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. When Glidewell was removed with two outs in the seventh, Miami arms Jack Durso and Frank Menendez combined to retire five straight Tech batters.
The Hurricanes pivoted to Ryan Bika after Locurto’s second RBI hit in the ninth, hoping to get a clean final out, but Ball homered to bring the Hokies within two at 8-6. Sam Grube followed with a dropped third-strike punch out to end the game.
The Hokies haven’t been swept in ACC play thus far, but that trend will be tested Sunday at 1 p.m. (ET, ACCNX) in Miami.
Box Score: Miami 8, Virginia Tech 6