Virginia Tech baseball couldn’t have set itself up much better in Saturday's ninth inning.
Down 8-7 to No. 23 Boston College, Henry Cooke and Hudson Lutterman struck consecutive singles to threaten on the corners with no outs. However, after that, Sam Grube grounded out, Pete Daniel struck out and Cooke made a puzzling, costly mistake.
Eagles catcher Gunnar Johnson noticed the senior jump off third base with Daniel’s strikeout pitch and return leisurely, his eyes off the baseball. Johnson fired to third baseman Luke Gallo, who tagged Cooke out to end the game. As abruptly as the play unfolded, the ACC Network broadcast didn’t even catch it.
Wild ending for @BCBirdBall to get the win 😱 pic.twitter.com/rlnUOsomBC
— ACC Network (@accnetwork) April 11, 2026
The 8-7 score held to conclude Tech (16-17, 7-10 ACC) and Boston College’s second-ever meeting at Fenway Park for the home team’s annual ALS Awareness Game. In the first matchup in 2022, the Hokies won 6-1 to take their sixth ACC series. The 2026 rendition, on the other hand, forced a crucial Sunday rubber match despite the Hokies’ prime opportunity in the ninth.
They started the game up 4-0 with a wealth of early offense against Eagles (25-12, 10-7) starter Brady Miller. Similar to the ninth inning, Cooke and Lutterman hit consecutively in the first — though Cooke tripled — to plate the first run of the game. The Hokies extended their lead by three in the second, when Ethan Gibson singled, advanced to third off an error and a Grube sacrifice bunt, then home with Owen Petrich’s double.
The Saint Joseph’s transfer scored, too, when Ethan Ball crushed his second home run in as many games over Fenway’s Green Monster. The freshman is 5-for-11 this series with three extra-base hits.
Through three innings, Tech starter Brett Renfrow had allowed just two baserunners, both of which were stranded in the second inning. He put the Eagles down in three pitches in the first frame, then in order in the third.
The game seemed to flip after that, with Miller retiring 10 straight Hokies beginning with the final out of the top of the third. On the other side, the Eagles managed three doubles — outfielder Carter Hendrickson, Johnson and designated hitter Danny Surowiec — in four batters, with the straggler, Gallo, being hit by a pitch. Johnson’s knock came with the bases loaded to score three runs, and Surowiec’s tied the game at four.
Johnson grabbed Boston College’s first lead at 5-4 the next inning with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly, though it resulted in a double play to limit damage. Tech evened the game in the seventh when the Eagles’ first reliever, righty Sean Hard, surrendered a seven-pitch walk to Nick Locurto, who scored with a wild pitch after advancing off Ball’s single.
Like Miller, Renfrow’s start ended after six innings. He allowed eight hits and five earned runs with a low strikeout total for his standards (4), especially after throwing 109 pitches. The junior could’ve used more help from a defense that, while errorless, struggled to come up with big plays in the MLB outfield.
Freshman Ethan Grim followed Renfrow out of the bullpen, but by his fourth batter — Hendrickson, who was hit — he had pitched the bases loaded. The Hokies turned to Brendan Yagesh, who allowed all of Grim’s runners through by giving up a Gallo single, Johnson hit by pitch and a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Kyle Wolff. Each resulted in one RBI to put Boston College ahead 8-5.
In the eighth inning, Nick Locurto laced a two-RBI triple into the right-field corner off Eagles reliever John Kwiatkowski. The left-handed senior remained in the game until the ninth, when Grube’s groundout advanced Lutterman to second while Cooke was already on third.
Kwiatkowski’s replacement, right-hander Gavin Soares, punched out Daniel for the second out of the inning, but Johnson took the final one into his own hands. The catcher caught Cooke strolling back to third unaware and made the throw, handing him and his team a series-tying loss at Fenway. Kwiatkowski earned Saturday's win and Soares registered a save, while Yagesh (2-3) was credited with the loss.
The Hokies and Boston College return to Eddie Pellagrini Diamond in Brighton, Mass., on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET for a series-deciding Game 3 on ACC Network Extra.
Box Score: Boston College 8, Virginia Tech 7