When you put up a nine-run inning, it doesn’t matter if you’re outplayed for the rest of the game — as long as you’re not too outplayed.
Virginia Tech baseball toed that line in its 11-6 win on Friday at English Field, when its nine-spot in the fourth inning produced a lead that was softened across the last five frames and threatened in the ninth, but ultimately situated it too far ahead of Pitt.
“There were pockets when they were better than us,” Hokies head coach John Szefc said. “There were pockets when we were better. We just had the better pocket.”
That may not have been the case if not for Brett Renfrow’s first Friday outing since Feb. 20. His six-inning quality start featured nine strikeouts and just two earned runs, only one of which came before his offense exploded in the fourth.
Five of Tech’s first six batters that frame — Hudson Lutterman, Nick Locurto, Ethan Gibson, Owen Petrich and Sam Gates — hit, each singling besides Locurto, who screamed a double down the left-field line to give the Hokies (18-18, 8-11 ACC) a 3-1 lead. Gibson plated a fourth run before the remainder of the aforementioned singles loaded the bases.
The Panthers (13-13,6-10) pivoted away from left-hander Antonio Doganiero at that point, who’s typically a midweek starter but made his first ACC start on Friday. David Leslie, Pitt’s usual Friday arm who has struggled lately, took over. The right-hander had no more luck than his predecessor.
Pete Daniel poked a two-run single through the left side, and Ethan Ball followed with an RBI double to put the Hokies ahead 8-1. Leslie grew hesitant pitching to the zone, walking Henry Cooke, Lutterman and Grube (with 12 balls to two strikes) around a run-scoring wild pitch.
With the bases still loaded, Leslie brought his fastball back into hittable range, striking out Locurto before Gibson took one into left field for a two-run single. The score was 11-1 before Leslie’s removal and the inning’s subsequent end.
Tech hadn’t scored nine or more runs in an inning since March 28, 2025, when it opened a 13-2 win over Wake Forest with a nine-spot. Friday’s version featured eight hits — only two for extra bases — and three walks across 16 plate appearances. It was a moment of clarity for a lineup aware it lacks power — with players like Gibson who believe it can be strong despite that.
“It’s like scratching an itch that you can’t scratch,” Gibson said of the rally. “Everybody’s electric. Everybody’s behind each other trying to keep that energy as we go on.”
It would be remiss not to mention that the Hokies failed to put a runner on base for the rest of the game. Pitt reliever Daniel McAuliff retired seven straight Tech batters — striking out his first four, including Petrich to close the fourth inning — with a flurry of cutters and silders before righty Noah Czajkowski put away three more.
But, as Grube will tell you, those outs are easier to stomach for an offense that scored nine runs in an inning with even more success before that. The sophomore’s 448-foot solo home run combined with a Petrich RBI single to give Tech a 2-0 lead in the second inning.
“We set the tone,” Grube said. “That was a big thing in the [pre-game] meeting in Weaver — to come out and put the foot on the gas right away.
“We’ve been clicking as an offense since the start of [the Boston College series]. That Sunday was a little rough, but we clicked last Tuesday and we really wanted to start this game strong. I think we’re coming close to a finished product. Those last four innings were unacceptable, but we’re getting really close.
Everyone is past their slumps. We’re seeing it well and everyone is coming together.”
By the Mount St. Mary’s transfer’s long ball in the bottom of the second, Renfrow had yet to allow a baserunner. The junior started his first series opener after shouldering Saturday duties for nearly two months. Szefc called his return to the Friday mound “a strategy thing,” but declined to explain the move.
However, it’s safe to say that it looked something like Game 1 against the Panthers, when Renfrow picked up his second win of the year, notched nine strikeouts and didn't allow a hit until his 13th batter.
“I call him ‘Frow Friday,” Gibson said.
Pitt third baseman Kai Wagner fouled off seven of the Manassas native’s pitches in the fourth inning before finally getting one to drop. He later came around off Joey Baran’s ground out to bring Pitt within 2-1.
Shortstop Caden Dulin hit a solo home run off Renfrow to lead off the sixth, but the righty finished the inning — his last — with two strikeouts around a groundout, his team ahead 11-2. It was a classic Renfrow performance — the kind that paints the disparity between his 6.41 ERA and what he typically brings on Fridays.
“To be a high-level guy, which he is, he’s gonna have to locate better, and I think he did that tonight,” Szefc said. “He knows that you’re not gonna get away with throwing balls to the big part of the plate, and I don’t think he did that. He was good with his command, and that’s what got him through six giving up two runs.”
Pitt didn’t surrender after Renfrow’s exit, though, scoring one earned run on Preston Crowl through the seventh and eighth innings before truly threatening in the ninth.
Josh Berzonski started the inning in his first ACC appearance since March 14, but allowed a walk and consecutive hits, the second scoring the Panthers’ fourth run. They managed two more scores off Brendan Yagesh later that inning, both of which came via free passes with the bases loaded.
Yagesh was removed for Luke Craytor, who, despite the eight-run lead his team had to start the inning, was facing the tying run on deck, the bases loaded and a save on the line. He got catcher Sebastian Pisacreta to fly out to right field in three pitches, though it required a leaping catch by Grube as the career infielder lost the ball for a moment. If it dropped, Pitt would’ve come within striking distance.
“I saw it and thought, ‘I’m just gonna go straight line, book it,’” Grube said. “But then it started carrying. I was like, ‘Oh no,’ and got turned around a little bit. But thank God I’m six-three.”
With its second straight series-opening victory, the Hokies return to English Field on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET (ACCNX) following football’s spring game, vying for their first series win since March 22.
After shaking up his rotation on Friday, Szefc will likely start either Logan Eisenreich or Griffin Stieg, both of which would be making their first Saturday start of the season.
“We're looking for the right combo,” Szefc said of his rotation. “We’re gonna make some good decisions and some not good decisions, but we’re gonna try like hell to make the right ones.”
Box Score: Virginia Tech 11, Pitt 6