Ben Watson celebrated accordingly after his first-inning homer — the Hokies' lone run on Saturday. (Virginia Tech athletics)

In a pitcher’s duel that saw seven scoreless innings, Virginia Tech came up short in Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Virginia to close the regular season.

All four runs came in the first three innings before both staffs settled in and held their ground in the rubber match. Cavaliers (31-17, 16-11 ACC) starter Tomas Valincius carried the visitors for 6 ⅔ innings while Mathieu Curtis and Brendan Yagesh did most of the heavy lifting for the Hokies (30-24, 12-18) in a combined 5 ⅔ innings. UVa used three pitchers while Tech used five.

“It was a really well-pitched game,” Tech head coach John Szefc said. “Our guys pitched really well. If you had told me at the beginning that we’d give up three runs to those guys… That’s one of the best-pitched games we’ve had all year, considering the fact that we didn’t really get a true start. … We just didn’t score. You’ve got to score to win.”

Virginia’s offense got things started in the opening frame when center fielder Aidan Teel roped a leadoff double to left field. Three batters later, cleanup man Chris Arroyo hammered a two-out, two-run home run to center field — his second long ball of the series after going yard on Thursday in Game 1.

The Hokies struck back immediately when Ben Watson extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a leadoff home run to left field that was carried by the wind. He also got on base in the seventh via a walk and advanced to third, which gave his team a chance. It was a solid individual outing in the final game at English Field for the West Chester, Pa., native.

“He’s one of the better hitters we’ve had here,” Szefc said of Watson. “… The best thing I can tell you is this: When you’ve got the game on the line, when we need a leverage at-bat, that’s the guy you want at the plate.”

“Slamming the hammer one more time is something I’ll cherish and remember forever,” Watson said.

Up 2-1, UVa produced the fourth and final run of the game in the third off another two-out home run. It was catcher Jacob Ference this time around, and his homer ventured 467 feet to left field to put the Cavaliers up 3-1. Like Arroyo, it was his second of the weekend.

It was quiet after that. Both sides produced some hits and got on base but stranded runners. UVa left at least one on in every inning and had 13 for the game while Tech finished with eight, including two each in the fifth, sixth and seventh.

“If you’re going to be successful in series or games like this, your best players, they’ve got to do something special,” Szefc said. “And we pitched good enough, but we just didn’t really capitalize when we had guys on base.”

The Hokies allowed 11 total hits, but the combined efforts of Chase Swift, Jacob Exum, Curtis, Yagesh and LeJeune silenced the Cavaliers for much of the day. Swift earned his first career ACC start and threw the first frame before Exum pitched a scoreless second.

Curtis, Yagesh and LeJeune went the distance from there, with the only blemish being Ference’s third-inning homer. Tech racked up 10 strikeouts, paced by Curtis’ four. And though UVa registered a hit in all but the second, the Hokies were able to shut the door.

“I started working on going over the head in the windup,” Curtis said. “I haven’t done that all year, so we worked on that in the pen on Tuesday or Wednesday, and it kind of just clicked from there. … [It adds] more rhythm. I feel like I get down the mound harder, more momentum towards the catcher.”

The Cavaliers never went away, led by their superb 7-for-16 mark with two outs. Ference doubled in that spot in the fifth, Teel did the same in the sixth and Henry Godbout followed suit in the seventh.

Their best opportunity came in the eighth when Luke Hanson and Teel knocked back-to-back singles with one out. Yet, Eric Becker’s bunt attempted popped up to Tech catcher Henry Cooke before LeJeune entered and struck out Henry Ford.

On the flip side, the Hokies couldn’t generate enough offense — a theme of the series in some ways. UVa used just eight pitchers over the three games, paced by terrific starts from Jay Woolfolk on Thursday and Valincius on Saturday. Their combined numbers over 14 ⅔ innings: 11 hits but just three runs with two walks, 12 strikeouts and 190 pitches, 126 of which were strikes.

When Tech found success against a starter early in this year’s Commonwealth Clash — Bradley Hodges on Friday — it had a successful day.

“He mixed well and he held his velocity,” Szefc said of Valincius. “… That’s a high-level arm.”

Hokies designated hitter David Lewis, who had the game-winning home run in Game 2, singled in the second before Cam Pittman followed him with a single, putting runners on the corners with one out. Virginia got the next two outs, though, the first of 10 straight batters retired by Valincius.

It wasn’t until pinch hitter Anderson French singled in the fifth that Tech had a baserunner, but despite getting two on when Hudson Lutterman was hit by a pitch, they were stranded. In the sixth, a two-out single from Lewis put two on, yet Pittman grounded out.

Lutterman barely beat out a single in the seventh with one out, but he illegally stepped on the defensive side of the double bag at first base, which was picked up on after an umpire review. UVa then tagged him for the second out.

Behind him, Watson walked and Clay Grady singled, but Sam Tackett’s groundout ended the inning — another missed opportunity. Virginia Tech only had one baserunner in the final two frames.

“I think we had a lot of good, tough at-bats,” Watson said. “We just couldn’t get that big hit with guys on. I think that was the story. One hit away.”

The Hokies’ season continues this upcoming week at the single-elimination ACC Championship in Durham, N.C., where they’ll be the No. 12 seed and play No. 13 seed Stanford at approximately 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Tech would have to win five times in five days to reach the title game — an extremely tall task, though its postseason hopes hinge on a deep run at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

Box Score: Virginia 3, Virginia Tech 1 
ACC Championship Bracket: Click here