The Hokies succeeded in turning their season around to finish on the plus side of .500 for the year, but post season appearances still depend on finishing out with wins. A big bite came out of that apple with a quality start from Brett Renfrow and a 5-1 win in Game 1 over Clemson.
This is Commencement for Virginia Tech, but the festivities certainly aren’t interrupting the final weekend of baseball at Atlantic Union Bank Park, that’s for sure. The games were moved to a less than usual Thursday – Saturday
run to accommodate the flurry of graduation events and probably give everyone a rest and seeding prep day before the ACC Tournament starts.
The Hokies currently stand at 28-22 overall with a dead even 14-14 ACC record, after the Game 1 win against Clemson. A series win would put them in much better seeding shape for the ACC, and certainly a sweep, against a Quad 1 team to end the regular season, would be a serious factor in getting off the bubble and into the NCAA Regionals.
Earlier this week, Tech and Marshall agreed to cancel the final game of their two-game non-conference home and home matchup. Marshall wasn’t going to be of much positive consequence with a win and certainly would have hurt the Hokies with a loss. It turned out to be a smart decision to rest up, spare the team the long trek to Huntington and back. The starters weren’t stressed, and the bull pen has been recycled from the 1-1 split from last weekend’s sort of disappointing pitching performance against UNCG. That actually might have prompted (speculation here…) the cancellation of the Marshall final game. Those non-conference matchups are generally pitch by committee assignments and the loss and win (13-18 and 11-9) showed the great need for the bull pen to take a breather.
There are still two games left in the regular season and that means the Hokies finish above .500 in a year when the first half just wasn’t going their way. The 2nd half recovery wasn’t smooth, but it happened and built some steam. That was a good thing to start this final series on a winning note.
Game 1 – Clemson – Win – 5-1
The Tigers rolled into Blacksburg facing similar prospect for their post-season hopes. The Tigers had a better non-conference record than the Hokies but are suffering from a sub-par ACC record at (30-24, 9-19 ACC). Their reason to fight hard is for the potential of a first-round bye in the ACC Tournament set to start on May 19th. Now, with baseball bye games can backfire badly, so that first round break might not be the respite that the Hokies would like it to be. A plus .500 ACC record could net them a first day bye.
The big mission for the Hokies in this series is not really just a series win, but a sweep. They are playing for both ACC seeding, and a shot at making the regional NCAA tournament. Tech is continually noted as being on the bubble but a sweep of a Quad 1 and a 30-win season and 16-14 ACC record would go far in convincing the selection committee that Tech is worth a slot in the tournament.
Renfrow’s Turnaround Made It Happen
The big problem that the Hokies ran into was last season where there were serious injuries to the starting pitching lineup, and major struggles enough in the bullpen to send Coach Szefc out to look for a new assistant coach for the team. Lest we forget the offense, Renfrow’s revival was critical, but the Hammerin’ Hokies struggled at the plate for most of the season. The defense was good, but the Hokies struggled to generate consistent offense and certainly missed on the opportunities to win if they could have controlled their plate appearances.
The balance rules of baseball are always weighing the offense with the pitching, and Tech just didn’t achieve that balance until the 2nd half. Renfrow cemented his comeback in Game 1, and the offense scored just enough to keep the game out of reach for any late Clemson rallies.
Renfrow’s performance was excellent in the first game. He scattered 6 hits over 7 and 1/3rd innings and only gave up a single run in the top of the 7th. He netted 5 strikeouts and only walked a single batter. He did push his pitch count to 104, but his 6 innings of shutout ball with a balanced defensive effort put the Hokies in a position to win the game. Here’s the tough part. Aside from the opening inning run off of a Henry Cooke RBI single, the Clemson starter and reliever hung goose eggs on the Hokies up until a big Tech rally in the bottom of the 6th.
The coaching staff, looking at Renfrow’s pitch count, and seeing the Tigers put up a solid run combination in the 7th, pulled the plug on Renfrow and moved in Preston Crowl, who has become a solid reliever, to close the door on the Clemson attempt to rally up. Crowl finished the game without a run scoring and he didn’t walk anyone, either. He did grab two strikeouts, and no one from the Tigers put the ball into play where a Hokie wasn’t there to get it for the out.
Sometimes Enough Offense is Just Enough
The Tech offense wasn’t glowing for Game 1, but it did get the job done. The first run of the game was followed by a bit of an over-eager attempt to get an extra player home on Cooke’s deep shot to center field, but the throw at the plate was in time, and Ethan Gibson was called out. Sam Grube’s single run stood alone until the bottom of the 6th, when Sam Gates drew a walk and Pete Daniel blasted a triple into center field. Gates scored, and that sort of ignited a bit of a Hokie rally. Pete Daniel scored on pinch hitting Hudson Luterman’s ground rule double. The Owen Petrich blasted a tater over the left field wall to tack on the final two runs of the inning.
That would prove to be enough with Crowl keeping Clemson off the bags for the final frame and a half, the Tiger run in the top of the 7th ended up being inconsequential.
This afternoon’s game starts at 3:00 after all of the Commencement excitement from the final jump at Lane as new alumni from the Class of 2026 wrapped up their college experience.
Let’s see another win.
