No. 14 Virginia Tech Baseball Drops Friday Game To Bryant, 7-3

By: Chris Hirons | Virginia Tech SMA 2023

David Bryant and Virginia Tech didn’t have a successful Friday against Bryant in a 7-3 loss. (Virginia Tech sports photography)

Right as Virginia Tech was putting last Friday’s loss behind itself – one in which it scored two runs – those same woes came back to bite the Hokies in their first Friday game as English Field this season. 

Sixteen team strikeouts, waiting on timely hits that never came and a base running miscue all added up to a losing formula in the No. 14 Hokies’ (3-2) loss to Bryant (1-3), 7-3.

“Give them credit, their arms were good,” Tech head coach John Szefc told reporters after the loss. “It was really good – a lot better than what the numbers show.”

Everything unraveled quickly and the Hokies didn’t do the small things correctly, but that’s baseball. Those days will happen, especially in a season that lasts for more than 50 games. On Friday, though, nothing really went Virginia Tech’s way from the very beginning.

Regular Friday starter Griffin Green yielded six runs over his five-plus innings of work, though the box score looked worse than it actually was. Six pitches into the afternoon, following a five-pitch walk and a hit-by-pitch, Tech pitching coach Ryan Feacteau walked out to the mound and tried to settle Green down. It eventually worked, just not right away.

Green surrendered a RBI single to Jake Gustin, then settled down. He used a chopper to David Bryant at short for the first out and then got Carmine Petosa to ground out to first. A runner came in to score on Petosa’s groundout, but Green ended the inning by striking out John Hosmer.

As Tech walked off the field, it trailed 2-0, an unfamiliar place from where it was last season. Yet, the Hokies almost scored those two runs instantly when Bryant walked to lead-off the bottom half and then Chris Cannizzaro followed with a base hit. The pair moved to second on a wild pitch, but the next three hitters were the first victims of Bryant starter Coleman Picard’s 12 punchouts.

In essence, Picard shoved. He toyed hitters with a fastball, a change-up and a slider, and he located very well. His fastball stuck around 93 while his slider was in the low 80s with a spin rate over 2,500 RPMs. Picard only yielded three hits, a run and a walk on 95 pitches in five innings.

“He was throwing sliders and the breaking balls for strikes, which he didn’t do last weekend,” Szefc said. “But our guys never adjusted. The [pitch] combinations were really good.”

In the top of the second with a runner on first, Jackson Phinney drove a pitch left up in the zone by Green over the left field wall for a two-run homer. Green bounced back quickly with three-straight groundouts, but his offense faced a 4-0 deficit. Tech got a run back in the bottom half when Christian Martin – who recorded a multi-hit game in each of his three starts – doubled home Garrett Michel with two outs. 

“I’ve just prepared well,” Martin, who doubled last Sunday and then tripled on Tuesday, said. “I’ve had confidence at the plate and when I get chances in the game, I’ve been confident.”

Both starters threw clean third, fourth and fifth innings. Picard departed once the fifth was completed; Green went out for a little bit longer in the sixth. But that’s where his start ended after allowing a lead-off single and then a hit-by-pitch.

“All the credit to [Picard], he threw a lot of breakers,” left fielder Cannizzaro said. “He threw those a lot more than his fastball – I was sitting on those a lot so that helped me.”

Green was pulled for Matthew Siverling, who forced a fly out to the only batter he faced. Christian Worley came in next and had success against his first foe before allowing James Myler to double both the runners on base home – and just like that, Virginia Tech trailed 6-1.

In the bottom half of the sixth, Cannizzaro singled up the middle and then advanced to second on a pitch that Chase Jeter bounced. On the next pitch, Carson DeMartini plated Cannizzaro with a double to pull Tech to within four, 6-2.

Jack Hurley grounded out to first on Tech’s next at-bat and advanced DeMartini to third. But DeMartini was then left stranded two outs later.

In the seventh, both teams scored their final runs of the day. With no outs, Bryant’s Gavin Noriega doubled home Caden Dunline, who reached on a hit-by-pitch. And then in the bottom half, Bryant drove in Eddie Eisert for the Hokies with a two-out single up the middle.

Bryant’s Brett Wichrowski and a combination of Brady Kirtner, Andrew Sentlinger and Tyler Dean for Virginia Tech finished off the final two innings. Nothing went in the Hokies’ favor – it was just one of those days.

There is a lot of baseball still in the Hokies’ future – 51 games, maybe more – and only so much can be taken from an outing shown by Picard. Tech was been in this position before after it dropped last weekend’s opener to Charleston and then came back to win the series on Saturday and Sunday. And it worked out of a similar scenario a few times last year.  

A solid showing on Saturday will make an afternoon like this sting a little less.

“[We] just [have to] come back and play our game,” Cannizzaro said. “We’re a really good team. We’re prepared well, as long as we come out and do what we prepared to do, we’re going to be fine. Just kind of came up short today.”

Box Score: Link 

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  2. You guys keep using the term “shoved” in your baseball and softball articles. Maybe I’m just too old to understand the new use of this word but it seems out of context. Please explain to an old guy.

      1. It’s a term that just means he pitched really well. It’s sort of new – I started seeing it a lot in like 2017-2018ish.

        Hope this helps!

  3. Skip Carey – the great ATL Braves announcer – had one of the best truisms about baseball – when the Braves started the season with 13(?) wins in 1991 (?) – and then got clobbered in the 14th game by a team in last place.

    “Every team wins 54 games. Every team loses 54 games. It’s the other 54 games that decide who wins championships. This was one of those 54 games.” He smiled while saying this – and then said – “It’s hard to tell whether this was one of the games that a team just loses – or was it one of the other 54 games!”

  4. Already this team has lost 2 games that they should have never lost. Not impressive. This team seems to be extremely over rated. Hate to see how many games they lose once they get in to ACC play.

    1. It’s baseball. This happens. Even the best teams get beat. If you read the article, you’ll see there are 51 games left. No reason to even worry about panicking.

    2. Thank you, for letting us all know, that we can save time, and ignore Hokie Baseball 2023.

      T.I.C.

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