Errors costly in 4-1 loss to UNC

Virginia Tech got a great effort from starting pitcher Eddie Campbell, but errors and a lack of timely hitting doomed the Hokies to a 4-1 loss to UNC in the ACC Championship Game.

Campbell got the start despite starting just four games this season.  Pete Hughes clearly wanted to save Joe Mantiply for the NCAA Tournament, though Mantiply did pitch the final inning for the Hokies.

Campbell went seven innings and allowed just two earned runs.  Both runs were scored on plays where Tech committed an error turning a double play.  In baseball, you can’t assume that a double play will happen, which means both runs were earned, but it’s fair to say that Campbell was very close to being perfect against the Tar Heels.  Both runs came in the first three innings, and he cruised after that.

UNC tacked on two more runs in the eighth inning against Joe Mantiply.  Both of those runs were unearned.

Despite the errors, the Hokies still had their chances.  They loaded the bases in the fifth and sixth innings, and could only come away with one run.  They had no outs with the bases loaded in the sixth, but Chad Morgan grounded into a double play.  That scored a run, but it killed Tech’s chances of a big inning.

The Hokies finished the season 38-20, while the Tar Heels finished 52-8.

Virginia Tech will be playing in the NCAA Tournament, but they’ll have to wait to find out if they are a #2 seed or if they’ll be hosting a regional as a #1 seed.

5 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. Don’t know from TV but from my view in the stands there were a couple throws to first that got Hokie runners out but looked questionable to me. I even had a Tar Heel fan behind me who questioned some of them as well. Anyhow, the 8th inning was horrible. Glad they made it to the game though.

  2. FYI: Pinder made the error on the bunt play at third. I’m not sure if people picked up on it but the normal third basemen was playing short at the time. It makes sense on the wheel play to have the more athletic short stop charge and have the taller player charge from short to cover thrid base. What was weird, they swapped positions for the play and didn’t have the wheel play in effect.

  3. Well, one of the regional sites is Blacksburg, English Field, Virginia Tech. So that is great news.

  4. I don’t understand why only one game decides the ACC champion. Why is there not best of 3 or 5?

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