After 2021 Collapse, Hokies Look To Keep This Year’s Ship Righted

It felt like a February morning in Blacksburg, Va., with country music playing out of the overhead speakers and Virginia Tech easing into game preparation with a few rounds of batting practice and warm-up tosses in the outfield. It was March 19 — the morning after the Hokies had lost their fifth-straight game and started 0-4 in ACC play.

There was laughter, smiles and plenty of confidence to go around the diamond. The Hokies didn’t feel any pressure to come out and win that day against Pitt because, well, they believe their nine will come out and beat your nine any day.

Their 18-7 and 5-5 ACC record can back that up.

“I’ve had no complaints, really,” Szefc said after Tuesday’s 6-2 win over Marshall. “Our guys have been pitching well, hitting well. Our mild contributors have become bigger contributors. We’re getting a lot of good production from our better players.”

That cold spell — three one-run losses to ACC teams in a week with a three-run midweek loss to James Madison — was sandwiched in between VT’s 10-1 start. That included two quality wins over Wright State and another against East Carolina, and most recently, eight wins in the last nine games.

And after its 22-6 win against Pitt on March 19 — Tech’s first conference win of the season, sparked by six home runs and six doubles to go along with Drue Hackenberg’s six-inning start — the tide began to turn.

“It definitely gives us some more confidence,” Jack Hurley said of the 22-6 win on March 19. 

And the belief certainly oozed. 

In the Sunday rubbermatch, VT used four pitchers — most of its main bullpen pieces — and home runs from Nick Biddison and Conor Hartigan sparked Tech to a 7-1 win and its first conference series of the year.

“Like I said yesterday, [the first series win] was long overdue,” Tech head coach John Szefc said on March 20.

Since, Virginia Tech’s accomplishments include a ninth-inning comeback win at then-No. 12 Notre Dame — the rest of the series was canceled due to snowy weather — and a series victory at then-No. 18 North Carolina this past weekend for the first time in program history.

Tech took the series at home against the Tar Heels last season, too — one that put the Hokies on the national landscape. They left that series 7-2 overall record (4-2 ACC) and continued on to as high as No. 17 in the rankings and were 14-7 in conference through a mid-April sweep of Wake Forest.

But from there, Virginia Tech struggled. Loss after loss in conference play began to pile up. The Hokies, once atop the Coastal Division standings on April 16, went 2-15 in the ACC as the injuries to their pitching staff continued down the stretch and they stumbled into the ACC Championships for the first time in Szefc’s tenure.

They lost all three of their weekend starters and their best bullpen arm to professional baseball over the off-season, but they’ve somehow gotten better. What’s led to the Hokies’ resurgence? A balanced lineup? Inexperienced, but effective, starting pitching? A deeper bullpen?

Yes, yes and yes.

Virginia Tech boasts a potential top-10 draft pick in Gavin Cross. He moved from right field to center and has continued to build upon his breakout 2021 season that saw him shoot up the draft boards.

But he isn’t the most dangerous hitter in the lineup this season. Rather, it’s been Jack Hurley, who struggled at times last year as a freshman (.251).

Entering this weekend, fresh off being named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List, Hurley leads the nation in batting average (.464 in 97 at-bats), ranks second in slugging percentage (.928) and third in on-base-plus-slugging percentage (1.459). He also boasts a team-leading 34 RBIs and is tied with Eduardo Malinowski for the team lead with 10 home runs.

Hurley’s riding a 24-game hit streak into the weekend, too, which is tied with Steve Domecus’s record for the longest since Tech joined the ACC prior to the 2005 season. Tim Buheller’s 32-gamer set in 1985 is the longest in program history.

Combine Hurley’s superhuman season with Cade Hunter’s revitalized year from behind the plate. He’s hitting .409 and has reached base in all 24 of his appearances. A year ago? He broke his hamate bone and only hit .178 in 18 games.

He complements Hurley and Cross well in the No. 6-hole and he’s hit a career-high eight homers and driven in 33 runs.

The rest of the lineup includes second-year shortstop Tanner Schobel (.368 average and five homers), freshman third baseman Carson DeMartini (.334 average and eight homers) and Nick Biddison, who came off of shoulder surgery last season and has a .415 clip at the lead-off spot in the order.

“We’ve gotten a lot of different contributions from a bunch of different guys,” Szefc said Tuesday. “We have a lot of guys that have been very good and we’re trying to work guys in that haven’t gotten a ton of opportunities yet. We’re trying to get [Conor Hartigan] going a little bit if we can – the rest of those guys have been pretty consistent for the most part.”

This Virginia Tech lineup is deep — one that ranks second in the nation in home runs per game with 2.23, only trailing No. 1 Tennessee. That’s something everyone knew coming into the season, but it’s the pitching — namely the bullpen — that’s stepped up the most.

It’s rare for a head coach to publicly lay out an ideal pitching plan, and even weeks later, watch it unfold exactly how he wished. But that’s exactly what happened when Szefc turned — and continues to turn — to a combination of Henry Weycker, Graham Firoved, Jonah Hurney and Kiernan Higgins during Tech’s first true test against Wright State a few weeks ago.

“Higgins and Hurney have been very good, so have Firoved and Weycker,” Szefc said Tuesday. “We’ve played 25 games now so we’re almost halfway through the regular season so we’ve got some good ACC games coming.”

And the four, who all come out of the bullpen, have delivered results that were desperately needed last season with a 3.17 ERA in 64 and ⅔ innings. Tech, too, has gotten solid production from other relievers like Ryan Metz, Sean Fisher, Brady Kirtner, Ryan Kennedy and Peter Sakellaris.

Meanwhile, sophomore Griffin Green (3.58 ERA in 32 and ⅔ innings) and freshman Drue Hackenberg (2.37 ERA in 38 innings) have anchored the starting staff. When the two are on during a weekend series, it allows the offense to settle in and Szefc is able to set up the matchups he wants late in the game. And when the offense is clicking and Green and Hackenberg can work five, six or even seven innings, it’s been the recipe for success.

“We just got to stay healthy,” Szefc said Tuesday. “We lost [Anthony Simonelli] and [Chris Gerard] around the same time last year. It kind of put a lot of pressure on everybody else. We kinda need a few more pitchers to come along to be major contributors.”

Szefc has expressed, repeatedly, that Virginia Tech will do anything to win. The Hokies worry about tomorrow later. All hands are on deck. Every single night. 

As long as Tech can piece together a winning formula every night — one that has placed them as the first team among the “Last 4 In” in D1 Baseball’s midseason NCAA Tournament projections and predicts Tech will make the tournament for the first time since 2013 — and as long as it can avoid last year’s midseason slide, the Hokies will be just fine.

“We’re getting there,” Szefc said, “one guy at a time.”

Weekend Schedule vs. No. 21 NC State:

Friday: 7 p.m. ET, ACCNX
Saturday: 3 p.m. ET, ACCNX
Sunday: 1 p.m. ET, ACCNX