With its series victory over No. 7 Virginia last weekend, new life was found in Virginia Tech. The Hokies begin the second half of their season with a doubleheader at Duke.
While most teams around the country are playing Thursday-Friday-Saturday in observance of Easter, the Blue Devils and Hokies will play a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon after Friday’s and Saturday’s rainout.
Duke sort of just rolled over and let the Hokies sweep them in the last series of the 2022 regular season. That meant Tech won the ACC outright on the final day. This year, the Blue Devils (19-10, 6-6 ACC) have split their four ACC series. They beat Clemson and Pitt but lost to No. 2 Wake Forest and No. 13 North Carolina, though they have yet to be swept.
The Hokies (17-10, 4-8 ACC), who are more talented than their record might indicate, won their first ACC series of the season last weekend vs. UVa after three-straight series losses to No. 9 Boston College, No. 20 Miami, and Pitt.
Virginia Tech did not play a mid-week game this week; Duke beat No. 14 Campbell on Tuesday, 15-6, at home.
Below are the broadcast designations for the weekend:
Sunday, April 9: 1 p.m. ET, ACC Network Extra
Sunday, April 9: 45 minutes after the conclusion of Game 1, ACC Network Extra
Projected starting pitching matchups:
Game 1: Drue Hackenberg (6.51 ERA in 37 ⅓ innings) vs. Jason White (3.74 ERA in 21 ⅔ innings)
Game 2: Griffin Green (7.18 ERA in 31 ⅓ innings) vs. Alex Gow (4.50 ERA in 24 innings)
Tech is starting to get healthy once again. Henry Weycker and Kiernan Higgins were both available last weekend and should be this weekend in Durham. The only top bullpen arm that is hurt heading into the weekend is Christian Worley, whom Tech head coach John Szefc said is “not in a great spot” after the Friday Virginia game.
Chris Cannizzaro is working through a bad bone bruise in his hand and was able to provide production from the DH spot on Sunday.
As a team, Tech is third in average in the ACC (.311) and second in home runs (57) entering the weekend. Duke is ninth in average (.290) and sixth in homers (48). The Blue Devils don’t run a lot, but they’re third in the ACC in steal attempts (48), while 38 of them have been successful. Tech has stolen 28 bags in 36 attempts, good for eighth place in the conference in steals.
Duke, like UVa, doesn’t hit for a ton of power, but it has guys that’ll grind out at-bats as it has six qualified players hitting over .300: Alex Mooney (.347), Jay Beshears (.342), Andrew Fischer (.330), Gio DiGiacomo (.323), MJ Metz (.304) and Tyler Albright (.304).
Tech, too, has six players hitting over .300 in Cannizzaro (.366), Garrett Michel (.354), Clay Grady (.349), Jack Hurley (.349), Carson DeMartini (.330) and Christian Martin (.315). Brody Donay (.356) has started swinging the bat well also, though he’s only played in 15 games, making 12 starts.
If Duke beats Tech, it’ll most likely be through pitching. It has a staff that has the third-best ERA in the ACC (3.61) and is second in strikeouts (343). (Though it would be fair to mention that Virginia entered last weekend with the best team ERA in the ACC at 2.51; after the series, it jumped to 3.09.)
As far as Tech’s postseason status is concerned, D1 Baseball projects the team as a No. 2 seed in the Baton Rouge Regional (LSU — No. 1 overall seed). Still, it’s a good sign for Tech’s chances to make the tournament with little worry.
The committee tries to seed all No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in each region (from No. 1 to No. 32) based on matchups, meaning Tech, based on how the season has gone, would be the unofficial No. 32 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Hokies will seek their second conference series victory in a row this weekend. Both games will be played at Jack Coombs Field in Durham, N.C.
ACC teams ranked in D1 Baseball Poll:
No. 2 Wake Forest
No. 7 Virginia
No. 9 Boston College
No. 13 North Carolina
No. 18 Louisville
No. 20 Miami
Print
Lost game 1, but won game 2