Virginia Tech needed just another shutdown frame from the bullpen — in whichever way it could get something — to turn a slow start into another come-from-behind victory. That was the margin between floating and failing on Tuesday night against Liberty.
That was the difference the Hokies had earned, one inning at a time, hoping that just one timely hit would fall in the fourth, or even the fifth inning. Something that wouldn’t have continued the inconsistent trend the offense was on for Tech (18-12, 5-9 ACC).
But nothing panned out the way it was supposed to, not this time at least, in a 7-3 loss that the Flames (15-17, 6-6 ASUN) took which ended Tech’s 15-straight midweek victory streak.
“We were thoroughly beaten offensively on the mound,” Tech head coach John Szefc told reporters after the loss. “… That should not happen.”
Liberty led 3-2 entering the top of the seventh inning but hadn’t strung together multiple hits in an inning since Three Hillier doubled home a pair of runs with two outs in the first inning. Grant Umberger, who was fantastic in his midweek start at VMI two weeks ago, allowed three runs to score in the top of the first after loading the bases.
That put the Hokies behind the 8-ball early. Tech, despite recording six base runners in the first four innings, stranded five of them. The only run to score in the first four frames was when Carson Jones reached on a two-out error in the second that let Garrett Michel score from second.
In the fifth, Carson DeMartini put together a productive at-bat that produced a bases-loaded sacrifice fly, which cut the Flames’ lead to a run, 3-2.
Other than that, though, both sides traded zeros. Until the seventh, Tech’s Kiernan Higgins and Jacob Exum held Liberty scoreless. Trey Cooper (one unearned run) and Trey Carter were fantastic as well for the Flames.
But in the seventh, Exum yielded a lead-off double and a bunt single that put runners on the corners with no outs. Jonah Hurney entered to put out the fire until a passed ball allowed Jake Lazzaro to score. With a strikeout squeezed in between, he surrendered a full-count walk and a single to load the bases before departing.
Next came Griffin Stieg, who pitched to contact, but just couldn’t get the final out of the frame. Jaylen Guy, Liberty’s cleanup hitter, snuck a bloop single into center that scored a run. After that, Gray Betts roped another single through the right side that scored two more runners. And all of a sudden, Tech, who entered the inning trailing by a run, found itself with a five-run deficit, 7-2.
“[We] were just trying to run different guys out there and see who could do what,” Szefc said. “Nothing really seemed to work in that inning.”
Andrew Sentliger finished the frame off with a shallow fly ball to left field and then another fly ball to right.
“It was good that [Sentlinger] got out of it,” Szefc said. “He was good and as productive as he could be. None of that was on him, it was because of other factors.
The bullpen, which had shown strides of improvement from its early season struggles — due to injuries and inconsistent results — over the past few games couldn’t finish the job. And it will be one man short for the rest of the season after Szefc told reporters that Christian Worley will be shut down for the remainder of the year.
That placed Tech at a crossroads: score five runs to steal another midweek game against Liberty, get the bullpen off the hook and push inconsistency questions to another day, or finish the night searching for reasons it didn’t work.
Even though it isn’t the biggest loss in the world and Tech still has a solid chance at making it to the postseason, the ending didn’t go the Hokies’ way.
In the bottom half of the seventh, Jack Hurley led off the inning with a solo home run to right field that cut Liberty’s lead to four. DeMartini drew a walk but wasn’t advanced any further. Jones drew a free pass with two outs in the eighth before Tech went down 1-2-3 in the ninth.
The Hokies didn’t just accept defeat after Liberty hung three runs on them in the first or four runs in the seventh after they had reasons to. That counted for something.
But they couldn’t finish the job, which happens in a marathon season, though that always counts more.
Box Score: Liberty 7, Virginia Tech 3
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Very disappointing game and a disappointing season. Ranked high at the beginning of the year; that’s a kiss of death to most Va Tech teams, especially this team, this year. Pitching is awful and bats wildly inconsistent.
By solid chance to make it to the post season, do you mean the ACC Tournament? The NCAA seems a big climb. 45 in RPI after tonight’s loss.
Chris, thanks for a great write-up on a not so great game. I hate losing to those bums more than to UVA- oh well, maybe next time.