In most of its midweek victories — 13 consecutive ones dating back to last season — Virginia Tech faced very little drama. However, the script flipped recently.
After a pair of losses to Liberty and Radford, the Hokies provided some more late-game fingernail-biting when it completed a two-run comeback in the bottom of the eighth to beat James Madison on Tuesday night at English Field, 7-5.
“A ton of guys come off the bench and give really good at-bats, you know?” Tech head coach John Szefc said. “They walked us 11 times, we only walked them four — we had 23 free bases, that’s the difference.”
Entering the inning, Virginia Tech trailed by a pair, 5-3, before finding a spark. Christian Martin doubled with two outs, Brody Donay wore a pitch off of his back and Garrett Michel walked to load the bases.
David Bryant worked into a 3-1 count before Matt Kleinfelter balked, which allowed Martin to score. Then Bryant took one more pitch to draw a walk that loaded the bases once more. Chris Cannizzaro, who pinch-hit for Sam Tackett, watched four pitches go by, which allowed the game-tying run to score.
Carson Jones, who doubled in the fourth, stepped up and drew the Hokies’ fifth consecutive free pass to drive in the go-ahead run, putting the Hokies up 6-5. And Clay Grady’s RBI single drove in a critical insurance run.
“I think it’s a testament to our mental toughness because [associate head coach Kurt] Elbin talks about it all the time,” Jones said. “… I think being mentally tough was great for us to weather certain situations that aren’t going our way. Going down late in the game like that, I think that shows how much mental toughness we had to be disciplined at the plate, so it was good for our guys to do that.”
But before all of the drama happened, Kiernan Higgins delivered exactly what Virginia Tech has needed in a mid-week game for the past two weeks: A quality start.
“[Higgins] got us off to a good start, he threw some zeros up there,” Szefc said.
It was up to Higgins to stop the midweek bleeding — and he did. In the two previous Tuesday outings, Grant Umberger (vs. Liberty) and Tommy Szczepanski (at Radford) didn’t work past the first inning.
Higgins worked through four frames, striking out as many in the process. He yielded two free passes in the first before setting down nine of the next 13 hitters he faced. The lone run he surrendered was a bloop single with two outs in the fourth — he was inches away from pitching four scoreless innings.
“I was feeling a little sluggish out there [in the first], I wasn’t moving the way I wanted to,” Higgins said. “… From then on, I knew I had to wake up a little bit, so I had [Henry Weycker] slap me before the second and the third. He took a jog in the fourth so I had [director of strength and conditioning coach] Seth Dieters do it. He slapped me in the chest, and I was like, ‘No, the face.’
“He slapped me in the face and got me really good. So, I think those guys helped me wake up a little bit, and from that point on, it was about staying true to my stuff — making sure I’m laying the slider and just getting ahead as much as I could.”
Tech gave Higgins a lead to work with in the third when it used a pair of double steals and a bunt single to score three runs. But after that, the bats quieted and JMU began its comeback. The Dukes scored a run in the fourth off of Higgins, two more in the sixth off of Umberger and then their last two in the seventh with Matthew Siverling on the mound.
But in the eighth, after Siverling set down the side, Tech fought back. Carson DeMartini began the inning with a walk. Eddie Eisert struck out before DeMartini was thrown out trying to steal second.
Yet, a two-out bloop in a midweek went the Hokies way when Martin lofted a double that landed between the left fielder and shortstop. The hit-by-pitch, four consecutive walks and then a balk, was enough to sneak Virginia Tech by James Madison.
“It does a lot for us,” Higgins said of the win. “We’ve dropped a couple midweeks back-to-back here, so making sure that we took care of business tonight, really bouncing back, not giving up… Could’ve easily rolled over there at the end and just let it happen, but … we’re going to fight for each other and that’s what we did.”
Box Score: Virginia Tech 7, James Madison 5
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Way to go guys! Often, a walk’s as good as a hit! Great comeback win! Keep it going this weekend….we’ll be watching and rooting for you!
Walked their way to a victory. Hey, if they are pitching you outside, take the damn walk. Per Moneyball “because he gets on base”. If the pitcher wants to make the batters job easier so much the better.
NOW, get positve waves out their to have clear weather and victories over UNCheaters this weekend.
GO HOKIES!!!