You couldn’t have asked for more than what Anthony Arguelles is providing for Virginia Tech this season, stepping into the rotation after spending two seasons in the bullpen at Miami. The Hokies needed a third starter coming into the year after playing without one for half of last season before they turned to Jordan Geber, who then ran out of eligibility last summer.
And you couldn’t have expected anymore than the way he’s stepped into the Friday role — a void that opened once Griffin Green departed three weeks ago with an elbow injury against Georgia Tech. Because in his last 17 ⅓ innings, Arugelles has yet to allow an earned run dating back to the middle innings of his outing against Florida State two weeks ago.
After shoving last Friday against North Carolina — 7 ⅓ shutout innings — Arguelles shoved some more on Saturday against Bowling Green. He twirled 6 ⅔ frames of one-run baseball, though that was unearned. He struck out nine, which set a new Division I career-high, surrendered three hits, three walks and hit one batter in Virginia Tech’s 13-2 victory in Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader at English Field.
“I’ve just been trying to slow the game down when it tends to have a chance to speed up,” Arguelles said after Game 1. “I’m trying to take it one pitch at a time, make the most out of every opportunity, which is every pitch.”
Arguelles played football in the fall growing up — playing quarterback for his high school — and didn’t fully focus on baseball until he arrived at Santa Fe Community College in 2018. But even though he starred on the gridiron, baseball was the sport he always knew he wanted to play at the next level. He was the Dade County, Florida pitcher of the year during his junior season, then a state runner-up in the championship game during his senior year.
“I always knew I probably had a future in baseball, but I loved football,” Arguelles said. “… Like. I didn’t play fall baseball games because I was out playing football.”
Baseball is a sport that has always been in Arguelles’s blood. He’s the son of a former professional baseball player and the Major League scout that discovered Boston Red Sox legend David Ortiz in the Dominican Republic, and then signed him with the Seattle Mariners — Fernando Arguelles.
And the sport he loved most sent him on a journey that took him to Sante Fe, then to Miami for two seasons before finally arriving in Blacksburg, where he made an instant impact and is now considered an MLB Draft prospect. Arguelles started the season as the Sunday guy at Charleston, tossing four innings, yielding one run and learning more and more with each start.
He made his first ACC start against Boston College, surrendering two runs in five innings — which is more than enough from a Sunday guy. Arguelles returned to Miami the next week, where he threw 3 ⅓ innings and allowed two runs. He turned in his best start at Pitt a week later — he pitched into the sixth before he was pulled.
And all of that — after, really, his only dud against then-No. 5 Virginia — has set him up for his best stretch as a starter at Virginia Tech. In his last four outings, Arguelles has thrown 30 ⅔ innings, yielding six earned runs during that span, striking out 26 hitters.
“I just feel like it’s always been a mental battle at this level for me,” Arguelles said. “… I’ve learned how to approach things [as a veteran, in a different way] from when I was young. It’s easy to get two guys on and then crumble and feel bad or sorry for yourself.
“I’ve been telling some of our younger guys, ‘No one is going to feel sorry for you — especially in this league, the ACC. No one is looking at you saying, ‘Oh, I feel sorry for that kid, let me stop, like this should go better for him.’ They see you down and they want to put you away, so [I’ve learned] to continually get up in the count and invite the contact and make good pitches.’”
Arguelles has been making his best pitches at the best time, too. The Hokies are chasing a postseason berth — and with the ACC’s off week this weekend, there’s no margin for error. Sitting at No. 50 in the RPI entering Saturday, Virginia Tech couldn’t afford a loss to a team struggling as much as Bowling Green.
As he took the mound on Saturday for the series opener, he looked confident. He fired his fastball past Bowling Green hitters and made their knees buckle with his breaking pitches — something he did to the second batter of the afternoon. He did that over and over for 17 more outs before his day ended with two outs in the sixth inning.
Game 1 Box Score: Virginia Tech 13, Bowling Green 2
Game 2
The nightcap of the weekend doubleheader went about as expected for Virginia Tech, who continued to pound Bowling Green in a 12-0 victory. Drue Hackenberg shoved for six innings while the offense picked up timely hit after timely hit, turning the bases into a merry go-round.
Carson Jones continued his tear with a lead-off knock to kick off the bottom of the first, though he was left stranded. That hit came after he was 4-for-5 in Game 1 with two singles and two home runs.
He came up again with two runners on in the second and drove them both home with a two-RBI double that put Tech on top, 2-0. Then Chris Cannizzaro singled home Jones before the inning came to a close.
In the third, after Hackenberg set the side down in order, Clay Grady smashed his fourth home of the year to lead off the bottom half. And the bats exploded in the fourth. Christian Martin doubled home Carson DeMartini and Grady followed with a two-RBI single. Sam Tackett then launched his second homer of the season, scoring Gehrig Ebel, with two outs. Cannizzaro and Garrett Michel both drove in runs with singles.
By the end of the fourth, Tech led by 11 and had outscored the Falcons 24-2 halfway through Game 2 of the doubleheader.
The only other run for either side came in the seventh for the Hokies. Michel led off the inning with a double to center, and Lucas Donlon brought him home with a single, extending the lead to 12-0.
Matthew Siverling took over from Hackenberg in the seventh and Tommy Szczepanski closed the door in the final two frames, sealing the Hokies’ victory.
Game 2 Box Score: Virginia Tech 12, Bowling Green 0
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Thanks Chris for the recap, hope this late season rally is going to be enough to let them play a LOT longer this year.
They need a good result in the last two ACC series. IF 2-1 vs both, good chance of making the cut. A 0.500 (1-2 and 2-1) a good maybe. A 1-2 vs both that is a no go. So let’s hope for VT sweeping both and then that should do it.
GO HOKIES!!!