A fiery Virginia Tech head coach John Szefc showed the same fight that he often talks about when describing his student-athletes during a 9-8 loss to Clemson on Saturday night at English Field.
“We had so many opportunities to stop the bleeding on offense,” associate head coach Kurt Elbin told reporters after the loss. “We could’ve added some runs in the middle there — it was a tough one.”
The Hokies (29-18, 11-14 ACC) had just tied the Tigers (34-17, 16-10 ACC) in the bottom of the sixth with Brody Donay’s RBI single. Three hitters later, Szefc took exception to home plate umpire Thomas Newsome’s two called strikes on David Bryant as he stood at the dish with the go-ahead run on third — though none of the pitches were particularly close, according to the team’s TrackMan radar.
As Szefc normally does, he toed the line very carefully after Newsome called the first strike, but after the second, he let loose. He pointed his finger and gestured in an animated discussion with Newsome before he was finally tossed.
Szefc retreated to the Weaver Center in left field, where he watched the rest of the game as associate head coaches Kurt Elbin and Ryan Fecteau took over.
With the score tied at four, here’s how the rest of the game unfolded: Tech and Clemson traded zeros in the seventh and eighth innings before combining to score nine runs in the ninth.
Brady Kirtner was attempting to work his second shutout inning in the final frame after relieving Henry Weycker, who had just posted 4 ⅓ scoreless innings after relieving starter Anthony Arguelles.
To begin the inning, Kirtner yielded a double, then a single to put runners on the corners with no outs. Working a 3-2 count, Clemson’s Will Taylor reached on an infield single that pushed his team out in front for the first time since the sixth, 5-4.
Andrew Sentlinger came in for Kirtner immediately after and got an out via a fielder’s choice, but with runners on the corners, Billy Amick roped a ground rule double that scored another. An intentional walk immediately followed to load the bases and the coaching staff went with Peter Sakellaris, who then walked the first hitter he faced to push another runner across and then surrendered a two-RBI single.
“When we’re as [unhealthy] as we are in the bullpen, we have to go out and make plays in that situation,” Elbin said. “[Clemson] is tough offensively. … It’s tough to watch.”
With Clemson’s lead at five, 9-4, Griffin Stieg worked out of the inning before the Hokies showed the same fight their head coach did just a few innings prior.
Tech went on to score four runs, almost pushing across the tying run before a controversial play at second base ended its final push.
Bryant opened the bottom of the ninth with a single before Chris Cannizzaro followed with a two-run homer. Garrett Michel, six pitches later, followed suit with a solo home run of his own. Carson Jones battled for five pitches before striking out for the first out of the inning.
Trailing 9-7, Jack Hurley continued the rally with a full count single into left field before Carson DeMartini advanced him to third with a base knock of his own. Eddie Eisert, who pinch-hit for Gehrig Ebel, delivered one of the biggest hits of his Tech career with an RBI double that scored Hurley, while DeMartini held up at third.
Clemson chose to intentionally walk Christian Martin with one out to set up a potential game-ending double play as Clay Grady strode to the plate. With an 0-2 count, Grady grounded to second, but he would’ve tied the game with an RBI fielder’s choice if Martin had slid into second base.
But Martin didn’t slide. He barreled into Clemson’s shortstop, attempting to break up the double play. As Grady crossed first base safely, beating out a “bang-bang” play — that would have tied the game — it was quickly overruled by second base umpire Christopher Booker, who was calling both Martin and Grady out for Martin’s interference.
“We’ve been up-and-down in [close games] this year, to see them fight with their backs against the wall, it was good to see that,” Elbin said. “If you’ve watched us play, we’re a young team and emotionally coming back is tough.”
All of that — Tech’s game-tying single in the sixth, followed by Szefc’s first ejection since May 2018 three hitters later and a topsy-turvy ninth inning — led to one of the craziest games of Tech’s season.
Box Score: No. 16 Clemson 9, Virginia Tech 8
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The pitching is just not good enough.
Hokies swept…..that should do it for the season, no tournament this year….
Yep. You are right. Gonna end up close to the bottom of the coastal. Big disappointment. Got to upgrade the pitching or we’re gonna stay in the bottom of the coastal.
Our base running was what lost the game. Many many fundamental mistakes. Put the blame on the coaches for that.
Home plate umpire was bad last night, for both sides. Don’t blame Szefc for getting mad.
There is a line between aggressive and out-of-control – I think VT crossed that line a couple of times last night. Hopefully they can bounce back and take one game out of the series.