Virginia Tech baseball opens its 2024 campaign on Friday with a three-game road series against Charlotte at Robert & Mariam Hayes Stadium.
It’ll be the 22nd all-time meeting between the two programs dating back to 1980. Last season, the Hokies completed a three-game sweep of the 49ers in early March in Blacksburg to take a 24-17-1 lead in the all-time series. Tech is 10-10 in its trips to the Queen City.
On Thursday afternoon, Tech announced that it will start RHP Brett Renfrow on Opening Day, marking the first time a true freshman opens on the mound for the Hokies in program history. The Manassas, Va., native was praised in recent weeks by head coach John Szefc and fellow pitchers Griffin Stieg and Brady Kirtner, who figure to be the other two starting pitchers in this series.
According to STARS Baseball, Stieg will start on Sunday, leaving Kirtner as the likely Saturday starter. Szefc noted at the team’s media day that the rotation is still a work in progress, so it remains to be seen whether they will be Tech’s primary weekend starters in 2024.
Charlotte is led by head coach Robert Woodard, who enters his fifth season. Woodard served as the Virginia Tech pitching coach from 2014-16.
CLT ended its 2023 season on a torrid heater. In the regular season, it defeated South Carolina twice — once when the Gamecocks were ranked No. 4 and again when they were ranked No. 9 — as well as No. 7 Coastal Carolina. After winning its last five regular season games, it won the Conference-USA championship with five wins in four days.
In the NCAA Regionals, the 49ers defeated site host No. 3 Clemson before losing the Regional Final to No. 16 Tennessee, finishing the year 36-28.
Charlotte made the transition to the American Athletic Conference in the offseason and was picked to finish second in the preseason poll (67 votes), although much of its elite talent from last year’s team is now gone.
Undoubtedly, the biggest loss for Charlotte was outfielder Cam Fisher, who had an incredible 1.320 OPS with 30 home runs and 66 RBI in 2023. It also lost two of its key starting pitchers in Paxton Thompson (4.22 ERA in 64 innings) and Wyatt Hudepohl (4.27 ERA in 105 â…“ innings). Fisher and Hudepohl were both selected in the fourth round of the MLB Draft by the Houston Astros and New York Mets, respectively.
The 49ers only return three hitters who played in 75 percent of their games in 2023 with a minimum of two plate appearances per game. Of their seven highest players in batting average, the only returning player is Brandon Stahlman, a senior infielder who hit .288 with nine home runs and 47 RBI.
Other key returners include senior catcher Kaden Hopson (.240 avg, seven home runs in 63 games), sophomore utility Spencer Nolan (.193 avg) and senior infielder Dante DeFranco (.247 avg).
Charlotte only returns one pitcher who threw more than one inning per game last season: Cameron Hansen, a senior with a 4.66 ERA in 73 ⅓ innings. Hansen figures to be the 49ers’ opening day starter, but with a distinct lack of returning innings in the rest of the pitching staff, it’s difficult to project the rest of the rotation.
The top two returning arms in terms of innings pitched are senior Andrew Spolyar (41) and redshirt sophomore Miles Langhorne (25 ⅓). Another potential starter could be redshirt senior Tony Rossi, who didn’t pitch in 2023 due to an injury, but had a 4.57 ERA in 43 ⅓ IP in 2022.
Times and Streaming Designations:
Friday, Feb. 16: 4 p.m. ET on ESPN+
Saturday, Feb. 17: 2 p.m. ET on ESPN+
Sunday, Feb. 18: 1 p.m. ET on ESPN+
Projected Pitching Matchups:
Friday: RHP Brett Renfrow (2023: N/A) vs. RHP Cameron Hansen (2023: 4.66 ERA in 73 â…“ innings)
Saturday: RHP Brady Kirtner (2023: 4.62 ERA in 25 â…“ innings) vs. LHP Andrew Spolyar (2023: 5.27 ERA in 41 innings)
Sunday: RHP Griffin Stieg (2023: 6.75 ERA in 18 â…” innings) vs. RHP Miles Langhorne (2023: 7.11 ERA in 25 â…“ innings)
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