No. 21 Virginia Tech heads to Athens, Ga., on Friday for the Georgia Classic, where it will play five games.
The Hokies (8-2-1) will face the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs twice and will have two matchups against New River Valley foe Radford. They’ll play Ivy League member Dartmouth once, too. This looks to be the biggest test of their young season, but it’s also a chance for redemption against the team that ended their season last year in the Bulldogs.
The schedule of games is below:
“This weekend is another test for us,” Virginia Tech head coach Pete D’Amour told Tech Sideline. “Georgia is playing as well as anybody and we know Radford will be ready to play us. Dartmouth hasn’t played yet so we’ll get their best too.”
Georgia
Georgia was picked to finish second in the SEC by the league’s head coaches and was ranked No. 6 in the preseason polls. However, the Bulldogs (9-0) jumped up to third in the country after some early-season success against No. 8 Oklahoma State (7-4), No. 19 UCLA (7-2) and No. 11 Florida State (20-10 in 5 innings).
Georgia returned all position players from last season’s NCAA Super Regional team, including All-Americans Jayda Kearney, Sydney Kuma and Sara Mosley. Each player hit over .340 in 2023 and the trio combined for 45 percent of Georgia’s run production.
Kuma (.636 average, 3 HR) and Kearney (.320 average) have continued their hot hitting this year. They’re joined by senior Sydney Chambley (.318 average), who leads the team in home runs with four.
However, it’s the pitching that makes the Bulldogs an even more formidable foe.
Georgia has a team ERA of 1.69 and its hurlers have struck out 54 hitters in 57 innings. Two former ACC pitchers lead the way for the Bulldogs: graduate student Shelby Walters (Duke) has a 3-0 record, a 0.50 ERA and has struck out 21 hitters in 14 innings while junior lefty Lilli Backes (UNC) is 2-0 with a 0.88 ERA.
In the Athens Regional last May, Georgia ended Virginia Tech’s 2023 season with convincing 8-3 and 12-3 victories behind explosive bats. The Hokies will need an all-star performance from their entire staff if they are going to have a chance this weekend.
Georgia is coached by Tony Baldwin, who is in his third season with the Bulldogs. He has an overall record of 93-33 (.738) at Georgia, which has made the NCAA Tournament in 21 consecutive seasons.
Georgia holds a 7-2 record against the Hokies. Tech’s last win came in 2019 (7-6, 8 innings).
Radford
Radford started the season with a 5-2 record with two wins each over Merrimack (8-0, 7-2) and Bucknell (3-0, 7-1) and a single win over UMass (10-2).
The Highlanders are hitting .273 as a team, led by graduate student Abby Wilson (.444), junior Cassi Barbato (.429), junior Rachel Smith (.409) and sophomore Lexie Roberts (.364). However, five other starters have batting averages under .250, which has led to Radford averaging just over five runs per game.
The strength of this Radford team is its pitching with a team ERA of 1.34 and 32 strikeouts in 47 innings. The three hurlers with the most innings thrown this year all have ERAs under 1.07: freshman Morgan Cooper (17 innings, 1.06 ERA), sophomore Abby Peace (11 innings, 0.00 ERA) and sophomore Malorie Reeves (9 ⅔ innings, 0.00 ERA).
The Highlanders are coached by Alisa Tasler, who is in her third season. She has a 40-65 (.381) record at Radford.
Virginia Tech has an overall record of 45-13-1 versus Radford. However, in the two seasons before Pete D’Amour was hired, the Highlanders won three of the four meetings between the two schools. Since then, the Hokies are 5-0 (all by run rule) and have outscored the Highlanders 50-3.
Dartmouth
This will be the season opening weekend for Dartmouth, which was picked seventh in the Ivy League preseason poll.
The Big Green went 14-25 last season but returns several key contributors, including senior Kelly Beaupre, who led the Ivy League in slugging percentage (.631) and recorded a team-best .321 batting average in 2023. Sophomore Lauren Ben-Ezra (.315 average) also returns. In the circle, junior Rachel McCarroll (10-17, 2.99 ERA) is back for after ranking among the top five in the Ivy League in ERA.
Dartmouth is coached by Jen Williams, who enters her sixth season with Big Green. She has an overall record of 54-84 (.391) at Dartmouth.
The Hokies and Big Green have only played once previously, a 12-2, five-inning run-rule game in the Charleston Invitational in 2020.
Here is the tale of the tape:
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Don’t see this ending well for Tech. Their pitching is gonna have to be a lot better than it’s been lately. Too many walks and giving up too many runs. Pitching was supposed to be elite this year but it has been average at best. Hope they can figure it out on the run. If not, they will see a lot of losses.
Going to the game, against UGA, on Saturday. In laws went to UGA. It will be quite the challenge, need to limit the walks. Go Hokies !!
Nice read Chip.