Virginia Tech Baseball: Hokies Take Two From Mercer

Virginia Tech opened its season with a Friday loss to the Mercer Bears, but the Hokies managed to earn a series win with two impressive victories to finish out the weekend on a positive note. Sophomore Saige Jenco led the way for the Hokies with 8 hits from the leadoff spot, and after hitting only 12 home runs as a team in 2014, the lineup showed its power potential with 3 dingers in just 3 games.

Friday, VT at Mercer: L, 9-1

The questions surrounding the Hokies pitching staff were amplified on Friday. The Virginia Tech bullpen imploded and surrendered 7 runs in just 3 innings leading to a 9-1 loss. Senior Sean Keselica took the mound for the Hokies and tossed 5 decent innings, but the Hokies ace was handed his first loss of the season by the Mercer Bears. 2015 seemed to be off to a great start as the Hokies quickly loaded the bases in the top of the first, but designated hitter Phil Sciretta grounded into a double play to end the threat. After Keselica worked out of a jam in the bottom of the first, the Hokies went down quietly in the second. Mercer took the lead for good in the bottom of the second with a Trey Truitt two-run home run, but Keselica proceeded to get out of the inning without allowing any more damage. Second baseman Alex Perez, who started his 171st consecutive game for the Hokies, answered in the third with the second home run of his career which would be the only run of the day for the Hokies. The Hokies should have scored in the top of the fifth after Logan Bible singled and Saige Jenco doubled, but Bible was inexplicably gunned down at the plate with no outs and the heart of the Hokies order due up. With the tying run at second, Mercer starter Ryan Askew buckled down and induced a groundout from Perez and then struck out Erik Payne to end the inning. Kit Scheetz took the ball for the Hokies in the sixth and struggled mightily, allowing 5 runs while recording only five outs. Facing a 6 run deficit, the Hokies couldn't fight their way back into the game and relievers Joey Sullivan and Luis Collazo combined to allow two more runs to end a disappointing day at the ballpark.

Saturday, VT at Mercer: W, 11-4

The Hokies tied up the series on Saturday behind a powerful offensive performance aided by 4 Mercer errors. Sophomore Aaron McGarity earned the first victory of his career and Luke Scherzer was solid out of the bullpen to finish the game. After two relatively quiet innings, Mercer gifted the Hokies with two unearned runs in the third to give the Hokies the lead. Mac Caples provided an RBI single in the fifth to put the Hokies up 3-0, but in the bottom half of the inning Mercer's Trey Truitt continued his hot start to the season with a grand slam to give the Bears a one-run advantage. The Hokies responded in the sixth with a two-out rally behind RBI's from Alex Perez, Erik Payne, Brendon Hayden, and Caples that gave the Hokies an 8-4 lead. Freshman Packy Naughton made his collegiate debut in the bottom of the sixth and worked around an error to keep the score at 8-4. Hayden and designated hitter Max Ponzurick each had RBI singles in the top of the eighth to give the bullpen two important insurance runs. After a sacrifice fly by Payne in the ninth inning scored Logan Bible, Scherzer recorded the final 3 outs to give the Hokies their first win of the season.

Sunday, VT at Mercer: W, 5-4

Junior Jon Woodcock took the mound for the Hokies in Sunday's rubber match and hurled six innings of two-hit baseball and Tech held on late to gain their first series win of the year. The Hokies got on the board in the top of the first after third baseman Erik Payne blasted a 3-run homer to score Saige Jenco and Alex Perez. The power surge continued in the second inning as Jenco homered to left field to put the Hokies up 4-0. Woodcock allowed his first hit of the game in the bottom of the third as Kyle Lewis hit a solo home run to shrink the Hokies lead to 4-1. As was the case often last year, control became an issue for Woodcock in the fourth as he allowed a single and then launched 3 wild pitches to allow the runner to come all the way home. Senior Kyle Wernicki had an RBI triple in the fifth to bring the score to 5-2 and Woodcock settled down, retiring the final 8 batters he faced. Packy Naughton came on in relief in the bottom of the seventh and recorded a scoreless frame to keep the Hokies lead at three. The Hokies left the bases loaded in the top of the eighth and then Alex Perez, who is expected to have a more prominent pitching role this season, allowed two runs on two hits in the bottom of the eighth. Clinging to a one run lead heading into the ninth, Coach Mason elected to stick with Perez, but he allowed a leadoff double and a Mercer sacrifice bunt put the tying run at third with just one out. Lefty Sean Kennedy was called into action to replace Perez and he delivered, promptly retiring the final two batters to give the Hokies a significant victory.

Top Performers

Centerfielder Saige Jenco, fresh off of offseason shoulder surgery, seems to be at full strength after an 8 hit weekend setting the table for the Hokies. Transfer Erik Payne was slotted into the 3rd spot in the lineup this weekend and he showed just how important of an addition he is with 7 RBI's.

Jon Woodcock was the highlight of the pitching staff and he will continue to hold down the final spot in the weekend rotation if he can quell some of his control issues. Luke Scherzer and Sean Kennedy each netted a save which should give Coach Mason some confidence going into the ninth inning in the coming weeks.

This Week (2/16 – 2/22)

With a sizable snowstorm headed towards Blacksburg, the Hokies (2-1) will once again head south this week to take part in the Campbell Invitational along with the Rider Broncs (0-0) and the Campbell Camels (2-1). Rider is coming off of a 16-33 campaign in 2014 and will be opening up their season against the Hokies. Campbell, the reigning Big South Champions, will present a much greater challenge. Campbell traveled to Blacksburg last year and departed with an extra inning win, so Coach Mason should have no trouble motivating his team for the matchups this weekend. As I noted last week, early season games are extremely difficult to predict, especially with Rider yet to open up their season. With that being said, I'd expect Hokieball to move to 5-2 with two victories over Rider and a split with the host Camels.

Friday, February 20- VT vs. Rider, 1 P.M.
Friday, February 20- VT @ Campbell, 4:30 P.M.
Saturday, February 21- VT vs. Rider, 1 P.M.
Sunday, February 22- VT @ Campbell, 4:30 P.M.