Virginia Tech Baseball: Hokies Earn Pair of Midweek Wins

The Hokies (14-12, 5-4) looked the part of a true ACC contender the past two games. Tech easily dispatched Norfolk State (6-10) on Tuesday and East Tennessee State (11-12) on Wednesday. With a renewed sense of energy and focus, the squad hopes their midweek issues are in the past.

"Coach kind of lit a fire under us, so I'm glad to see everyone responded to that," said outfielder Logan Bible.

Tuesday, Norfolk State @ VT: W, 12-5

The Hokies started their week off right with a 12-5 victory over Norfolk State behind great performances from all four seniors in the lineup. Brendon Hayden, Alex Perez, Erik Payne, and Sean Keselica combined for 9 RBI's to lead the Hokies.

Prior to Tuesday, Freshman Connor Coward made 7 appearances on the year, all from the bullpen. With the Hokies desperate for consistency from their midweek starting pitchers, Coach Mason gave Coward the starting nod. Coward scattered four hits over his five innings of work and allowed just one unearned run.

The Hokies started out hot in the first when RBI's from Perez and Hayden gave them an early 2-0 lead. After the Spartans scored once in the top of the fifth, the Hokies took a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth courtesy of RBI singles from Hayden and Payne.

Joey Sullivan came on to replace Coward in the top of the sixth but was unable to maintain the Hokies lead. Two walks and four Spartan hits in the inning allowed Norfolk State to tie the game at 5.

The Hokies offense would not be outdone, though, as they piled on seven more runs in the bottom of the sixth to give Tech a commanding 12-5 lead. The inning was highlighted by, you guessed it, RBI base hits from Hayden, Keselica, and Payne.

Sean Kennedy finished out the game for the Hokies with 3 2/3 excellent innings out of the bullpen.

Wednesday, East Tennessee State University @ VT: W, 8-3

After battling mono for the better part of a month, Kit Scheetz returned to his midweek starting role on Wednesday against East Tennessee State. Despite taking some good-natured ribbing from his teammates, Scheetz showed no signs of sickness on the mound.

"I lost about 12 pounds and I came back and everyone said 'you look famished'," joked Scheetz. "I tried to do as much as I could to stay in shape and keep my arm strength up because coming back, I wanted to have that midweek starting role."

Scheetz's hard work certainly paid off on Wednesday as he went seven strong innings to give the Hokies an 8-3 victory over ETSU.

The aggressive Buccaneers jumped on the Hokies quickly with two runs in the top of the first off of just seven pitches from Scheetz. Brendon Hayden answered in the bottom half of the first with a double down the right field line to cut the Bucs lead in half.

Left fielder Mac Caples, who has been hit a team-leading six times on the year, was drilled to lead off the second inning. Caples advanced to second on an Andrew Mogg sacrifice bunt and then moved to third when Ryan Tufts singled to left. Logan Bible then tied the game at two with the first of his 3 RBI's of the evening. Saige Jenco followed with an RBI single to right field to give the Hokies a 3-2 lead.

Things got weird in the top of the third at English Field. After three hits to start the inning tied the game, the Bucs had runners at first and second with no outs. Cleanup hitter Hagen Owenby smoked a ball into the right-center field gap which put scoring on the minds of both Buccaneer baserunners. Rahiem Cooper had different plans, however, as he sprinted into the gap and made a diving catch to record the first out. Cooper quickly got to his feet and fired the ball into cutoff man Erik Payne who relayed to shortstop Alex Perez at second for the second out. With the runner who started at first still over 90 feet away, Perez tossed the ball over to first baseman Brendon Hayden to finish off the 9-4-6-3 triple play with ease. A shocked Sheetz could do nothing but smile.

"It's unbelievable," said Scheetz. "Rahiem made a great play there...that was huge for my outing."

Fresh off the first triple play turned by the Hokies since joining the ACC, Tech took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the third with an RBI single from Payne.

After escaping the third inning jam with a little luck, Scheetz allowed just one hit over his last four innings of work. He credited his success to re-establishing a comfort level between himself and catcher Andrew Mogg after a long layoff.

"Mogg and I were on the same page with almost every single pitch call, he'd put it down and I'd throw it," said Scheetz.

With Scheetz in complete control throughout the middle of the game, the Hokies finally mustered up some offense in the seventh inning to put the game out of reach. Cooper started off the inning with a double to right field and advanced to third on a ground ball to the right side from Alex Perez. After the Bucs intentionally walked Brendon Hayden, Erik Payne stepped to the plate with a chance to give the Hokies a much-needed insurance run. Payne crushed a one-hopper directly at the Buccaneer's shortstop, but the ball bounced right underneath his glove and into the outfield to give the Hokies a 5-3 lead. Two consecutive walks issued by the Bucs gave the Hokies another run, and Logan Bible ended the scoring with a 2-RBI single to center field to put the Hokies ahead 8-3.

Chris Monaco followed up his strong weekend against Clemson with two perfect innings in relief to give the Hokies the victory.

Ever cognizant of his team's recent history, Coach Mason was pleased with the mentality that the Hokies brought to the park over the last two days.

"If we show up and play our best baseball and lose, then that's life. But we can't afford to give away any," said Mason.

With one of the best teams in the country waiting for them in Tallahassee, the Hokies know they'll need to continue playing their best baseball if they hope to pull off the upset. Don't misinterpret their respect for Florida State as a lack of confidence, though. And with Sean Keselica, who hasn't allowed an earned run in his last 20 innings, on the mound on Friday night, how could the Hokies be anything but confident?

"We've got a tall task ahead of us this weekend...they've got arguably the best player in the country in the middle of their order in (DJ) Stewart," Mason said. "But, we'll be ready to go, I know that. I'll put Sean Keselica up against anyone in the country."