Virginia Tech Baseball: Hokies Take Down Toledo

Hokie Ball (6-5, 0-0) earned their second series win of the season in convincing fashion as they outscored Toledo (3-7) by 14 runs over the course of the weekend. The pitching staff continued their extraordinary start to the year, allowing just five runs in 37 innings of baseball.

Friday, Toledo vs. VT: W, 9-1

After the bats were surprisingly silent in North Carolina last week, Virginia Tech exploded for nine runs on Friday to blow out Toledo. Senior Sean Keselica was dominant early and often, shutting out Toledo over seven innings while allowing just six hits and walking none.

Senior Brendon Hayden got things started for the Hokies in the first inning with an RBI double to score fellow senior Alex Perez. After Keselica sat down Toledo in the second, the Hokies increased their lead to five with RBI's from Saige Jenco, Perez, and Erik Payne. Working with a five run lead, Keselica was able to relax and pound the strike zone, forcing Toledo to prove that they could manufacture runs without any free passes. Toledo wasn't up to the challenge, though, as Keselica allowed just one Toledo base runner to travel past second base. The Hokies added another run in the fourth after a pitch got away from Toledo's Cameron Palmer to let Hayden scamper home. Hayden put his signature on the win in the sixth when he smashed a 3-run homer to score Payne and Perez to give the Hokies a resounding nine run advantage. With the Hokies nursing a sizable lead, Coach Mason removed Keselica after seven innings in favor of Freshman Connor Coward. Coward was given a rude introduction to college baseball as the first batter he faced homered to left to put Toledo on the scoreboard. Still holding an eight run lead, Coward was unfazed and proceeded to not allow a hit over the rest of the final two innings, giving the Hokies a much-needed victory to kick off the weekend.

Saturday, Toledo vs. VT: W, 1-0 (10)

Saturday belonged solely to the pitchers in Myrtle Beach as each team recorded a 1-0 win with brilliant performances from all four starters. Aaron McGarity tossed nine scoreless innings for the Hokies and Luke Scherzer got the win in Game 1 thanks to an Erik Payne walk-off single in the tenth.

With each pitcher carrying a no-hitter into the fourth inning, it seemed as if runs might be hard to come by on Saturday. Toledo did manage two hits in the fourth, but McGarity easily worked out of the jam to keep the game even at zero. Toledo tacked on two more singles in the sixth, but McGarity again settled down and got a grounder to short to end the inning. The Hokies loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth off of two walks and a Toledo error, but Erik Payne grounded out to second to keep the pitcher's duel intact. Toledo's Steven Calhoun carried his no-hitter all the way into the eighth inning when Mac Caples ended his quest for perfection with an infield single. Calhoun got Alex Perez to fly out to center to end the inning, bringing the 0-0 game to the ninth. McGarity stayed on for the Hokies and was able to set down Toledo in order to give the Hokies a chance to win it in the bottom half. Toledo replaced Calhoun with Ross Achter who sent the game into extras after allowing a lead-off walk. Scherzer was brought on to replace McGarity in the tenth and induced a 6-4-3 double play to end the Toledo threat. Mac Caples led off the bottom of the tenth with his second single of the day and advanced to third after a fielder's choice and a sac bunt. 3-hole hitter Erik Payne came up with two outs and the bases loaded and smoked the first pitch he saw into right field to give the Hokies their first walk-off victory of the young season.

Saturday, Toledo vs. VT: L, 1-0

The Hokies found themselves on the wrong side of a 1-0 score in Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader. Freshman Joey Sullivan made the first start of his career and didn't disappoint, permitting just one unearned run to score while giving up only three hits over seven innings. Sadly, a lack of run support put Sullivan on the losing end of his first start.

The Hokies had their chances early to scrape across a run but were unable to take advantage, leaving six men on base in the first five innings. Toledo took the lead for good in the fourth off of some small ball with the help of a key Hokie error. Montoya got the first hit of the game for Toledo off of an infield single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Montoya then dashed to third on a passed ball and scored when Ryan Callahan flew out to left to put Toledo ahead by one. After a Toledo single in the sixth, Sullivan nailed Matt Hansen to put runners at first and second with just one out. With Toledo threatening to break open the low-scoring game, Sullivan flashed his fielding prowess by starting a 1-6-3 double play to get out of the inning unscathed. Chris Monaco emerged from the bullpen in the eighth and retired the Rockets in order. Packy Naughton came on to worth the ninth and also held the Rockets scoreless. Down just one run heading into the bottom of the ninth, a second walk-off victory of the afternoon was still very much a possibility for the Hokies. Unfortunately, the Rockets turned their fourth double play of the day to end the game and escaped with a nail-biting win.

Sunday, Toledo vs. VT: W, 9-3

After a slow day for the bats on Saturday, the Hokie lineup heated up while the pitching staff continued their tremendous start to the season in a 9-3 victory for the Hokies. Jon Woodcock carried the Hokies to another series win with seven beautiful innings of one-hit baseball.

The Hokies leaped out to an early 6-0 lead in the first and refused to ever let the Rockets climb back into striking distance. The Hokies sent twelve hitters to the plate in the first and tallied six runs off of four hits, five walks, and a Toledo error. The only Toledo hit off of Woodcock came in the second inning in the form of a double, but Woodcock answered with a strikeout to end the inning. A team of Toledo relievers actually held down the Hokies offense throughout the middle of the game, but Brendon Hayden slammed his second home run of the weekend to give the Hokies two more runs in the seventh inning. With an 8-0 lead heading into the top of the eighth, Coach Mason made multiple defensive changes and also replaced Woodcock with Freshman Packy Naughton. Naughton allowed an earned run for the first time as a Hokie, but an 8-2 lead was still more than enough for the Hokies with only three outs left to record. Alex Perez added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth with a solo home run to right to increase the lead to seven. Toledo homered in the ninth off of Luke Scherzer, but Scherzer was able to clinch the series win for the Hokies without any further trouble.

Top Performers

The Virginia Tech pitchers simply can't get enough credit for how admirably they've performed so far. The Hokies now sport a 2.70 staff ERA and have held opponents to a miserable .182 BA. Ace Sean Keselica leads the team with a 1.06 ERA and has a WHIP of exactly 1. Closer Luke Scherzer did allow his first run of the season on Sunday, but he still has a remarkable 1.17 ERA out of the pen and has two saves to his name. Aaron McGarity and Jon Woodcock round out the starting rotation and both have sub-3 ERA's to show for their hard work.

The bats haven't been nearly as dominant as the pitching staff, but the lineup did show signs of life this weekend in Myrtle Beach. Brendon Hayden hit his first two home runs of the year and moved into second on the team with 9 RBI's. Even Alex Perez, known more as a singles hitter over the past three years in Blacksburg, has joined the power movement with two home runs of his own. Leadoff hitter Saige Jenco continues to pace the Hokies with a team-leading .333 BA.

This Week (3/2 – 3/8)

The Hokies hope to welcome the College of Charleston (5-3) to English Field for a two-game set on Tuesday and Wednesday, but with snow still on the ground in Blacksburg, it remains unclear how that series will play out. The Hokies will kick off their ACC slate this weekend when they travel to Winston-Salem to take on Wake Forest (8-4). Surprisingly, the College of Charleston will likely pose a much greater challenge to the Hokies this week. The Cougars are coming off of an impressive 2014 campaign that saw them win 44 ballgames. The highlight of their season was undoubtedly three victories at the Gainesville Regional which sent them to the NCAA Super Regionals to take on Texas Tech. The Cougars, needing just two wins over the Red Raiders to make it to Omaha, suffered two 1-0 losses to end their season. The Cougars have opened up the year with an extremely tough schedule, but have still managed to earn victories over both South Carolina and Indiana. On the other hand, Wake Forest has played a much lighter schedule thus far but has struggled at times, losing to Bucknell, Appalachian State, and UNC-Wilmington. If the Hokies really want to contend in the ACC this year, they must be able to win series against beatable teams like Wake Forest.

Tuesday, March 3- College of Charleston @ VT, 5:30 P.M.
Wednesday, March 4- College of Charleston @ VT, 5:30 P.M.
Friday, March 6- VT @ Wake Forest, 6 P.M.
Saturday, March 7- VT @ Wake Forest, 4 P.M.
Sunday, March 8- VT @ Wake Forest, 1 P.M.