Virginia Tech Baseball: Hokies Prevail in Perez's 200th Straight Start

As senior infielder Alex Perez prepared to take the field for his nation-leading 200th consecutive start on Tuesday against VMI, he was surprised to find that he was actually nervous.

"It felt a little different just because I knew the number," said Perez.

Oddly enough, start number 200 for Perez was different, and not just because of the number.

Since former skipper Pete Hughes arrived in Blacksburg in 2007, the Virginia Tech baseball program has held off on naming a captain prior to the season, instead choosing to use the captaincy as a postseason award for one of their players. So as Alex Perez trotted out to second base with a maroon "C" sewn to his jersey, a tradition had been set aside to honor the streak of the Hokies unquestioned leader.

While Perez was greatly honored by the gesture, head coach Pat Mason made it sound like an easy decision.

"It was my way of showing him what our staff thinks of him, more than anything else," Mason said. "He's been so valuable to our program...he's certainly earned that C."

Indeed he has. After doing just about everything for the Hokies in his first three years, including significant work at both middle infield positions and even spot duty on the mound, Perez has enjoyed a breakout senior season. Perez leads the team in batting average (.350), hits (42), triples (5), and runs scored (37), and is second on the team in home runs (4) and walks (19).

Fellow upperclassmen Phil Sciretta made it clear that the seniors were especially focused on ensuring that Perez's 200th straight start was a victory.

"I think he was definitely on the back of my mind, especially all of the seniors who were trying to win for him," said Sciretta. "As you can see by the jersey, he's done a lot for the team over these past four years here."

Midweek starter Kit Scheetz took the mound for the Hokies and delivered a quality start in just his third outing since returning from mono. The Hokies offense was hot early, tallying seven hits in the game's first four innings. Alex Perez doubled in the first, but was stranded at second after cleanup hitter Erik Payne flew out to end the inning. In the second, Brendon Hayden lumbered all the way from first to score on a Joe Freiday Jr. two-out double. Payne and Hayden led off the bottom of the fourth with consecutive doubles that put the Hokies ahead 2-0. After a deep fly ball to left and a Sean Keselica walk, Freiday Jr. barely beat out a double play ball that allowed Hayden to score. Senior Logan Bible followed with an RBI single that plated Freiday Jr. to extend the Hokies lead to four.

After breezing through the first five innings, Kit Scheetz finally encountered trouble in the sixth. The Keydets loaded the bases with just one out courtesy of two singles and a walk. 3-hitter Brandon Angus stepped to the plate and smashed a shot off the left field wall to cut the Hokies lead in half. After hitting Tyler Tharp, Scheetz got a swinging strikeout and a comebacker to escape the inning with the Hokies still leading.

Still trying to work his way back into shape, Scheetz attributes his tough last inning to an abnormally high pitch count in the sixth that had him a little fatigued.

"I definitely got tired towards the end today...I think my last inning was 35 pitches," said Scheetz. "Anytime you have a long inning like that, you definitely feel the wear and tear."

Scheetz knows that the Hokies will continue to rely on him for solid midweek outings, so he's focused on getting back to 100% as soon as possible.

"It's definitely getting in the weight room for a lift and conditioning," said Scheetz. "And continuing to throw every day, not just from the mound, but everyday tossing on the side and getting a long toss session in and a bullpen session in. I'll definitely feel better next week."

The Hokies stole a run in the bottom of the sixth off of two walks, a wild pitch, and a passed ball. With a 5-2 lead, Coach Mason turned to freshman Connor Coward to work the seventh. After walking the only three Seminoles he faced in Tallahassee over the weekend, Coward again struggled with his control and was removed after issuing two more free passes and allowing a hit.

"He was just pressing a little bit, you could tell with the second pitch, he almost threw it out of the whole stadium," Mason said of the young righty. "He'll be fine."

Fellow Freshman Chris Monaco relieved Coward and immediately got a 4-6-3 double play that brought in a Keydet run but also put two huge outs on the board. VMI wasn't done, though, as Jordan Tarsovich blasted a game-tying two run homer to left before Monaco could record the third out.

With the game even at five, the Hokies pulled ahead for good in the bottom of the eighth. Friday night starter Sean Keselica reached on a VMI error to leadoff the inning and then advanced to second on a Ryan Tufts sacrifice bunt. Phil Sciretta followed with the game-winning RBI as he laced a 3-2 fastball into center field to score Keselica.

Sean Kennedy came on for the save in the ninth and needed just ten pitches to seal the 6-5 victory for the Hokies.

Postgame, while looking for some wisdom from the elder statesmen of the Hokies coaching staff, I asked Coach Mason, a former division one baseball player in his own right, how difficult it really is to start 200 straight college baseball games?

"I wouldn't know," laughed Mason, with a mix of awe and respect clear in the coach's voice.

So what's next for Perez? After starting every game since he's stepped foot on campus at Virginia Tech, will he be asking for a day off? Don't count on it. With Georgia Tech coming to town this weekend for an important ACC series, the streak will inch a little higher.

"Knock on wood...I've been able to stay healthy," said Perez. "But I've had some bad games where I didn't think I'd play the next day."

One game stuck out in particular to Perez, but it was so many starts ago that he joked all he remembered about the opponent was that they wore red. After some thought and a little bit of research, a March 21, 2012 victory over Cornell was determined to be the day that the streak was in the most jeopardy.

"A (Wednesday) game my Freshman year, we were playing against a school in red, I think Cornell. I bunted a ball and I thought it went foul but it went fair and I didn't run to first," recalled Perez.

After being thrown out at first by 90 feet, Pete Hughes benched Perez and had a discussion with him about playing the game the right way. With the streak sitting at just 23 games, Perez was convinced it was about to come to an end.

But lo and behold, when Perez got to the ballpark for the Hokies next game, his name was penciled in at second base. And it has been, at one position or another, ever since.