behind eight ball, hokies knocked out with game nearly in pocket

Sam Alves

May 14, 2021

DURHAM, N.C. — Deep into Friday’s series-opening game at Duke, Virginia Tech led 4-3. That was the score when Duke catcher Michael Rothenberger stepped into the batter’s box to lead off the eighth inning.

He tripled, and just 33 pitches later into the night, the Duke run total nearly quadrupled.

The Blue Devils (22-20, 11-17 ACC) tallied eight runs on six hits and two key errors in a fateful eighth inning, and the Hokies (27-18, 16-15 ACC), managing two runs against Blue Devil closer Marcus Johnson — he was already warmed up and expecting to enter a much closer contest — took their biggest gut-punch of the year.

It was the Hokies doing the punching early. Gavin Cross pulled the seventh pitch of the game 412 feet, and later in the first, Kevin Madden brought a scorching-hot Tanner Thomas home for a 2-0 Tech advantage.

Thomas and Madden teamed up for some more runs in the third. Thomas drove in Tanner Schobel with another single, and Madden’s squeeze bunt couldn’t be handled, allowing Cross to score from third.

But Duke hung around, mostly thanks to senior first baseman Chris Crabtree, who would have cycled by stopping at second base rather than legging out a triple — his second and the Blue Devils’ third of the game — in his second at-bat in the eighth.

His first three-bagger landed just fair in left in the third inning. Tech left fielder Carson Jones was outmatched by the wind, allowing the ball to drop as Crabtree led off the second for Duke. He scored two batters later on a single by designated hitter Chad Knight.

Crabtree’s night continued in the fourth, leading off with a single, advancing to second on another by Knight and scoring on No. 1 hitter Joey Loperfido’s double.

Then in the sixth, Crabtree crushed a home run to right, besting Cross’ blast by 52 feet.

Still, though, the Hokies led 4-3.

And still they would with two outs in the same frame, when Shane Connolly, no longer needed to start on Sundays, replaced starter Chris Gerard — pulled after 5 ⅔ innings of nine-hit, three-run and eight-strikeout ball — with a runner at second via Schobel’s throwing error that scooted out of play.

But Connolly recorded the third out, a grounder to Nick Biddison at second, and he continued with a 1-2-3 seventh, the last out of both the inning and Connolly’s outing coming when Schobel snagged a line drive headed for the left-center gap.

Then came the eighth. It was more like the eighth circle of Hell for the Hokies.

Crabtree brought Rothenberg home from third, where he found himself after Jones misplayed another ball in the left field corner, with a single, and the Blue Devils were back even.

A wild pitch, hit by pitch and single then loaded the bases, and Connolly’s (and the game’s) first walk brough Duke ahead, 5-4, still with the bases loaded and no outs.

In came righty Graham Firoved, and Loperfield grounded to first, but TJ Rumfield’s throw, though in time, was too high, scoring run six, and Firoved’s late back up forced him to desperately fling the ball back towards catcher Gehrig Ebel, but another unearned run scored as it was well off the mark.

Firoved, after tossing just five pitches, was yanked for fellow righty Griffin Green, who surrendered a first-pitch, RBI single, and Jones couldn’t scoop the routine grounder, scoring another, though unearned.

Finally, Rothenberg flew out to right for a sac fly, and Duke led 11-4.

The Hokies scored twice more in the ninth on an RBI double from Nick Holesa and sac fly from Schobel.

If the eighth circle of Hell truly is for fraudsters, what does that make the Hokies?

They’re certainly deep into a nasty slump. They’ve flashed potential, reminiscent of their brighter early-season days, but their recent success has come against outmatched, non-conference opponents or in lone ACC games in series losses.

If their season was a game, they’d be somewhere in the eighth inning. Fitting.