biddison's walk-off win saves 'simo saturday'; hokies win series

Sam Alves

May 8, 2021

BLACKSBURG — Kevin Madden stepped to the plate with the game tied at two in the bottom of the ninth, Tanner Thomas was stationed at first base and Queen’s We Will Rock You blared at English Field for all to hear.

Before Madden swung through the first pitch he saw, Fritz Genther replaced Thomas as a pinch-runner at second where Thomas had advanced after an errant pickoff to first.

On the second pitch Madden saw, he didn’t miss. He swung, made contact and lifted a soft liner into shallow right field.

Madden, with two walk-off hits already to his name this season — including one to shallow right field — would not be the one to rock Toledo Saturday evening.

Neither would starting pitcher Anothony Simonelli, whose flair for the dramatic may top only Madden on this boisterous Hokies team.

Instead, Nick Biddison, who batted seventh and is still seeking consistency following his return from a shoulder injury, scored Genther — the game-winning run — from third with a sac-fly that was caught not far beyond where Madden’s bloop landed.

“[Genther] works; He’s one of our hardest workers,” head coach John Szefc said after last week’s series loss to Virginia. “I think he’ll be solidly in the mix as we go down the stretch run here….He’s a tough kid as far a mental state goes, and I would completely anticipate him being one of our main guys down the stretch.”

Though making a brief appearance, Genther sure was one of the main guys in game two.

The path to Virginia Tech’s (26-17, 16-14 ACC) 3-2 victory over the Rockets (15-25, 13-12 MAC) Saturday evening, though, would not be possible without Tech’s two showmen — Madden and Simonelli — who together set the table for their teammates to finish the job.

Adding to the drama, for most of the ultra-quick, two-hour and 37-minute ballgame, Toledo led.

The game’s brevity — a welcome development in the back half of the doubleheader — was made possible by the pitcher’s duel between Simonelli and Rocket starter, sophomore right-hander Kyle Jones.

Toledo right fielder John Servello matched the early effort in game one of his counterpart, Tech’s Gavin Cross, with a triple and a run in the third to kick off the scoring in game two.

The score held through five-and-a-half innings. Simonelli was crafting another fine ‘Simo Saturday performance’, so though his team was losing 1-0, he let out a classic roar — one that opposing dugouts have become all too familiar with — after recording his sixth of eight strikeouts, staring not once but twice at the rowdy Toledo dugout on his way to his own.

“With me, I get energized really well. I feel like if I’m not being myself out there, I’m not being a good pitcher –– I’m kind of being lazy,” Simonelli said in April of the unapologetic emotion with which he plays. “Every time you see me throw a strikeout out there, you see me getting fired up. I think it helps the team, too, because if they see me being crazy out there, they’ll be crazy, too.”

But the Hokies didn’t respond in kind just yet. Rather, the Rockets’ designated hitter, Darryn Davis, launched a solo home run in the sixth, doubling Toledo’s lead entering the home half of the seventh.

To that point, the Hokies only managed four baserunners.

Thomas singled but was immediately taken off the basepath on a double play in the second inning. He then doubled his next time up. Cade Swisher also doubled, pinch-hitting for Cade Hunter, and Cross reached first on a throwing error to first by catcher Marcus Strother following a dropped third strike.

None scored.

Even when Thomas — who may have been the guy Saturday — stepped into the batter’s box in the seventh and blasted a leadoff homer to cut the deficit to 2-1, Jones quickly shut down the Hokies 1-2-3 thereafter.

Jones kept going into the eighth at only 88 pitches. By then, Gehrig Ebel was in the game at catcher, and led off with a single. Cade Swisher sent Ebel to second with a sac bunt, and a dropped third strike and throw to first moved him over to third with two outs.

Cross, in a rare plate appearance of late with a runner in scoring position, scorched a single to right to tie the game.

Jones then retired Rumfield, recording the second to last defensive out for the Rockets.

The last out — No. 25 of the night for Toledo — was recorded in right field in the ninth on Biddison’s sac-fly that scored Genther. There would be no 26^th.