Hokies Come Up Short in Series Finale Against Tar Heels

Wyatt Krueger

March 7, 2021

BLACKSBURG, Va. — At a brisk English Field, No. 24 Virginia Tech was unable to bring out the brooms against No. 25 North Carolina, losing 9-6 in a game that lasted just over four hours and featured 12 total pitching changes.

The Hokies (7-2, 4-2 ACC) had already locked up the program’s first series win against North Carolina with a 9-6 win on Saturday, but fell short after the Tar Heels (7-3, 3-3 ACC) took the lead in the sixth inning thanks to a Danny Serretti bomb to center field.

“There's no way you're going to sweep a good team by making three errors and walking eight guys,” manager John Szefc said. “I try to take a step back and look at the bright side of things. We’ve won two ACC series and I think we're in a pretty good place.”

Anthony Simonelli had a solid start, but was plagued by a second inning where North Carolina had three hits, a walk and a hit by pitch to take a 4-0 lead. Simonelli pitched four innings, struckout six and allowed five earned runs off of six hits.

“Simonelli had some back issues early on, Szefc said. “He wasn’t anywhere near what he normally is.”

Virginia Tech took the lead back after an exciting bottom half of the second. Tanner Schobel hit his second career home run, a laser over the left field wall, and center fielder Jack Hurley added a three-run shot of his own.

“The two true freshman tandem of Hurley and Schobel will be very fun to watch as time goes on, if they are not already.” Szefc said.

Hurley had quite the series with seven RBIs and two home runs, providing constant energy to the Hokies’ dugout.

“Over the years, I've had a lot of good guys, but from a tools perspective, position player-wise, he is going to be very, very good when he can relax and slow things down a little bit,” Szefc said.

“When you have guys like that coming in as true freshmen getting the job done, not even blinking an eye is pretty impressive to watch,” first baseman TJ Rumfield said after the game. “I know where I was as a true freshman. It’s exciting to watch them and they are only going to get better and better.”

North Carolina starting pitcher Max Alba was pulled in the second inning by manager Scott Forbes after an errant pickoff attempt to first base. Once Gavin Cross scored on a wild pitch to make the score 5-4, it looked as if the Hokies were going to take advantage of the Tar Heel bullpen yet again.

The Tar Heel bullpen responded with key performances by relievers Nick James, earning his first win of the season, and Shawn Rapp. The two combined to pitch five and ⅓ innings, allowing one earned run and striking out seven.

In the top of the seventh inning, North Carolina increased its one-run lead after two uncharacteristic errors from Kevin Madden at third base, leading to three RBIs via two singles and a sacrifice bunt.

Szefc made three pitching changes in the inning before going to closer Shane Connolly. By the time Connolly got the third out, the Tar Heels increased their lead to 9-5.

The Hokies managed to bring the tying run to the plate three times in the seventh and eighth innings, but only had one run to show for it.

Virginia Tech will be back in action five times this week, with a two-game series against VCU starting on Tuesday and an ACC weekend series against Florida State starting on Friday.