hokies show mettle, sweep no. 15 pitt

Sam Alves

March 29, 2021

Shorthanded and inexperienced, Virginia Tech traveled to Pittsburgh to take on No. 15 Pitt, humbled after losing six of eight games following a hot start to the season that saw them reach No. 18.

They’ll leave town with three wins against the Panthers (12-7 overall, 8-7 ACC), the first three-game ACC sweep for the Hokies (13-8 overall, 9-6 ACC) since 2017.

For the second straight Sunday, Matthew Siverling took the mound for Tech, this time in place of injured starter Chris Gerard and after pitching an inning on Saturday. He tossed for four innings, allowing one run on six strikeouts, two walks and two hits while hitting a batter.

On the hill for the Panthers, starter Stephen Hansen worked 5 ⅓ innings, ceding four runs –– one was unearned –– and six hits while striking out five Hokies and walking one.

Perhaps antsy after a two-hour rain delay, both squads scored a run in the first inning before the pitchers settled in.

Hurley started the game with a perfect bunt that died in fair territory halfway up the third-base line. After advancing to second on a grounder to third from Schobel, Hurley scored on a seeing-eye two-out RBI single from TJ Rumfield.

Pitt answered right back to tie the next frame. After Connolly struck out Popa to start the game, Jordan Anderson walked and moved to second when No. 3 hitter David Yanni was plunked. Ron Washington’s RBI single then evened the score.

Connolly fanned the next two batters to end the first, setting the game on a course similar to last Sunday’s clash with Clemson.

That day, Dayne Leonard hit his first collegiate home run, a solo shot that put the Hokies up 2-1 in the eighth. This time, Carson Jones circled the bases in the fourth after he cranked his first home run in the maroon and orange to give Tech a 2-1 advantage.

The Hokies scored twice more on Hansen. In the sixth, TJ Rumfield sent a ball to left that outfielder Kyle Hess had trouble with. It was the first Panther miscue defensively that led to Hokie runs.

Hess took a couple false steps backwards before running forward and diving in vain as the ball landed just in front of his glove. When he got up, his first steps were towards the wall, but the ball was still in front of him. By the time he relayed it to the infield, Rumfield was on second.

Rumfield advanced to third on a slow grounder to second from Cade Swisher that charging second baseman David Yanni could not handle. Kevin Madden’s RBI single scored Rumfield, and two walks later, Swisher scored to give the Hokies a 4-2 lead.

Hansen left the game two batters later, and righty Jordan McCrum recorded the last two outs of the scoreless seventh.

When the Panthers came to bat in the seventh, the action picked up again. Right-hander Graham Firoved had pitched two scoreless frames in relief of Connolly, but he didn’t pitch a third.

Brock Franks hit a ball to Rumfield behind first, but Rumfield couldn’t secure the out. It looked like he was deciding between going to the bag himself and underhanding it to Firoved. But Firoved was late to cover and Rumfield stumbled, so Franks reached safely on a close play.

Firoved hit Nico Popa with a pitch, and a passed ball advanced both runners, setting up a second and third, no out opportunity for Jordan Anderson.

He nearly scored both runners by dropping a ball into right, but it landed foul –– barely. It was close enough to prompt a review, but the call stood. The next pitch, though, was sent well fair. Anderson’s two-RBI single brought the Panthers within one, 4-3, and brought in Matthew Siverling, who eventually finished the game.

Siverling first struck out David Yanni with a nasty slider fading away from the lefty, but Anderson stole his second bag of the day. A double to center from Ron Washington hung in the air long enough to keep Anderson near the bag at second, waiting to see if it would be caught, before heading to third. Then Kyle Hess brought Anderson home with a chopper to first that Rumfield collected, knotting the score at four.

For the first time in the series, the Hokies gave up a multi-run lead. But they punched right back.

As the rain started again, the Hokies poured on the runs thanks to poor Pitt defense.

Leonard’s grounder forced David Yanni to lay out. He kept the ball on the infield, but he injured his shoulder in the process. Then things got weird.

The Hokies pulled off a hit and run, and Fritz Genther’s single found right-center field. Inexplicably, right fielder Nico Popa took three steps towards the right-field line –– opposite of where the ball was going –– allowing Hurley to score from first. Leonard reached second with the relay coming home.

Then Genther advanced to third on a wild pitch. The throw from catcher Riley Wash reached third on one hop and third baseman Sam Frontino couldn’t handle it, so Genther scored as the ball found left field.

Siverling struck out two in a scoreless eighth, and the Hokies were back to add two more runs to start to ninth.

Right-handed pitcher Dylan Lester entered the game in the ninth. Cade Swisher singled, and pinch-runner Jonah Seagears advanced to second on another wild pitch. Leonard was struck by a pitch, and Genther walked to load the bases. Then righty Chris Gomez came in, and Hurley lined a two-RBI single to bring the score to 8-4 for the second day in a row.

And for the third day in a row, Virginia Tech pitchers combined for double digit strikeouts. With 14 on Friday, 15 on Saturday and 13 on Sunday, Tech pitchers finished the series with 42 strikeouts in a convincing series sweep.

The last ACC team the Hokies swept was Boston College in 2017.

With the Eagles coming to town this weekend, and with Virginia Tech playing as well as it has this season, it’s not out of the question that history could repeat itself.