hurley's sixth inning heroics lift hokies over hoyas

Nick Cheshire

May 6, 2021

BLACKSBURG — You could feel the collective sigh of relief at English Field when the hammer met the grass outside the third-base dugout in the bottom of the sixth, a much needed offensive breakthrough after five relatively quiet innings on Tuesday night that followed a pair of offensive duds against Virginia last weekend.

In the first of its five-game homestand, Virginia Tech (24-17, 16-14 ACC) handed Georgetown (4-14, 4-10 ACC) its sixth straight loss, thanks to a four-run sixth and consistent bullpen dominance through the late innings, 6-2.

An early pitchers’ duel between Everett Catlett (0-1, 4.73 ERA) and Ryan Okuda (2-2, 5.03 ERA) turned more interesting in the middle innings after a pair of quick hooks were given out for the starting pitchers, in the fifth and sixth inning, respectively.

In the sixth, a barrage of mistakes by the Georgetown bullpen culminated in hammer time for Virginia Tech, this time in the form of a Jack Hurley three-run bomb over the right-center field wall.

Gavin Cross led off the frame with a towering triple to the wall in center field, quickly putting a runner in scoring position. A wild pitch on a 3-1 count to TJ Rumfield allowed Cross to score standing up, tying the game, 2-2.

Rumfield swiped a pair of bags on a pair of wild pitches and Kevin Madden was hit by a pitch, much to the dismay of the Virginia Tech faithful, bringing Jack Hurley to the plate with runners on the corners.

Chase Walter had been erratic since entering the game for Anthony Redfern, who was responsible for Cross scoring on the first wild pitch, but that didn’t deter Hurley from an aggressive approach, going yard on the first pitch he saw.

Griffin Green took over in relief of Okuda in the sixth, notching his third win of the year, and picked up four of his five outs via strikeout.

Together, Green, Matthew Siverling and Graham Firoved combined for three and ⅔ scoreless innings, only allowing two hits, and scattered seven strikeouts among the three of them.

Georgetown will look to get back in the win column in a Friday matinee game against Villanova at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, the home of the Phillies.

Virginia Tech has four straight in Blacksburg in the near future, starting with a weekend series against Toledo that begins Saturday.