missed chances bite no. 22 virginia tech against hungry wolfpack

Sam Alves

April 23, 2021

RALEIGH, N.C. — NC State scored three runs, and No. 22 Virginia Tech only needed two pitchers to complete nine innings in game one of the inter-divisional series. The Hokies would take those odds defensively most nights, but on Friday, that performance wasn’t enough.

Tech (21-13, 15-10 ACC) has failed to plate three runners just four times this season. Further, the Hokies only failed to score twice — what they would’ve needed to match the Wolfpack’s (17-13, 10-12 ACC) run total if Kevin Madden’s two-out throw to first in the sixth inning was on target — just once, when the maroon and orange were shut out 2-0 at then-No. 6 Miami on Feb. 27.

It looked like the still-Coastal-leading Hokies were on their way to being shut out a second time this year, but instead, they fell 3-1 to the Wolfpack thanks to Dayne Leonard’s two-out, RBI double in the ninth.

It was a game of what-ifs for the Hokies — as most low-scoring, two-run losses are.

What if Jack Hurley’s double in the seventh didn’t bounce over a short fence and into the left-field bullpen with Leonard running from first on contact with two outs? What if Gavin Cross came to the plate with any runners on base? Or even just reached base at all?

Wolfpack starting pitcher Sam Highfill and lone reliever Evan Justice snapped the 15-game hitting streak the smoking-hot right fielder carried on the season’s second trip to Tobacco Road. Despite his hard line drive to lead off the sixth, Cross went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.

What if the Hokies didn’t strand two runners in scoring position in the third, fourth — when Rumfield and Kevin Madden were stationed there with only one out — or seventh?

What if Tech starter Peyton Alford was perfect through 3 and ⅓ innings of a 123-pitch effort instead of surrendering a home run to leadoff-hitting Austin Murr in the fourth?

These are the questions head coach John Szefc might wonder for, say, 20 hours — maybe longer should the rain not cooperate.

And these are the types of games that will define these youthful Hokies down the stretch of the regular season and beyond.

“When you get your opportunity, you gotta take advantage of it,” Szefc said after Sunday’s loss to Georgia Tech. “For the most part, we have this year, but today, we didn’t. But I’m not really worried about our [young] guys down the stretch. Our guys have been very good at moving on, and I don’t see any reason why that won’t continue. We’ll just keep moving on, that’s it.”

Make it two games in a row now that the Hokies failed to capitalize on their opportunities. Two games from which they’ll have to move on rather than build on.