No. 2 Hokies earn conference No. 1 seed, accolades to close regular season

By Sam Alves

Staff Writer

May 23, 2022

BLACKSBURG — BIIB. Build it in Blacksburg. Blue collar, integrity, invested, brotherhood.

Virginia Tech head coach John Szefc’s program motto and core tenets are proudly displayed on an overhang that wraps around the second-floor common area of the English Field facility. Alongside is a mural of the 2013 Blacksburg regional, a testament to where Tech baseball once was and what Szefc has been building towards since his hire in 2017.

It was underneath this fresh makeover, with players mingling in and out of their new team hub, that Szefc repeatedly compared his team to Notre Dame’s 2021 squad — the best regular season team in the ACC (25-10) a year ago — in an interview with 3304 Sports and another outlet before the season.

“You’re not going to know some of these guys,” Szefc said of his team on February 15, the Tuesday before the season opener. “You’re going to see some guys on the mound and be like, ‘Who is this? I don’t even know who this guy is. He went where?’ But I’m telling you, if you went out and watched Notre Dame this time last year, you’d be saying the same thing.

“And maybe I shouldn’t keep using [Notre Dame] as an example, but they’re an easy one to use, so that’s why I keep using them.”

Szefc isn’t doubting his team’s strength anymore.

Flash forward to May 21, and his early-season assessment — before Jack Hurley and Cade Hunter became a force of nature in the middle of the lineup; before Drue Hackenberg pitched to live collegiate competition for the first time; certainly before Carson Jones burst onto the scene with five homers in four starts in the last week of season — looks prophetic.

With its 7-2 win to complete a season-ending sweep of Duke, No. 2 Virginia Tech (40-11, 19-9 Atlantic Coast) clinched the program’s first No. 1 seed in this week’s ACC Championships.

“It feels really sweet,” Szefc said, some 30 minutes after true freshman Carson DeMartini drenched him with a celebratory Gatorade bath. “Hopefully it’s some justification for all the work that our staff and our players regularly put in. This is kind of what you hope for.

“And really, to be able to do it at home is a very unique thing. Usually it doesn’t happen that way. Usually it’s on the road or at a tournament or something like that. For these guys to be able to win a regular season championship in this league, which is arguably the best league in the country — certainly right now — it’s extra gratifying to be able to do it in this place in front of our own people.”

Extra gratifying, too, considering the 2-15 collapse to finish on the outside of the NCAA tournament bubble looking in most of Tech’s contributors — offensively and defensively — went through last year.

“We made some changes in the offseason in how we practice and work and coach,” Szefc said. “Try to bring guys together more, to use this facility more with meals and team functions and stuff we couldn’t do during COVID.

“...We took those guys out to play paintball. That was an important day for us. As much as people might not think it was, it was. It kind of brought the group together.”

And the players will continue to be brought together with Hokie fans at English Field with an all-but-official Blacksburg Regional in store and a clear path to a Blacksburg Super Regional.

“It’s huge,” Szefc said of home-field advantage in the postseason. “I’ve been to 11 NCAA tournaments over the years — never one at home….I think to bring the college baseball community to Blacksburg will be another really good step for our program. And our players have earned that right and everything else they’re going to get.

“I’m just happy that they’ll have the opportunity and we’ll be able to fill this place up and host people. I’m really happy for Virginia Tech and Blacksburg in general.”

Hokie Honors

The end of the regular season brings more historic accomplishments for the program. In front of the Hokie faithful, Jones mashed five home runs in four games, key to Tech’s perfect four-win week and enough for the outfielder to earn ACC co-Player of the Week honors.

Head coach John Szefc earned ACC Coach of the Year honors, the first time a Tech skipper has won the award. Just across the way, Tech head softball coach Pete d'Amour won ACC Coach of the year, too, marking the first time since 2005 both diamond-sport honors went to coaches from the same school.

Under Szefc's coaching this season, eight Tech players earned All-ACC recognition.

Outfielders Gavin Cross and Jack Hurley, shortstop Tanner Schobel and starting pitcher Drue Hackenberg were named to the All-ACC First Team. 2022 marks the first season in Tech’s ACC era that it placed four players on the all-ACC First Team list.

Behind the plate, catcher Cade Hunter earned All-ACC Second Team honors.

Friday starter Griffin Green and super-utility man Nick Biddison earned their place on the All-ACC Third Team as well.

In addition to making the All-ACC First Team, Hackenberg joined Carson DeMartini on the All-ACC Freshman team, too. Of all the surprises of a season to remember for the Hokies, Szefc knew on that Tuesday morning in February, these two freshmen would contribute right away. And he — and perhaps just he — knew what the whole team was capable of.