No. 22 Virginia Tech's Ninth inning rally comes up short; Florida State takes game one of weekend series

Wyatt Krueger

March 12, 2021

BLACKSBURG, Va. — With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Kevin Madden waited eagerly for the next pitch while Jack Hurley took his lead on third and pinch runner Gehrig Ebel waited at second.

The energized English Field crowd anxiously watched, hopeful that Madden would come through. The Virginia Tech faithful’s confidence had to be high after watching Madden smack his first home run of the year into the left field trees in the previous inning.

Madden swung at the next pitch from Seminole reliever Davis Hare, making solid contact and shooting a line drive to left field.

Unfortunately for Madden, left fielder Nico Valdor was standing in the perfect spot, taking a few paces towards the left-center field gap before catching the final out and securing the 6-4 comeback win for Florida State.

The Seminoles used a Logan Lacey two-run shot in the top of the eighth inning off of Shane Connolly to take a 4-3 lead, and added an unearned run after a costly TJ Rumfield error at first base.

After a Tyler Martin single that popped up and landed close to the left field line, the Hokies faced a two-run deficit heading into the bottom of the ninth.

Although No. 22 Virginia Tech couldn’t mount the comeback late in the game, it jumped out to an early lead thanks to Gavin Cross’ third home run of the season.

Despite not receiving the win, lefty Peyton Alford had a phenomenal performance, cementing his role as the Friday night starter for Virginia Tech’s weekend rotation. Alford pitched 5 ⅔ innings, striking out 10 batters and showing off his 93 mile-per-hour velocity from the left side.

Shane Connolly was hittable for the first time this season, allowing his first three earned runs of the season and a season-high four hits in 1 ⅔ innings in relief.

Despite the loss, the Hokies still showed the ability to get out to an early lead, something that hasn’t been seen much this season.

Manager John Szefc noted last week how he doesn’t think his team has played its best baseball despite the hot start. Once the Hokies start to play complete games with contributions from starting pitching, scoring and the bullpen, Tech will be hard to beat.

Chris Gerard will take the mound tomorrow for Virginia Tech, as the Hokies look to avoid losing its first ACC series of the season.