No. 23 virginia tech walks off boston college on madden's two-out single

Wyatt Krueger

April 3, 2021

BLACKSBURG, Va. — With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, Kevin Madden called game to the tune of a two-RBI single to the opposite field to secure the walk-off 6-5 victory for No. 23 Virginia Tech over Boston College at a frigid English Field.

The Hokies (14-9, 10-7 ACC) faced a five-run deficit in the seventh inning after the Eagles (13-11, 4-9 ACC) manufactured four runs (three earned) against starting pitcher Anthony Simonelli, and added a run in the sixth off of reliever Noah Johnson.

The Hokies started the comeback by scoring their first two runs of the game via a single by Dayne Leonard in the seventh inning that scored Kevin Madden and a pinch hit single from Lucas Donlon to make the score 5-2.

Before that point, Virginia Tech was unable to get its bats going against Boston College starter Emmet Sheehan, who tossed six and ⅓ innings while striking out 12 and giving up two runs (one unearned).

In the bottom of the eighth, Madden hit his first of two clutch RBI hits to score Gavin Cross, who had an infield single for his first hit of the day to lead off the inning.

The Hokies had chances to take the lead, but still went into the ninth inning trailing by two runs.

Tech quickly grasped the momentum at the start of the inning. Lucas Donlon was hit by a pitch and Jack Hurley added a chopping infield single to put two runners on with no outs. Hurley finished 2-4 on the day with one run.

After Tanner Schobel flied out to right field on the next at bat, Gavin Cross hit another single to load the bases for TJ Rumfield. The Temple, Texas native was able to get a run through with a sacrifice fly, but the Hokies were down to their final out with runners on first and second.

Tanner Thomas was next up to the plate, drawing a clutch walk to bring the hot hand, Madden, to the plate. It was Thomas’ second walk of the evening.

Madden did what he does best, making hard contact with his short swing on a 1-1 count, sending the ball to the opposite field, deep enough to score Hurley and Cross.

Madden was then ambushed in jubilation by teammates as Virginia Tech earned its sixth come-from-behind win of the season.

Madden’s walk-off sets up for an intriguing rubber match against the Eagles on Saturday at 1 p.m.

With Chris Gerard’s status up in the air, he or Shane Conolly could be on the mound for the Hokies to start game three.