#22 Hokies to take on #25 NC State (All three games on ESPN3)

Raleigh NC - Your currently ranked #22 Virginia Tech Hokies will face the Pack this weekend at Dail Park.  The Hokies look to improve their ACC 7-5 record and an 11-2 record in the state of North Carolina.  After sweeping Duke 2 weeks ago, Tech took two out of three at home from the Florida State Seminoles to get the series win.  Tech hopes to increase their standing in the ACC bracket and continue a strong season under coach Pete Hughes.  The Pack are 22-8-1 at home against Virginia Tech.  The two teams have never faced each other when they were both ranked.  Tech has never been above .500 in the ACC before this late in the season.

Friday, the Pack will most likely pitch Sophomore Carlos Rodon.  He has posted a 4.12 ERA and is 3-2 on the season.  He usually starts their Friday night games and has been successful as of late, only giving up 4 earned runs in his past 13 innings pitched.  He gets a TON of swings and misses and already has 73 strike outs on the season with JUST 43.2 INNINGS PITCHED.  Tech hitters need to try and bear down and work the count against Rodon, as he tends to throw many pitches in every start.  The sooner they get him out of the game, the better.

Ethan Ogburn will most likely get the start on Saturday again st the Hokies.  He has only pitched 25 innings this year and has posted a 3.24 ERA.  He produces many ground outs so the Hokies will need to see the bottom of the ball to hopefully drive in some runs.

Freshman Brad Stone will likely take the mound Sunday against the Hokies, posting a 7.03 ERA so far.  He is not off to the start he wanted but he pitched excellent against UMD last weekend, only giving up 2 Earned Runs in 6 innings of work.  Hokies will look to drive the ball off of him as he tends to leave the ball up.

All games will be broadcasted live on ESPN3, so be sure to check out all of the ACTION there!

Hokies Blast Away VCU

Blacksburg -  #22 Hokies faced off against the VCU Rams at English Field on Tuesday night where the Hokie Nation saluted the troops with Military Appreciation Night.  Hayden toed the rubber for the Hokies and Dan Black took the mound for VCU.  Haydun struggled to find the strike zone early on in the game, hitting lead off Cullen and walking Bunn.  With one out, clean up hitter Mikionis doubled in the runs for an early 2-0 lead for VCU.  However, the Hokies retaliated with a two run homer from Chad Pinder in the bottom half of the inning on a 2-1 fastball.

Hayden struggled again to find the zone in the second inning and after walking two batters and giving up a double, was pulled for Jake Joyce to hold the bases loaded.  Jake got Cujas to ground out to end the threat. After a scoreless 2nd and a 1-2-3 inning from Joyce in the third, Tyler Horan came up to with men on the corners and doubled them home on a long double in the right center gap.  Jake Joyce escaped a threat in the fourth and Chad Pinder marched up to the plate to hit his second homer of the game in the fifth.  With a 5-2 lead, the Hokies turned to Sean Keselica to pitch. Keselica pitched a one hit sixth but surrendered a two one opposite field home run to VCU hitter Machin in the seventh.  Keselica then went on to escape a first and second jam by getting Octavi to ground out.

The big bottom of the 7th featured an RBI double from Mark Zagunis and followed by a three run home run for Tyler Horan, his 4th RBI of the game.  VCU intentionally walked hot batter Pinder before the home run.  Latiban came on for Keselica in the 8th with runners on first and second with no outs but only surrendered one run.  Hokies would then score 2 more in the 8th on a dropped fly ball by Alex Perez.  The ball appeared to get caught up in the lights and the Center fielder couldn't find the ball.  VCU then went down in order in the 9th with Latiban getting two strike outs.

The win marked Virginia Tech's 14th non conference win this season and boosting their record to 21-9.  The last time the Hokies won 21 games by their 30th game was in 2010, and previously in 1986.  They are off to a hot start and are going to face streaky NCState at home this coming weekend.  Stay tuned for a scouting report this week before Friday!

Pinder's second homer of the day.

Hokies Host VCU 4-2-13

Blacksburg - Your Virginia Tech Hokies (20-9) (7-5 ACC) will host VCU (14-11) (2-4 A10) on Tuesday night at 5:30 pm.  The Rams will try to take on #22 Virginia Tech and their surging offense.  VCU will most likely pitch their mid-week Ace Trevor Marino, who has posted a 4.70 ERA thus far during the week.  The Rams are off to a much better start this year in the A10 than they have been in years past, but they feature a younger team focused around young talented hitters.  Their relief pitching however has been a little lackluster, as they have posted a combined relief ERA of 5.10.  The Hokies will have to be aware of lead off hitter Bill Cullen, who has posted a .349 batting average thus far with 23 runs scored.  His power bat is a little unorthodox at the top of the line up but VCU tends to use him as their secret weapon.  Hokies will most likely pitch a weekday starter, such as Keselica or Tanner McIntyre to face the Rams. 

Game start: 5:30 PM

Game time temp: 52 degrees 

Come out to support your Military Appreciation night! First 500 fans get a Free T-shirt!

Hope to see you all there!

Hokies Take Two of Three From #4 Florida State

Game in Blacksburg - On Friday, March 29th, the VT Hokies took down #4 Florida State Seminoles 3-2 on a complete game pitching performance by Junior Brad Markey and a pesky offense.  The Seminoles scattered 11 hits off of Markey, but could not seem to get the bats going with men in scoring position.  The only damage that the Seminoles could muster was a two run shot over the right field wall for Senior DJ Stewart.  The Hokies scrapped together 3 runs on 6 hits, getting RBIs from Schneider, Zagunis, and Keselica.  The Hokies turned 4 double plays during the game, most notably the game ending unassisted double play by 3B Chad Pinder. With a runner on third with one out, Pinder snared a liner over his head and instinctively dove to the bag to turn the upsetting double play.  Markey, and the Hokies, received a standing ovation from the crowd as they left the field.

Double Header -  The first of two games on Saturday, March 30th, started off with a huge lead by the Seminoles.  Starter Junior Devin Burke (Hokies) struggled to stay consistent with the strike zone early on and this led to his defense playing on their heels.  After a pair of walks, all with two outs, the Seminoles brought 12 men to the plate to stroke some singles after the Hokies failed to turn inning ending double plays, twice.  An error in center field on a line drive soon led to a 5-0 lead after a half inning of play.  After the Hokies were sat down 1-2-3 by Seminole starter Sitz, the Seminoles went on to score 3 more runs on a double and a pair of singles with a sac fly to take a strong 8-0 lead.  A disappointed Hokie crowd started some noise when Brandon Hayden drove in a run in the bottom of the second inning, but the threat ended immediately after.  After a 1-2-3 inning by Sitz, the Hokies seemed to have their backs against the wall until the fourth inning.  With a surging 6 hits and 3 errors, the Hokies offense put up a game tying 7 runs all with 2 outs in the inning.  As the game advanced, the Seminoles took an 11-8 lead with a bases loaded walk, RBI single by Senior McGee, and a wild pitch.  The Hokies threatened in the seventh with a lead off triple by Zagunis and later on scored on a Rash ground out, but the game moved on to the 9th.  After a fantastic relief effort from Keselica, the game moved to the bottom of the 9th.  The Hokies held second and third with a Zagunis walk and a Rash double with one out in the inning against closer R. Coles.  Hayden singled in Zagunis but Rash was held up at third.  Down by one, the Hokies had two outs to work with to get the runner in from third but Wernicki struck out followed by a Perez ground out to lose the game, 11-10.

The second game of the day featured Joe Mantiply making his second ACC start of the year, after sitting out the beginning of the season injured.  Mantiply pitched a solid 6.2 innings, giving up 6 hits and 1 earned run.  The Hokies jumped out in from of the Seminoles 4-0 in the fourth With a key 2 out 2 RBI double from Rash.  later on in the game the Hokies scored four more, again led by an RBI single from Rash.  Rash's 2-3 effort on the day led him to game MVP and solid relief pitching from Clarke Latiban cruised the Hokies to an 8-1 win.  The save was Clarke's fifth of the year.  The Hokies upset the Seminoles with a 2 out of 3 series win.

The now ranked #22 Hokies will face VCU on Tuesday at English Field here in Blacksburg Va.  Stay tuned for tomorrow's scouting report.