Taking A Deeper Look At Virginia Tech's Journey This Season To Being An NCAA Tournament Team

At one point in the season, Virginia Tech baseball was mired in a plethora of trouble. Heading into March 8's series finale against Georgia Tech, the Hokies (30-24, 15-15 ACC) — then situated with a 7-7 (0-2 ACC) record — had lost their last six games, including a three-game sweep at the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series in Arlington, Texas, from Feb. 27-March 1.

The Hokies won that series finale to avoid a series sweep, but they lost their subsequent series to Virginia, falling to 2-4 in league play. Virginia Tech bounced back, though, claiming a series-winning walkoff 7-6 victory March 22 over Duke thanks to a bases-loaded RBI single up the middle from first baseman Sam Grube.

A week later, however, Virginia Tech was saddled with a 13-13 overall record and a 5-7 mark in league play — the direct causation of an insipid 9-4 loss to ETSU March 24 that was followed by a series loss vs. Stanford. In the rubber match, Virginia Tech did not score a run in the final five innings and yielded three runs in the 10th to Stanford to lose in extras.

Five days later, the bottom appeared to fall out. Virginia Tech scored the first run of the game against Miami April 3, but it allowed 14 runs in the second and third innings — including a nine-spot in the third — that resulted in a 19-1 loss. Virginia Tech lost the series with a 8-6 loss in Game 2, though it again salvaged the series. Virginia Tech won the series finale 6-3 behind six frames of seven-hit, two-run ball from junior right-hander Griffin Stieg.

After an 11-4 loss to Liberty at English Field, Virginia Tech again proved vacillatory, claiming a 9-8 11-inning victory over Boston College in the series opener. Left fielder Hudson Lutterman, who is currently nursing an ankle injury at the present moment, delivered an RBI triple that scored Gates, while shortstop Pete Daniel singled through the right side of the infield to bring Lutterman around.

The Hokies, however, dropped another series, falling with 8-7 and 6-2 losses to drop to 1-5 in league series. However, that marked the turning point for Virginia Tech. Five Hokie arms combined for the Hokies' first no-hitter in 26 years in a 14-0 shellacking of Radford April 14 that was followed by a series victory over Pitt. Virginia Tech scored nine runs in the fourth inning of Game 1 in an eventual 11-6 victory; though it lost 5-4 in Game 2 via a Pitt ninth-inning run, the Hokies countered with a 6-5 Game 3 victory capped by a walkoff 359-foot solo shot from Lutterman.

Virginia Tech won its next three midweeks against both VCU, James Madison and Liberty; the Hokies also tabulated series victories over NC State (4-0 VT, 14-7 NC State, 5-4 VT) and California (9-1 VT, 6-2 VT, 9-4 Cal) to move to 3-4 in league series. Virginia Tech split its non-conference slate with UNC Greensboro with a 18-13 Game 1 loss and 11-9 Game 2 win before hosting Clemson for its regular-season finale.

With the season on the line, junior right-hander Brett Renfrow — one of two Hokies to earn all-ACC honors; he was named Second-Team All ACC, while freshman second baseman Ethan Ball was tabbed to the All-Freshman team — delivered 7.1 innings of six-hit, one-run ball with five strikeouts in his final appearance at English Field.

In Game 2, Virginia Tech claimed a 2-1 walkoff victory where Daniel was caught in a rundown between first and second base. With the shortstop garnering attention, left fielder Nick Locurto made a dash for first and slid across the plate to end the game. Virginia Tech had only tabbed two hits in the first eight innings of the game and had not scored prior to the ninth. Locurto's RBI single that scored Ball and his rundown score proved to be the difference for the Hokies. Sophomore Logan Eisenreich threw for seven frames of seven-hit, one-run baseball, setting career-highs in both strikeouts (nine) and pitch count (88).

Though Virginia Tech dropped its series finale to Clemson 10-8 — a defeat that dropped it 10 spots in the RPI to No. 47 — the Hokies entered the ACC Tournament in a relatively comfortable position. Virginia Tech entered the tourney as the No. 7 seed, their highest positioning in the tournament since the 2022 season. The Hokies, fresh off their fourth straight ACC series victory, came out swinging against Notre Dame to kick off the tournament.

Ball tied the program single-game ACC Tournament record for both home runs (two) and hit by pitches (two), reaching base on all six of his plate appearances. The freshman sent two shots — a 409-foot bomb in the second and a 416-foot jack in the third — over the center-field wall.

Ethan Ball’s two home runs and two hit by pitch in today’s @ACCBaseball Tournament game ties the @HokiesBaseball record for both homers and HBP in a single ACCT game. #Hokies pic.twitter.com/4XmYD5waak
— Damian Salas (@vthokie) May 21, 2026

Virginia Tech left the first frame in a 4-0 hole, but Ball's two homers evened the game at five with one out in the third. Then, a Locurto double that scored Lutterman (Locurto was retired going for third) gave the Hokies a 6-5 lead they never relinquished. Freshman Ethan Grim was tagged for four earned runs before Tech recorded an out, though Eisenreich (five hits allowed, three walks, four strikeouts) steadied the ship with only one run over the next 4.2 frames.

Virginia Tech plated four runs in the sixth via an Ethan Gibson sacrifice bunt, a Lutterman single and a Sam Gates single to right field that gave it a 12-6 lead after six. Notre Dame cut into the lead with an RBI single and a long three-RBI double from Fighting Irish designated hitter Shane Miranda. However, holding a 12-10 lead, Virginia Tech, which carved through 10 Notre Dame pitchers, put the game away. The Hokies plated five more runs (Gibson single, Owen Petrich single, Grube single, Henry Cooke single, Lutterman grounder) to walk away with a 17-10 victory.

In the victory, Virginia Tech set season-highs for both runs (17), RBI (16) and hits (19). However, the Hokies' stint in the ACC Tournament came to a halt against No. 2 seed North Carolina. The Tar Heels came out to a 2-0 lead, though Virginia Tech countered with a pair of homers from Gibson and Cooke. Grube's fourth-inning single prompted the removal of All-ACC First Team pitcher Jason DeCaro (3.1 IP, six hits, three runs, five strikeouts).

All-ACC First Team reliever Caden Glauber entered and largely shut down the Hokies for the final 5.2 frames, yielding only three hits, a run and three walks while racking up six strikeouts. Save for a Ball leadoff homer in the fifth, his third jack of the tournament, Virginia Tech did not advance a runner past second base the rest of the way. North Carolina took the lead at the bottom of the fourth with two runs, and it added to its advantage in the bottom of the sixth with a two-out RBI single.

For good measure, North Carolina put the game away in the eighth with a Jake Scaffner triple (7-4), an Owen Hull single and a two-out Macon Winslow homer that cemented the 10-4 score.

Regional play begins Friday, May 29. Virginia Tech is in the Los Angeles Regional as a 2-seed, alongside No. 1 overall seed UCLA, Cal Poly and Saint Mary's.

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