Series Preview and Prediction For Virginia Tech vs William & Mary
Virginia Tech is just a day away from opening a pivotal 2026 baseball season, and they will get things started at home with a three game series against William & Mary. The game will not be televised, but you can keep up with live stats here and you can keep up with the live call here.
Game one will be at 3 P.M. EST on Friday, Feb. 13. Games two and three will be played on Saturday, with game two coming at 1 P.M. and game three starting about 45 minutes after the conclusion of game two.
Virginia Tech will go into this series searching for a 3-0 sweep. Here are a few things to keep an eye on for that to happen.
No. 1: Virginia Tech needs to establish its base-running ability.
Virginia Tech's offense is typically built with power, power, and power. This year, that power takes a big drop off, but the team's speed, contact, and baserunning ability. The Hokies return Clay Grady and Treyson Hughes, who both bring a lot of speed. The team also brought in Pete Daniel, Sam Grube and Sam Gates, who all have had a 20+ stolen base season in their career.
With the lack of power on paper, Virginia Tech needs to establish an identity that works early in the season and it needs to find what works. They have a relatively easy series to start the season, but they quickly have a three-game series against Rutgers and a three-game tournament series in Texas before they have to get into ACC play.
It's important that the Hokies get into ACC play on the right foot this year, and being able to establish an early identity and get to doing what works will be key for that.
No. 2: Virginia Tech needs to establish a bullpen rotation.
Last season, the lack of an established bullpen rotation for Virginia Tech was a big part of why they struggled down the stretch. It only had one starter that was able to regularly go 4+ innings, causing the bullpen to play a massive role in games two and three, and the bullpen was not deep enough to play such a big role.
This season, Virginia Tech has around six guys who could regularly start and pitch at least five innings, which will allow the bullpen to have long-relief guys in the fold, along with not having to worry so much about how to deploy some of their shorter relief guys.
This Virginia Tech pitching staff and bullpen are among the best that John Szefc has had during his tenure at Virginia Tech, and the Hokies need to take full advantage of that.
No. 3: Who is Virginia Tech's third starter?
On media day, John Szefc established that he believed he had two of his starters locked in with Brett Renfrow and Griffin Stieg; the only question was who would play the third starter role. Aiden Robertson is the name that initially sticks out, but the Hokies could also look in the direction of true freshman Ethan Grim or incoming transfer Ben Weber.
The staff also returns Chase Swift, Logan Eisenreich, and Madden Clement, all of whom have at least one career start under their belt. It will be nothing short of intriguing to see who is able to secure that third starting spot for the opening weekend.
Prediction
William & Mary is a solid offensive team that returns multiple impact bats, but it had a season ERA of 8.83 last season, and Virginia Tech will be aggressively looking to take advantage of.
Given that info, along with the on-paper strength of Virginia Tech's pitching staff, I will pick Virginia Tech to dominate and sweep the series.
G1: 14-3 VT
G2: 9-1 VT
G3: 11-0 VT
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-6a5b43e289498e1daf5a7229ef5b8a73.jpeg "Josh Poslusny")
Joshua Poslusny - who goes by Poz - is a Radford University sophomore in the School of Communication. He graduated from Ocean Springs High School in Mississippi in 2024. He has previously done work for The Tech Lunch Pail, Tech Sideline, and Sons of Saturday, among others. He specializes in baseball coverage, which he has been doing for the last year. He also has experience covering football, basketball, and softball.