Three Takeaways From Virginia Tech's 0-3 Weekend In Texas

Virginia Tech had a rough 0-3 trip to Arlington, Texas to play in the Amegy Bank Classic at Globe Life Field. The offensed scored a measly nine runs in three games and lost two of it's three in blowout fashion — one of those being by way of run rule.

Here are three takeaways from Virginia Tech's toughest weekend this far.

No. 1: Ethan Ball and Sam Grube are superstars

Sitting 11 games into the 2026 season, Virginia Tech was wondering where it would be able to generate a lot of offense from. A lot of it has been by comittee, with a stretch of the order being able to string together timely hits in different situations.

The real standouts, though, have come from Sam Grube and Ethan Ball, who were both largely considered off the radar.

In 11 starts, Ethan Ball has tallied a hit in 10 games, earning a .390 batting average with a trio of home runs along with nine RBI and a .659 SLG. All of those stats lead the team.

Grube hasn't been far behind Ball, either. Through his 11 games, he is hitting .350 with a pair of big flies, eight RBI and a .625 SLG. To only Ethan Ball, those numbers all rank as the team's second best.

Grube has two more years of eligibility remaining and will have to spend at least one more season at this level before he is eligibile for the MLB draft. Ball will have to spend two more seasons in college ball, but has three seasons of eligibility remaining after this season.

No matter the performance of the offense so far, Virginia Tech has some building blocks for it's future.

No. 2: Offense is a problem

While I just gushed about the hitting of two of Virginia Tech's premier bats, the rest of the offense has been lackluster at best. The team is hitting .261 and beyond Grube and Ball, the Hokies have zero qualified batters hitting over .300. That's a major problem.

Owen Petrich is the next highest in batting average, hitting .286, which is roughly where I projected him to be coming into the season, but he's not displaying the power that the Hokies hoped he would coming into the season.

Sam Gates is also having a rough start to the season, hitting .219. Last season at George Washington, Gates hit .346 and was a premier bat. I do think that he is somebody who will take a step up. He is adjusting to higher level pitching, which can take time for some players.

As to not be too long-winded, Pete Daniel is also in a similar spot as Gates, previously showing that he is capable of hitting better than he has been — .231.

What's the answer? Virginia Tech needs to continue trying out different lineups, and that includes getting freshmen hitters in the batting order. CJ Oxendine had a hard-hit single against Mississippi State in the seventh inning. Aimon Chandler hit a home run off of a former top 25 recruit in the nation.

You can't do the same thing and expect different results. Virginia needs to change things up, whether they intend to keep the changes or light a fire under some of the guys who have had rough starts to the season.

No. 3: Pitching is better than it looked

Virginia Tech gave up 28 runs over the weekend, there's no dancing around that, but there is a silver lining.

Brett Renfrow and Ethan Grim combined to throw 10 innings and allow just four runs. Griffin Stieg is having a slow start to the season, which continued. He is coming off of a year-long recovery, and that can take time.

Chase Swift has a .235 ERA over four appearances out of the bullpen this season. Luke Craytor has three appearances with a 1.80. Brendan Yagesh has a 2.16 ERA across six outings. Ben Weber, Peyton Smith and Logan Eisenreich all have an ERA between 4.9-5.5, which is serviceable in the bullpen.

The problem has lied with a few specific arms. Preston Crowl has had a very poor stretch after a very promising start on opening day. In his last two outings, he's allowed 10 runs over 3.1 innings, that's not servicable nor is it playable. He is better than that, though. He was one of Virginia Tech's best bullpen arms last season, posting a 3.90 ERA in 32.1 innings of work.

Doug Willey has made a focus on keeping guys stretched out to go deeper into an outing, but I don't think that fits Crowl. His stuff plays up in 1-2 inning outings, and I think that the right call is to allow him to do that.

Aiden Robertson is a more confusing situation. He has a 15.63 ERA across five outings and 6.1 innings, but has tallied eight strikeouts in the time. The strikeout number alone does verify that he has stuff, and there's something there. The pitching coaches need to find out what/if his problem is and address it immediately.