Three Takeaways From Virginia Tech's 2-1 Series Win vs Duke

Virginia Tech showed a lot of promising traits as a baseball team over this past season, but things finally came together as a whole in Virginia Tech's 2-1 series win against Duke.

There is a lot to take away from Virginia Tech's first ACC series win of the 2026 campaign, so here are my top three from the weekend.

No. 1: Brendan Yagesh needs to be a regular starter

In the first five weeks of the season, the Hokies started Ethan Grim, Brett Renfrow and Griffin Stieg, but things changed up this week, with Brendan Yagesh taking the mound during game one against Duke.

Yagesh had an incredible start, throwing seven scoreless innings, where he allowed just five hits along with seven strikeouts and zero walks.

Yagesh has shown promise all season long with consistent outings. The one blemish on his resume so far on the year is his three-inning outing against UVA, where he allowed six runs.

Aside from that outing, Yagesh has a 2.16 ERA with 16.2 innings of work under his belt. Moving Ethan Grim to the bullpen to piggy back on a starter with the goal to finish the game seems like the best option — especially early in a weekend — to keep your bullpen fresh into the later games.

No. 2: The Virginia Tech offense has turned a corner

For the first time all season, the Hokies were able to score six or more runs in each of their three weekend series games. 6 of 22

Offense has been a problem all season long, with the Hokies scoring five or less runs in 9-of-22 games on the year, including four games where they scored one run or less.

This weekend, the offense was able to put together consistent at-bats, forcing Duke to go into the bullpen early in games and even force them to use multiple pitchers for a second time in the weekend.

If the Hokies can continue to get into a teams bullpen early in games, it sets them up for success, especially as they get into the second and third games of a weekend.

No. 3: Virginia Tech will have a logjam on the middle infield

Virginia Tech has been missing Clay Grady for the entirety of the season so far, but his return is expected to happen relatively soon.

With that, the Hokies have Ethan Ball and Pete Daniel currently taking up second base and shortstop, respectively. With Pete Daniel swinging a hot bat recently, the Hokies will need to find a different spot for Grady to play.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there," Szefc said about the logjam." If we’re fortunate enough to get Clay back, it’s going to make us a way better baseball team, regardless of what position he plays — short, second, center, whatever. It doesn’t matter where that guy plays.”

Immediately upon Grady's return, he will be one of Virginia Tech's best bats, so the Hokies will need to find a way to encorporate him into the lineup. We'll just have to wait and see how they opt to do that.