Virginia Tech Baseball Drops 3-1 Duel To Tennessee

Arlington, Texas — Virginia Tech dropped a 3-1 pitching duel to Virginia Tech. Both starters in the game combined for 10.1 innings with three earned runs and 11 strikeouts. It was the bullpens that made the difference in the pitching duel. The loss was the Hokies' third defeat of the weekend, marking them as 0-3 on the weekend and 7-4 overall.

𝙐𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚, 𝙏𝙚𝙭𝙖𝙨#Hokies 🦃⚾️ pic.twitter.com/RIUU2nBY0l
— Virginia Tech Baseball (@HokiesBaseball) March 1, 2026

"You gotta score to win, man," Virginia Tech head coach John Szefc said after the game. "Hopefully, we can make the shift... facing some pretty good arms here, obviously."

Virginia Tech scraped together one run — a solo shot from Nick Locurto — on a triad of hits. Locurto accounted for two of those, while Petrich landed the single hit that wasn't from the Junior outfielder.

Virginia Tech gave the start to freshman Ethan Grim, his third of the season. He threw a stellar five innings with two earned runs before the Hokies decided to bring in Chase Swift from the bullpen.

"He did a really good job," Szefc said after the game. "He gave us a chance to win, got to stay in the game."

The first run scored on Grim came in the third inning, where Ariel Antigua worked an infield single. Jay Abernathy then worked a walk before Henry Ford — a former UVA Cavalier — laced a single up the middle to bring in Antigua.

But Locurto responded with a 366-foot homer to left field, tying the game after four innings.

Grim responded with authority, striking out Blaine Brown and tallying on a pair of perfect 1-2-3 innings before he was relieved by Chase Swift after issuing a leadoff walk in the sixth inning.

Swift had a short, solid outing. He grounded out the first batter he faced before Brown hit a slow roller up the middle that bounced off the second-base bag and into the outfield, crediting Brown with an RBI double.

Levi Clark then added a line-drive double to right field, scoring Brown to give Tennessee a 3-1 lead, which would end up as the final score.

Tennsesse brought in Brayden Krezel in the seventh to replace Mark Hindy — who came in for former Virginia pitch Evan Blanco. Hindy ended up logging the nine-out save with four strikeouts while allowing just one hit, which came from Owen Petrich, the first batter he faced.

After Petrich's single, the Hokies had ten batters in the ball game; just one reached base. That was Pete Daniel's two-out walk in the seventh before Sam Gates grounded into an inning-ending double play.

After Gates's walk, Virginia Tech had the next seven batters go down in order and did not pose a threat to Tennessee in the closing moments of the game.

Virginia Tech went 0-3 on the weekend, surrendering 28 runs in 24 innings of play.

"Hopefully the guys can take something away from this series, get something out of it," Szefc said. "Outside of the three outcomes, there's a lot of experience these guys can take away, no matter what."

Ethan Ball lost his collegiate baseball hit streak in this game, going 0-for-2 and being struck by two pitches. However, his on-base streak lives on, extending to 11 games into the season (and by extension, his college career).

Ethan Grim delivered a solid outing. In my preview, it was noted that if he could give Virginia Tech five-plus innings — which he did — the Hokies would presumably be in a favorable position. They were, but the offense couldn’t capitalize, finishing 0-for-10 with runners on base and 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

The sole run came from Locurto's solo home run, boosting the narrative of the Hokies' offensive struggles as they head into conference play.

Virginia Tech will take on Marshall at home on Tuesday.