Virginia Tech Baseball Handles Cal 9-1 In Series Opener

Behind a strong start from Brett Renforw and a pair of three-run innings, Virginia Tech surged past Cal in game one to win by a 9-1 decision.

Six Hokies had hits in the game — each of those six recorded multiple — highlighted by Henry Cooke's four-hit game and two home runs from Ethan Ball and Nick Locurto.

𝙎𝙡𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙩𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, 𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙜 😴

≫ @DeltaDentalofVA #Hokies 🦃⚾️ pic.twitter.com/uNssuLQK3N
— Virginia Tech Baseball (@HokiesBaseball) May 2, 2026

After Brett Renfrow (7 IP, 4 H, ER, 9 K) and Oliver De La Torre (6 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 3 K) tossed a pair of scoreless innings to start the game, the Hokies (24-20, 12-13 ACC) got on the board in the third.

Sam Grube and Ethan Gibson both went down quietly in the frame, but a Henry Cooke single was set up Ethan Ball, who skied a fly-ball to right field, deep enough to clear the wall and score himself and Henry Cooke.

Hudson Lutterman followed it up with a Little League home run, hitting a double — by the scorecard — and coming around to score, courtesy of an error from Cal (23-22, 7-15 ACC) first basemen Daniel Murillo.

The game would stay scoreless for quite a while from there, where Renfrow and De La Torre both settled in. De La Torre finished his outing without allowing another run, and Renfrow wouldn't give up a run until the seventh.

Before Renfrow gave up his only run of the game, the Hokies tacked onto their lead in the top of the seventh, when Cal went to Jett Wright as their first arm out of the bullpen.

A pair of singles put runners on first and second before Ball singled back up the middle and scored Grube.

At that point in the game, he'd had knocked in all four of Virginia Tech's runs.

Cal finally answered in the botth of the seventh.

A one-out single from Brady Errecart — the first of his career — and a stolen base set up for Taichi Nakao to ground a slow-roller to the right side. It went against the shift, scoring Errecart and giving Renfrow the only blemish on his start.

The Hokies answered back in the eighth. A pair of one-out walks from Owen Petrich and Pete Daniel turned the order over to the top, where Grube hit an RBI single to plate Petrich.

Daniel also scored on the play. Grube tried to get to second on the throw home to Petrich, but was caught up in a run down. While he did end up out, Daniel was able to score rather effortlessly, giving the Hokies a 6-1 lead.

After Renfrow's day came to a close, Chase Swift entered the game in relief, setting the side down in order in the eighth.

Swift hasn't allowed a run since March 3 against Marshall.

His numbers in that time:

nine appearances
13.1 innings pitched
18 strikeouts
six walks
four hits (0 since 3/18)

The Hokies were able to add insurance in the ninth.

A lead-off double from Cooke and a one-out RBI single from Lutterman scored the first run of the frame. Then, Nick Locurto took the plate and crushed a home run to left field, scoring himself and Lutterman and giving the Hokies a 9-1 run in the top of the ninth.

Aiden Robertson came in to finish the game, and did so in scoreless fashion, allowing a walk and a single before ending the inning and the game.

The Hokies have now won eight of their last 10 games and sit at No. 33 in the RPI, just one game below .500 in league play.

They will face off against Cal for game two Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.

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