Virginia Tech Baseball Walks Off Pitt To Secure Second ACC Series

Behind a solo shot from Hudson Lutterman, Virginia Tech moved to 2-5 in ACC series.

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Griffin Stieg delivers a pitch during game two of the series against Pitt in 2026. | Virginia Tech Athletics

BLACKSBURG, Va. — In a back-and-forth game, Hudson Lutterman took matters into his own hands in the bottom of the ninth — shooting a lead-off 359-foot solo shot in the ninth to win the game and secure Virginia Tech's second ACC series victory.

"He gets big hits for us," said Virginia Tech head coach of Lutterman after the game. "I think he hit a home run yesterday. Obviously, the wind’s helping a little bit here today — I don’t know if he got that one as well as he thought, but it’s a big hit either way."

𝙐𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 🐈‍⬛

≫ @DeltaDentalofVA #Hokies 🦃⚾️ pic.twitter.com/KqXDnbnP4e

— Virginia Tech Baseball (@HokiesBaseball) April 19, 2026

After a scoreless first, the Hokies (19-19, 9-12 ACC) quickly applied pressure on the Panthers, where a Willie Hurt single — turned into a double on a stolen base — led to Sam Gates driving a ball up the middle for an RBI single.

Gates finished the day 2-for-4 with an RBI. Hurt was just getting started. Across the day, he went 1-for-1, tacking on three walks and three runs.

“When he gets opportunities, he produces," Lutterman said of Hurt after the game. "He’s good offensively, defensively, hustles. Just an all-around good teammate.”

Pitt (24-14, 7-11 ACC) struck back in the third. After Ethan Grim worked through the first two innings scoreless, a walk and a single to start the inning opened the door for Caden Dulin, who hit a 392-foot home run to left-center field, giving the Panthers a 3-1 lead.

Those were the only runs that Virginia Tech starter Ethan Grim allowed. He finished the day with 3.2 innings of work, allowing three runs on six hits and a pair of walks.

It took an inning before Virginia Tech countered.

In the bottom of the fourth, Hurt reached base again with a walk before advancing to third on another Gates single. Petrich then skied a ball to right field, deep enough to score the speedy Hurt.

Bullpen arm Aiden Robertson then took to the mound in the top of the fourth, securing an out to end the inning.

In the fifth, Robertson surrendered a bloop double into no-mans-land that left the bat at just 78 mph. Lorenzo Carrier followed that up with a scorched single — an en fuego kind of hit — that left the bat at a staggering 114 mph.

Preston Crowl entered the game after that, and the Panthers did not score another run until the ninth inning.

Crowl went on to finish his outing with three scoreless innings, allowing just two baserunners and striking out a pair of batters. It was his second appearance of the weekend; he threw 88 pitches across his appearances on Friday and Sunday, allowing two hits and a run across the combined five frames.

“It’s a ‘get it done’ mentality," Crowl said. "Recover, take care of your body and come back ready to go.”

Trailing 4-2, the Hokies desperately needed a big swing to turn momentum in their favor, and they got just that in the seventh, where an Ethan Gibson double and a Willie Hurt walk — his third of the game — gave Owen Petrich an opportunity to flip the game on its head.

He fouled back a fastball on the first pitch he saw.

"I fouled back a fastball and knew if I got it again, I could handle it," Petrich said.

He promptly blasted a 421-foot home run to dead center, giving Virginia Tech a 5-4 lead.

“That kind of flipped the whole game," Szefc said about the homer. "Give him credit — he had four RBIs, three on that one swing. We score six, he drives in four — that’s a pretty productive day.”

Brendan Yagesh took the mound in the eighth, finishing Preston Crowl's scoreless outing. Yagesh got in a jam in his first inning of work, loading the bases with two outs. He managed to escape, keeping Pitt off the scoreboard — temporarily.

In the ninths, a lead-off hit-by-pitch and a groundout advanced Trey Fenderson to scoring position with just one out. Joey Baran struck a two-out double down the right field line just over the extended glove of Hudson Lutterman at first base.

That tied the game at five going into the bottom of the ninth.

“I thought he did a good job," Szefc said about Yagesh. "He gave up the hit to tie it, but he got us to a point where you’re one pitch away from winning. That’s hard to do.”

Pitt brought in Andrew Luczak to try to get through the ninth and force extra's, but Hudson Lutterman was not allowing that.

After falling behind in the count, 0-2, Lutterman worked his way back to an even count and struck a no-doubter into left field, landing in the Hokies' bullpen to end the game.

"I got a good scouting report," Lutterman said. "I went down 0-2, he bounced two sliders, and I assumed he’d come back with a heater—and he did.”

Virginia Tech has been a lineup that has struggled with power all season long, but they've found ways to get some timely slugging to win games.

"“It shows we can always come back," Petrich said. "We have the ability to get those big hits when we need them.”

Moving to .500, Virginia Tech is in an interesting situation given their strength of schedule. Computer metrics do favor the Hokies, and they have a rather favorable schedule down the stretch.

"As weird as this sounds, at 9-12, we’re a squeeze bunt away at Stanford from being 10-11 and winning our home series with more home series left," Szefc said. "As up and down as it’s been, I still think we’re in a pretty good place to finish in a good spot.”

Virginia Tech will travel up to the Diamond in Richmond, Va., to play VCU on Tuesday, April, 21 at 1 p.m. ET. After that, the Hokies are back at home to contest N.C. State in a three-game set starting on Friday, April 24 at 6 p.m. ET. The VCU contest is available to watch on ESPN+, while all three games of the NC State series are currently set on ACC Network Extra.