Virginia Tech Dominates Radford In 13-5 Midweek Victory

Radford, Va. — Virginia Tech erupted for an early 8-0 lead, fueled by three home runs over the first three innings, and leaned on steady bullpen work the rest of the way while continuing to tack on insurance runs.

"“To go out there and put eight on the board before they score... that’s how you win games,” said Virginia Tech head coach John Szefc after the 13-5 win.

𝙀𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, 𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 ... 𝙖 𝙬𝙞𝙣'𝙨 𝙖 𝙬𝙞𝙣 🤪

≫ @DeltaDentalofVA #Hokies 🦃⚾️ pic.twitter.com/GGtYDQQLIq
— Virginia Tech Baseball (@HokiesBaseball) April 1, 2026

The Hokies (14-13) jumped on Radford quickly, plating two in the opening frame after Pete Daniel walked to open up the inning and Ethan Ball followed with a groundball single through the right side of the infield.

A pair of sacrifice flies along with a wild pitch allowed both Daniel and Ball to score, giving the Hokies an early 2-0 lead.

With Aiden Robertson on the mound, Radford couldn't get anything going offensively for the first two innings. The Highlanders (12-13) went six up, six down in the first two frames.

Virginia Tech added on in the second when Ethan Gibson blasted an opposite-field home run over the right field wall. Treyson Hughes followed just two batters later, hitting his first home run of the season to nearly the same spot.

Things wouldn't get batter for the Highlanders in the third, as Ethan Ball squared up a pitch for a lead-off double before Sam Grube was hit by a pitch. Henry Cooke then hit a deep fly ball to right-center, where the two outfielders were unable to communicate, which allowed the hit to fall for a two-rbi double.

Nick Locurto followed that up with his first of two homers on the night, scoring Cooke and himself, giving Virginia Tech an 8-0 lead in the third inning.

“I give our guys credit," Szefc said. "They didn’t get tied up. They went out there and took control early."

Radford responded in the third, with Tyler Sparrer hitting a one-out single, followed by an RBI double from Juno Son and an RBI single from Hunter Keen. Robertson then plunked two consecutive batters, leading to him being pulled.

Jacob Exum then took the mound and hit the first batter he faced, scoring a run due to the bases-loaded situation. He then escaped the jam by striking out Noah Toole.

Radford would not score again until the ninth.

"We pitched well at the beginning," Szefc said. "Outside of that one inning we held things pretty tight."

The Hokies struck again in the top of the fifth, where Nick Locurto hit his second big fly of the game.

"It was awesome," Locurto said after the game. "It was definitely nice to hit a couple today, help the team get ahead and win by a big margin.

The Hokies then put runners on second and third with nobody out, allowing a passed ball to score Sam Gates before Treyson Hughes dropped a bunt towards the right side of the infield, scoring Ethan Gibson before he was thrown out at first.

Virginia Tech struck again in the seventh. After loading the bases with nobody out, Anderson French and Hudson Lutterman both struck out before the batting order turned over to the top. Pete Daniel worked a two-out, full-count walk on a nine-pitch at-bat that forced a run in from third.

Virginia Tech struck for a final time in the eighth inning, where a Sam Gates groundout scored Henry Cooke from third after he walked, and Locurto hit a double to move him to third.

After the eighth, the game was at the typical 10-run difference that consitutes a run-rule. Virginia Tech believed that the run-rule was agreed upon before the game, but Radford and the home-plate umpire confirmed and agreed that the agreement was not in effect for the game.

"I thought we had agreed to play the 10-run rule," Szefc said. "Apparently, that wasn’t the case."

Radford took advantage of the final inning of baseball, plating a pair of runs on two bases-loaded walks, with both runs being credited to Tyler Stone.

Finishing their one and only trip to the New River City, Virginia Tech will turn its attention to the upcoming three-game series in Miami as they continue ACC play.