Virginia Tech Drops Below .500 With 11-4 Loss To Liberty

Blacksburg, VA — In Madden Clement's first start in nearly two years — and his first appearance in 417 days — the Hokies looked to bounce back from a series loss in Coral Gables, Florida, with a midweek win over Liberty. But two crooked-number innings from the Flames helped them push past the Hokies with an 11-4 win.

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— Virginia Tech Baseball (@HokiesBaseball) April 8, 2026

The Flames struck first in the top of the opening inning. Clement faced five batters, allowing a hit and walking three more, striking out Riley DeCandido in between.

A one-out, bases loaded walk to score a run ended his day and brought Chase Swift to the mound, where he managed to limit the damage and hold Liberty to just one run through the first three innings.

Virginia Tech struck back in the bottom of the first, where a one-out RBI single from Henry Cooke scored Nick Locurto, who hit a lead-off single to open the frame.

Just two batters later, true freshman Willie Hurt hit a two-out, two RBI single to give the Hokies an early 3-1 lead.

That score would hold until the fourth inning as Chase Swift and Josh Swink kept the game close.

Liberty broke through in the sixth when the Hokies took Swift off the mound. Brody Roe was the next name to come out of the pen. He faced five batters — four of which scored — and recorded just one out.

Jacob Exum relieved him, facing three batters and failing to record an out.

The crushing blow came from a one-out, bases-loaded double down the left field line from Nick Barone. That double cleared the bases and turned a three run inning into a six run inning, and suddenly the Hokies trailed by four.

Virginia Tech would respond in the fourth. Owen Petrich hit a one-out, bases-loaded RBI single to opposite field. Only one run would score on the hit, though. Petrich rounded first looking for a double, but was unaware that Sam Gates — who was on first — checked up at second. He was thrown out trying to return to first base.

That out ended up being a crushing one, and the Hokies scored just one run on the bases-loaded situation. It would be their last run of the evening.

Liberty would add on to their lead in the fifth. Brendan Yagesh continued on the mound, but was not nearly as effective as he was the previous inning.

He issues a four-pitch walk to Kyle Hvidsten to lead off the frame, and Josh Compos followed that up with a double down the right-field line, putting two in scoring position with no outs.

Luke Craytor entered the game looking to clean up the mess. Tanner Marsh, the first batter he faced, hit a seeing-eyes groundball up the middle, scoring both runners and giving Liberty a 9-0 lead.

A hit by pitch and a walk loaded the bases before Jaxon Sorenson grounded into a fielders-choice RBI. Craytor took care of the next two batters with a pair of strikeouts, ending the frame with runners on the corners.

Luke Craytor went on to finish with outing with a trio of strikeouts, allowing one run in 1.2 innings of work before he was relived by Aiden Robertson, who had arguably his best outing in a Virginia Tech uniform.

Robertson allowed just one run — a one-out RBI single from Jaxon Sorenson — in 2.1 innings of work with a strikeout and two hits to his name.

At that point, Liberty had an 11-4 lead and the game would go scoreless from that point forward.

Coming off of a 2-1 series loss at Miami, the Hokies desperately needed a pick-me-up win against Liberty, but they fell short. They move to 15-16 on the season with a 6-9 conference record, leaving them in a very diffcult situation.

They will face off against Boston College in a three game series — with game two in the illustrious Fenway Park — this weekend.