Virginia Tech Secures Key Quad One Win Over Liberty
LYNCHBURG, Va. — The Virginia Tech pitching staff carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning, turning in 6.2 dominant frames while the Hokies' offense steadily added runs in a comfortable 8-4 win over Liberty Wednesday.
"Yeah, that’s a really good team," said Virginia Tech head coach John Szefc after the game. "They’re just as good as some of the teams in our league, for sure. I thought that was one of our best games of the year as far as how we pitched and how we played defense."
The Hokies (26-21) had four different players with multi-hit games and seven total players with a hit in the outing. Their only arm to be tagged with runs all afternoon was Brody Roe, who allowed four (three earned) in the seventh. Virginia Tech even carried a no-hitter into the seventh.
𝙌𝙐𝘼𝘿 𝙊𝙉𝙀 𝙒𝙄𝙉, 𝙁𝙄𝙍𝙀 𝙐𝙎 𝙐𝙋 🧑🚒
— Virginia Tech Baseball (@HokiesBaseball) May 7, 2026
≫ @DeltaDentalofVA #Hokies 🦃⚾️ pic.twitter.com/fE2Ykq858E
Virginia Tech struck first in the opening frame. A lead-off triple from Sam Grube put the Hokies in prime scoring position early, allowing Henry Cooke to knock him in on an RBI groundout.
Virginia Tech added a pair of critical runs in the third frame, too. A lead-off double from Ethan Gibson gave the Hokies a runner in scoring position with just one out for the heart of the lineup.
The Hokies didn't need to get deep in the heart of the lineup before Henry Cooke added two more RBI to his stat sheet, knocking a two-run homer to deep left field, over the home-side bullpen.
The game went scoreless for an inning and a half after that.
In the bottom of the third, though, Liberty threatened.
A walk, a hit-by-pitch and sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third with one out, which ended the day for Virginia Tech starter Madden Clement.
He threw 2.1 scoreless — and hitless — innings, striking out a pair of batters.
Ethan Grim took to the mound out of the pen, escaping the frame without allowing Liberty to scratch across a run.
“Maybe the biggest point in that game was when you bring Grim in there in the third, and he leaves second and third with one out," Szefc said. "That was a big, big point in that game. Give him a lot of credit coming out of the bullpen."
In the top of the fifth, Pete Daniel led off the inning with a solo home run to the opposite field gap — his second big fly of the season — giving Virginia Tech a 4-0 lead.
Sam Grube was then hit by a pitch. A pair of consecutive singles from Cooke and Ethan Ball was enough to bring him around to score, giving the Hokies a 5-0 cushion.
The game settled a bit from there. Grim turned on cruise control, throwing 2.2 scoreless frames and walking just one batter.
In the seventh, a pair of one-out walks and an infield single loaded the bases for Sam Gates, who took a single to opposite field to plate a pair of runs.
The Hokies led a very comfortable 7-0 through this point in the game.
Things got dicey for the Hokies in the seventh.
Brody Roe took the mound and set down the first two batters he faced.
The no-hitter was then broken up by Easton Swofford, who singled over the head of Pete Daniel.
After that, two more singles came, and the bases were loaded for Josh Campos.
He laced a two-out, bases clearing double into left field, bringing Liberty within four.
Tanner Marsh then hit an infield single, and a throwing error from Pete Daniel allowed for Campos to round third and score, narrowing the deficit to 7-4.
The Hokies then led by just three runs, but they responded in a big way in the eighth inning.
With the bases loaded and one out, Ethan Ball skied a ball to left field for a fly out, but it was deep enough to score Pete Daniel from third, giving the Hokies a big insurance run and haulting the Liberty momentum.
Preston Crowl, who took the mound to get the last out in the seventh, cruised from there.
He threw 2.1 hitless frames with four strikeouts, keeping Liberty from making a late push.
With the win, the Hokies have won 10 of their last 13 contests, and they are up to No. 32 in the RPI, firmly on bubble watch.
We will have that covered and more here as the season carries on. Virginia Tech has a two-game set against North Carolina Greensboro on Saturday and Sunday.
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Joshua Poslusny - who goes by Poz - is a Radford University sophomore in the School of Communication. He graduated from Ocean Springs High School in Mississippi in 2024. He has previously done work for The Tech Lunch Pail, Tech Sideline, and Sons of Saturday, among others. He specializes in baseball coverage, which he has been doing for the last year. He also has experience covering football, basketball, and softball.