Virginia Tech Shuts Out NC State 4-0 Behind Dominant Pitching From Renfrow
Blacksburg, Va. — Behind a dominant eight scoreless innings from Brett Renfrow, Virginia Tech's offense did enough to push past NC State and comfortably win the series opener in shutout fashion.
"I was just trying to attack," Renfrow said after the game. "I trust all my pitches. It was working tonight, so I just attacked with them."
𝙉𝙊𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝘽𝙐𝙏 𝙕𝙀𝙍𝙊𝙎 ☺️
— Virginia Tech Baseball (@HokiesBaseball) April 25, 2026
≫ @DeltaDentalofVA #Hokies 🦃⚾️ pic.twitter.com/4wm0DJy3je
After a scoreless opening frame, Virginia Tech struck first in the second inning. A two-out walk from Pete Daniel was followed by a Sam Gates triple, scoring Daniel and giving Virginia Tech an early 1-0 lead.
They added on again in the second, where a lead-off double from Sam Grube was followed with a two-out home run from true freshman Ethan Ball, who sent it over the NC State bullpen. The homer traveled 376 feet and gave Virginia Tech all of the momentum with a 3-0 lead in the second.
"He’s confident," said Virginia Tech head coach John Szefc. "I don’t really worry about his thinking too much. One of the better signs tonight was the at-bat where he was 0-2 and ended up walking. He’s got electric bat speed, but he’s also leading our team in strikeouts. To battle back from 0-2 and draw a walk — that’s a big at-bat. That doesn’t show up as anything but a walk, but that’s big.”
The two-run shpt gave Renfrow some much-needed run support.
"“It was awesome," Renfrow said about the early-game run-support. "Those guys smash. They’re good hitters, man. It’s fun to watch.”
Things settled there for an inning and a half, where Renfrow set down his first of 12 consecutive batters, ending the fourth inning.
The Hokies added on in the fifth.
A one-out single from Henry Cooke was followed up by a walk from Ball. Hudson Lutterman flew out to get the Hokies to two outs, but Willie Hurt made sure to knock in his only RBI of the day, lining a ball into left field and scoring Henry Cooke, making it a 4-0 game.
NC State opted to go to the bullpen, ending the day of starter Heath Andrews.
Andrews finished the day allowing four earned runs on seven hits with six strikeouts across five innings of work.
The NC State bullpen was much more impactful. Aiden Kitchings walked the only two batters he faced. But Sam Harris kept a run off of Kitchings' line, escaping the inning without allowing the Hokies to plate a run.
Harris went on to finish the game, striking out three batters in three perfect innings of work.
It was in the top of the fifth where Renfrow really settled in.
He set the side down in order in the fifth, sixth and seventh and also retired the first two batters he faced in the eighth inning.
In the eighth, NC State's Rett Johnson — who is top five in the nation in batting average — hit his second single of the day into center field.
Johnson finished 2-for-3 with a walk and two singles.
Renfrow stayed on the mound to finish the inning, inducing an inning-ending fly out to Luke Nixon.
That finished Renfrow's day.
He pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out nine batters and allowing just three hits and one singular walk.
He had two baserunners on just once in the game and was forced into only a trio of three-ball counts. He tallied 108 total pitches.
"If you’re talking about pounding the zone and getting ahead, that’s example 1A of doing that right there," Szefc said after the game. "When you put hitters in three-ball counts, they’re not average hitters anymore, and that’s what he did. That was probably his best job, maybe that I’ve seen, of staying out of three-ball counts.”
Chase Swift entered the game in the ninth to close it out. He set the side down in order and struck out a pair of batters to end the game.
The Hokies have now won five of six games — dating back to two Tuesday's ago when Virginia Tech thew a no-hitter against Radford.
"“I think we’re feeling really good," Renfrow said. "We’re focused on the process so results come. It goes day by day.”
Game two is set for tomorrow at 12 p.m. ET, moved up due to expected incoming rain.
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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.