Virginia Tech fell short against the Cardinal in extras.
Virginia Tech and Stanford dueled back and forth on the mound for nine innings before the Cardinal broke the game open in the tenth, scoring three runs to clinch the series over the Hokies."I thought our guys battled well," said Virginia Tech head coach John Szefc after the game.
" Stieg gave us a good, efficient start... we left too many guys on base. When you get chances like that, you’ve got to win." Virginia Tech left 17 runners on base and hit 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position. Only one of those RiSP hits resulted in an RBI. On top of that, the Hokies had six at-bats with the bases loaded and went 0-for-6, paired with a 0-for-10 day with two outs. "That was the difference in the game," Szefc said. "If we score a little more, it’s probably a different outcome. But when you have opportunities, you’ve got to take advantage... we didn’t, so we lost." Stanford struck first in the opening frame, using a one-out double from Teddy Tokheim before Charlie Bates singled up the middle, bringing him around third and to the plate, giving the Cardinal an early 1-0 lead. The Hokies struck back quickly. Sam Grube hit an infield bunt single and advanced to second base on an errant throw to first. Pete Daniel flew out to bring him to third, and Hudson Lutterman got the job done on a one-out sacrifice fly to bring in the tying run. The tie wouldn't last long, and Stanford was quick to reclaim the lead. A one-out double followed by a walk allowed Luke Lavin to hit a single to center field to bring in Cort MacDonald. Lavin went 2-for-3 on the day with a home run and two RBI. After a scoreless bottom of the second, Virginia Tech struck back in the third inning with a one-out, bases-loaded walk from Henry Cooke, bringing in Nick Locurto. Virginia Tech went on to get two more chances with the bases loaded that inning, going 0-for-2 with a strikeout from Owen Petrich and a groundout from Sam Gates. Once again, the tie was short-lived. Luke Lavin saw a two-out, 2-2 pitch and crushed it to right field, into the Stanford bullpen for a 363-foot solo home run, allowing Stanford to — once again — reclaim the lead. Griffin Stieg was settled in from that point, pitching two more scoreless frames and finishing with six innings pitched, allowing three runs and striking out three batters. The outing marked his second quality start of the season. "I get amped up and a little fiery," Stieg said after the game. "Settling down and finding my groove has been big. The earlier I find that, the better." Virginia Tech forced yet another tie in the fifth when Sam Gates hit a groundball single through the four-hole, bringing in Nick Locurto from second following his lead-off double. That double was one of Virginia Tech's two extra-base hits. After the Hokies tied it, they utilized Luke Craytor and Preston Crowl to get them into extra innings. Both pitchers combined for three scoreless frames.The first batter he faced — Cort MacDonald — just narrowly reached on an infield single. The call at first was challenged by the Hokies, but it stood as called on the field. Two consecutive fielders' choices got Stanford down to two outs with a runner on first, but Brock Sell floated a ball into no-man's land. It was nearly foul, but ended up skipping over the short wall just outside of foul territory for a ground-rule double, putting two runners in scoring position for Stanford. John Szefc opted to intentionally walk Rintaro Sasaki to instead face Tokheim. Tokheim came through for the Cardinal, roping a two-RBI single up the middle before Bates knocked another single to score Sasaki, giving Stanford a 6-3 lead.The Hokies looked to put together some extra-inning heroics. Ethan Ball worked a one-out walk, but Virginia Tech couldn't put anything together after that, dropping the game and the series. This game was a tale of missed opportunities for Virginia Tech. They stranded the bases loaded on three different occasions, including in the ninth, when they had the winning run just 90 feet from the plate with one out. "It’s just baseball," Stieg said. "We hit some balls hard right at people... just some bad luck. We’ve just got to keep attacking and putting pressure on them. We’ll win games like that." Virginia Tech will turn its attention to Radford on Tuesday before travelling down to Miami next weekend.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.
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