In the final game of the three-game ACC series with No. 12 Virginia on Saturday at English Field at Union Park, the Virginia Tech baseball team had just taken a two-run lead in the seventh before the game was delayed due to weather. After an 81-minute break, Tom Stoffel closed the door on the Cavaliers as the Hokies picked up the 7-5 victory.
Trailing 5-2 entering the bottom of the seventh, the Hokies erased their three-run deficit and took the lead with a five-run outburst – the 13th time this year Tech has scored five or more runs in a single inning.
The frame started with an error, and the Hokies made the Cavaliers pay as Ryan Tufts hit an RBI double, Stevie Mangrum added an RBI single and Mac Caples smacked that three-run home run, his eighth of the season.
Tech (19-19, 7-11 ACC) hit two home runs in the game, as Rahiem Cooper notched his 10th of the season in the fifth, a solo shot that made it 4-2 at the time. Tech had taken a 1-0 lead in the first on Sam Fragale’s ninth sac fly of the season, which was also the 100th RBI of his Tech career.
Virginia (29-9, 10-8 ACC) scored four unanswered with two runs in the second and two more in the fifth and plated an unearned run in the top of the seventh to take that 5-2 lead.
Stoffel faced a first-and-third situation after the rain delay, but got to fly outs to right to end the eighth then after surrendering a one-out single, the Hokies turned a double play to end the game. Stoffel earned his first career save with the effort, while Joey Sullivan got the win out of the bullpen.
Tech hit two more home runs to push its nation-leading total to 68 for the season – Wake Forest, who was second entering the day with 62, played at Notre Dame this evening. The 68 home runs are the second most ever hit in a single season, as a member of the ACC. The record was set in 2010 at 81.
Cooper’s 10th home run gives the Hokies two players with double figures (Fragale leads team with 14). It’s just the third time in an ACC season that two Hokies have hit 10 or more – Tyler Horan, Andrew Rash (11 each) in 2013; Steve Domecus, Buddy Sosnoskie (13 each).
Just eight Hokies have hit 10 or more home runs in a single season, as a member of the ACC, with two men (Horan, Rash) doing it twice.
Tech won for the sixth straight time on April 15, which includes four straight against ACC opponents. They have also won seven straight at home on this day, which dates back all the way to a 10-5 win over Virginia in 1998. The Hokies are 42-15 all-time on this date and 26-7 at home.
The Hokies are now 3-6 this year against ranked opponents, including a 3-3 mark at home.
— Courtesy of VT Athletics
