Tickets for the troops
As one of just two public universities with a full-time Corps of Cadets, Virginia Tech has a rich military tradition, and recognizing that, the Virginia Tech Athletics Department announced Thursday a year-long initiative to honor the men and women who bravely serve this country.
With the goal of creating memorable experiences for this special group, the department will begin a partnership with the Veteran Tickets Foundation (VetTix). Virginia Tech fans wishing to show their support for “Tickets for Troops” and send a military member to an upcoming ticketed home event may do so by donating on HokieSports.com.
Donations may be made in $25 increments and all donations will be matched by Virginia Tech Athletics to cover the full cost of each ticket provided.
New tennis coach at RU
Following an extensive search, Rob Bareford has been tabbed as the newest head coach of the Radford Men’s Tennis program, Director of Athletics Robert Lineburg announced on Thursday.
Bareford comes to Radford from Hampden-Sydney College where he served as the Head Tennis Coach for four years. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in History from Virginia Tech in 2011 before earning his Master’s degree in Sports Industry Management at Georgetown last spring.
Adopting a struggling program at H-SC that recorded a combined four wins across 2015 and 2016, he turned things around in a major way, leading the Tigers to 12 wins in 2017 and 16 wins in 2018, the most wins for the team since 1992.
Royal, Flowers join broadcast
The Virginia Tech Athletics Department and Virginia Tech IMG Sports Marketing are pleased to announce that former Tech football greats Eddie Royal and Brandon Flowers will join the Virginia Tech IMG broadcaster’s lineup and make significant contributions to both Hokies All-Access – Virginia Tech’s new immersive television program – and to gameday programming across the Virginia Tech IMG Sports Radio Network.
Royal will join Laaser and Mike Burnop to form a three-person panel that will serve as hosts to Hokies All-Access, and he will serve as an expert analyst for each of the eight football-specific editions of the program. Additionally, he will serve in the same role for any special football editions of the program that will be produced throughout the season. Royal also will join Andrew Allegretta and Wes McElroy as an analyst for select editions of the Kubota Kickoff Show as part of IMG’s game day presentation across the Virginia Tech IMG Sports Radio Network.
Flowers will serve as a special contributor for select episodes of Hokies All-Access, as well select editions of the Kubota Kickoff Show.
Hokies fall baseball
With the opportunity for Division I baseball programs to play two fall exhibition games without penalty for the spring season, the Virginia Tech Hokies have announced they will be hosting two games at English Field at Union Park, both on Friday nights this fall.
Tech will welcome the Charlotte 49ers for the first game on Sept. 14, while the High Point Panthers will be on campus for the second game on Oct. 5. Both of those games will be contested the night before a Hokies’ football game – the East Carolina (9/15) and Notre Dame (10/6) tilts.
First pitch for each game will be at 6 p.m. Concession stands will be open for the two exhibition games and there will be free admission for these two contests as well, along with the Fall World Series games to be played in late October.
Yankees left off all-star team
The Appalachian League today announced its 2018 All Star Team highlighted by Player of the Year Wander Franco (Princeton) and Pitcher of the Year (Dilmer Mejia). The 14-man squad is made up of representatives from seven Appalachian League organizations – Princeton (4), Bluefield (3), Johnson City
(2), Kingsport (2), Bristol (1), Danville (1), and Elizabethton (1). Rays manager Danny Sheaffer was also named Manager of the Year. No Pulaski Yankee player made the team.
Franco, a two-time Appalachian League Player of the Week recipient, earned Player of the Year honors after posting a .374 batting average on the season (as of August 23) and recording a hit in 47 of 55 games played, including a league-best 25 game hitting streak.
Danville’s Mejia was named Pitcher of the Year after ranking in the top three in the Appalachian League in wins (5), ERA (2.71), innings pitched (63.0), and games started (12) as of August 23.
Sheaffer was recognized as Appalachian League Manager of the Year in his sixth season at the helm in Princeton. He has led the Rays to a 39-20 (.661) record and a two-game lead atop the Appalachian League East. Under Sheaffer’s leadership.
The complete 2018 Appalachian League All Star Team is as follows: C Roberto Alvarez (Princeton), 1B Chris Williams (Elizabethton), 2B Luis Santana (Kingsport), 3B Nolan Gorman (Johnson City), SS Wander Franco (Princeton), U-INF Connor Hollis (Princeton), DH Alejandro Kirk (Bluefield), U-OF Guillermo Granadillo (Kingsport), OF Jonah Davis (Bristol), OF Jordan Qsar (Princeton), OF Cal Stevenson (BLU), RHP Tommy Parsons (Johnson City), LHP Dilmer Mejia (Danville), Relief P (Sean Rackoski), and manager Danny Sheaffer.