Virginia Tech Moves to Regional Final with Historic Offensive Effort

Image credit: Virginia Tech SS Tanner Schobel (Photo courtesy of Virginia Tech)

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Virginia Tech displayed plenty of offensive prowess Friday in a 15-9 win against Wright State, but as it turned out, that was just a warmup for what came Saturday night as the Hokies poured it on against Columbia and won 24-4 to advance to the final of the Blacksburg Regional on Sunday. 

Take your pick of your favorite fun fact about their outburst. It’s the ninth time that the Hokies have scored 15 or more runs in a game this season. A 14-run fourth inning set the Virginia Tech record for runs in an inning since it joined the ACC. It’s the first time since Arizona in 2012 that a team has scored 15 or more runs in each of its first two games in a regional weekend. And there were 17 individual batted balls that were hit over 100 mph on the night. 

“I think everybody just kind of stuck to their game plan throughout each at-bat and stuck to their approach,” said Virginia Tech shortstop Tanner Schobel. “Sticking to the game plan was how we scored a lot of runs and kept the momentum going.”

That massive fourth inning was a marvel in and of itself. It had just about everything. There were 10 hits, five walks and a hit batter. There were two balls lost in the lights by Columbia left fielder Cole Hage and they came on consecutive batters. The first of which ended as a two-run inside-the-park home run for leadoff hitter Nick Biddison and the second resulted in a triple for center fielder Gavin Cross. 

And by the time it was all said and done, Virginia Tech had batted around twice. 

“Once we started scoring that many runs, it was really exciting,” Biddison said. “We were excited to get a couple across to start and then it just kept piling on. Any time we score that many runs in one inning, it’s very exciting.”

In hindsight, none of the individual hits in that fourth inning were all that important when the Hokies ended up taking control, but in the moment, Schobel had a massive swing of the bat. 

With the bases loaded and one out and Virginia Tech trailing 2-1 in the fourth, Schobel tattooed a ball for a double to bring all three runners home and give his team a 4-2 lead. 

“I got into a two-strike count, so I was just trying to simplify,” Schobel said. “He had thrown an inside fastball for the second strike that I took. And so I figured I took it, I probably looked like I wasn’t ready for it, so I figured he was probably going to come back with it. So I was just sitting on a fastball on the inner half of the plate. Thank goodness he kind of threw it there and I just put a good swing on it and then the rest is history.”

In the context of this individual game, that’s a big hit, but it’s even bigger within the context of this weekend as a whole. 

Don’t forget how tense Friday’s win over Wright State was, when every single run the Hokies scored felt necessary. And don’t forget that Columbia spent much of its afternoon Friday scoring runs against Gonzaga righthander Gabriel Hughes, a potential first-round pick this summer. 

We know it wasn’t the case in the end, but at the time, it felt like Virginia Tech was going to need to be ready to battle all night, because there was no indication things would go the way they did. 

“It’s very rare to see a score like that in an NCAA Tournament game,” said Virginia Tech coach John Szefc. 

Setting some of the craziness like balls lost in the lights aside, Saturday’s win was also a perfect exhibition of the Hokies’ lineup depth. Everyone was involved, and that’s a microcosm of their entire season. 

Cross is the best-known Virginia Tech position player. He’s an alum of USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team and a blue-chip prospect for the upcoming draft. He did plenty on Saturday. In addition to his fortuitous triple, he was hit by a pitch, singled, hit a two-run homer and walked. 

In most any other lineup in the country, he’d be the singular player that opposing pitching staffs would have to work around. But in this lineup, he’s just one of many. 

Left fielder Jack Hurley had three hits and drove in three runs on Saturday. Biddison scored three runs. Third baseman Carson DeMartini tripled, drove in three runs and drew three walks. Catcher Cade Hunter had two hits of his own. 

Every single one of those aforementioned players, plus Cross and Schobel, is hitting better than .330 and has a double-digit total in doubles and home runs. 

Sometimes saying that there are no soft spots in a lineup is a trite cliche, but it rings true in the case of this Virginia Tech lineup. 

“I think I knew that we had a pretty special lineup just from the get go of how our preseason went (and) how our fall went,” Schobel said. “Just seeing the guys that are in our lineup, how successful they’ve been in the past, too, it’s kind of how I knew we were going to have something special this season.”

The lineup is so deep in fact, that it has surplus pieces waiting for opportunities. Saturday’s right fielder, Carson Jones, has played in 17 games this season and started nine times. But he’s hitting .366 when he’s in there and has seven home runs. Against Columbia, he was on base five times with two hits and three walks. Similarly, catcher Gehrig Ebel had 17 at-bats coming into Saturday’s game and he homered after entering the game late. 

“Having all of us on one offense is very dangerous,” Biddison said. “Coach (Kurt) Elbin wants us to hit the ball hard. Swing hard, and that’s what happens.”

In the big picture, this puts Virginia Tech one win away from more significant history, its first-ever super regional appearance. It has been at this stage the last two times it has been in a regional. When it hosted in 2013, it fell in the regional final to Oklahoma. In 2010, it made it that far before being eliminated by South Carolina. 

But those teams aren’t this team. This team has a lineup that can beat the opposition one through nine, as we saw once again, but not for the first time this season, on Saturday. This team has been dominant for most of the season. And as excited as they would be to make history by getting to next weekend, this team looks capable of making history far beyond the super regional round.