Virginia Tech Baseball: Hokies Welcome Stanford to ACC Tournament with Opening Round Victory

Following a huge upset in the morning slot from the Cal Bears, the No.12 Virginia Tech Hokies (31-24, 12-18 ACC) were the first lower seed to pick up a victory over the No.13 Stanford Cardinal (27-24, 11-19) in hard-fought game, 7-4.

In Durham, the Hokies were the first to field the diamond with freshman Jake Marciano taking the bump for his 15th appearance.

Striking out two in the first inning, Marciano proved the nerves of his first ACC tournament were no match--bringing the Hokies offense up to the plate to face the Cardinal ace, Joey Volchko.

Volchko made quick work of the top of the Tech lineup, retiring the side in 11 pitches. Just for Marciano to trot back out and tally two more K's onto his impressive ACC tournament debut in the top of the second.

After the morning set produced a fourteen-run combined scoring affair, the Hokies and Stanford looked to settle into a pitchers' duel as Volchko struck out Jackson Cherry to pick up his first strikeout to end the second frame, once again perfect.

Designated hitter Cort McDonald opened up the third with a leadoff single before Marciano quickly rallied back to two outs. Right fielder Tatum Marsh hit a single of his own to spark a two-out rally that ended with the Cardinal ahead, 1-0.

With McDonald 90 feet away from opening this contest's scoring, Marciano spiked his delivery into the dirt, allowing the ball to get away from Henry Cooke for McDonald to scurry home.

Tech was quick to respond, centerfielder Cam Pittman drew a walk for the Hokies' first base runner of the afternoon. Freshman nine-hole hitter Hudson Lutterman sat back on the delivery from Volchko, sending a towering double into the left-center gap for Pittman to race the 270 feet from first base to tie up the contest, 1-1.

Marciano stayed in with the contest knotted up to work his way through the middle and bottom side of the Cardinal lineup, which he did exceptionally in the fourth--attacking Stanford into counts where they needed to be swinging, relying on his defense to get the outs.

Small ball propelled the Hokies into the lead in the bottom of the fourth, four singles tacked on two go-ahead runs. Back-to-back singles from Sam Tackett and David McCann with no-outs, got the Tech dugout rowdy. With Tackett on third and with one out, Cherry placed down a beautiful drag bunt, killing the entirety of the ball's momentum for Tackett to score, 2-1.

One final single, now with two outs, came when Pittman reached base for the second time to drive in McCann to extend the Hokies' lead, 3-1.

Marciano's day was complete in the top of the fifth when Stanford third baseman Trevor Haskins got the best of the at-bat, sending a solo shot into the deep left-center gap. Resulting in Preston Crowl taking over and ending the frame.

After giving up three runs, Volchko had no intention of giving up his ground on the mound. After singles from Clay Grady and Tackett got the momentum going, followed by a walk drawn from McCann, put big pressure on Volchko to find the final two outs in the inning.

Especially with Cooke up to the plate, who has mustered 30 RBIs throughout the season. On the second pitch of the at-bat, Cooke grounded out to Jimmy Nati at second for the 4-3 double play to end the fifth.

Back-to-back base on balls ended Crowl's outing after recording just a single out, yet he was in line to receive the win, bringing in Cameron LeJeune to protect the Hokies' narrow one-run lead.

With two runners in scoring position and two outs--a full-count scenario was almost destined to happen in this scenario, Luke Lavin worked a walk out of the scenario to load the bases for LeJeune.

Jamming McDonald into popping up into shallow outfield seemed to be disastrous for the Hokies, as it seemed to be drifting into no-man's land. Davis, the Hokies' second baseman, with his back fully to the outfield, made a two-RBI saving catch to end the frame--killing all of the Cardinal momentum with one grab.