Cold Weather, Hot Bats: Hokies are Hammering to Start 2025

The Blacksburg Bombers hammered in 60 runs on their way to a 3-1 start to the season. It was an explosive offensive start for a team with a lot of new faces in the lineup, which was a welcomed sign with so many question marks coming into the season.

But it wasn't just the long ball that propelled the Hokies to success at the plate last weekend. Much like their record setting offense of 2022, the Hokies got production from all nine slots in the lineup with a combination of high contact rate and speed on the base paths. Athletically, this team looks like that Super Regional team that steamrolled through the ACC. But so far, the Hokies are less star-power led and more offense by committee. That may end up being a welcome change from previous years.

The outcome of the season for Virginia Tech can be boiled down to one question: "Does the offseason improvement translate to the spring?"

When sophomore pitcher Brett Renfrow, mustache and all, stepped up on the bump last Friday, he answered that question with a resounding 'yes'. The righty has increased his fast ball velocity from the low to mid 90's, and his command on the inner half of the plate shows outstanding growth. What's most impressive, and a theme with all the young Hokie arms we saw, was the confidence in every pitch. Renfrow is not afraid to pound the strike zone, which helped him get ahead in counts all day. It's a welcome sign for a staff that struggled giving up "free bases" last season, espeically in 2-strike counts. On the day, Renfrow was dominant and probably could have pitched well into the 7th, but it's cold and it's early...let's save that arm.

The more interesting pitching performance of the game came from true freshman, Jake Marciano, who threw three scoreless inning of one hit baseball with no walks. The youngster had excellent command and showed no signs of nerves in his first collegiate start. He has potential to be a bulk-inning reliever or even a midweek starter for this team.

In the batter's box, the Hokies showed what their remade offense is all about. Six different Hokies had multiple hits, and as a team the Hokies racked up 8 extra base hits. Newcomers Treyson Hughes (CF, Ole Miss), David Lewis (3B, North Greenville), Jared Davis (2B, Radford), and Jackson Cherry (RF/DH, Mercer) all had hits in the game. 

All in all, you couldn't have asked for a better opening day...except that wasn't the end of the day...

If the first game of the opening day double header was the good side of the Hokies, the later game was the ugly side. 

The Hokies struggled out the gate on the pitching mound, and never really were able to clamp down an experienced, talented Bucknell offense for more than a few batteres in a row. Starter Grant Manning, who showed signs of improvement this offseason, didn't have his normal stuff and was pulled early. The Hokies were down 4-0 early, but came back to tie it at 4 a piece on a David McCann solo shot in the 3rd. But Bucknell immediately answered with an unearned run, followed by the Hokies taking the lead in the 5th off an unearned run of their own. But that was all the offense the Hokies were able to muster. It looked like it may be enough, but with 2 down and 2 strikes on the count, Bucknell outfielder Chris Morabito flared a pop-up to shallow right that went just under the glove of Hokies star Ben Watson, leading to a 3-run RBI triple. 

It was a weird game, one in which the Hokies just couldn't find the outfield grass on a some well hit balls and Bucknell scored 3 after loading the bases on three consecutive walks and hitting a shallow pop up. Credit to the Bison, however, who made a couple of webgem plays late to keep the Hokies from putting together a big inning. 

The main issue for the Hokies pitching staff on Friday was getting guys out with 2 strike counts. Bucknell had 8 batters reach base after getting to 2 strikes, including RBIs for 4 of their 8 runs. It was a problem last season for the Hokies, one that resulted in multiple games where the bullpen blew large leads. More guys have "strike out stuff" than in previous seasons for Tech, with multiple pitchers regularly hitting mid 90's and some solid offspeed pitches to mix in. But there are still a few pitchers that will thow plenty of innings that rely on pitch location and solid defense to get outs. That's not a bad thing, just when you miss that location or have a couple errors, these games can happen. The Hokies have more depth of high quality pitching this season, they'll just have to figure out how to use, and when (and when not to) make the call to the pen. 

You couldn't ask for a more resounding bounce back on a cold, blistery day than what we saw on Sunday. The Hokies put up a staggering 27 runs on the Bison, a school record in the ACC era. Multiple Hokies had great days, but it was veteran RF Sam Tackett that stood tall above the rest. Tackett went 4 for 4 at the plate with two homers, including a towering 500-footer over the left field fence that galvanized national attention. Tackett, not necessarily known as a power bat, hit 3 homers over the weekend and looks to be the first choice in right field after his performances at the plate. 

On the bump, another true freshman arm showed out. Logan Eisenreich, a NoVA product, was hitting 95 mph with ease in his first collegiate start and showed an impeccable use of his offspeed pitches, which dipped down to 78 mph. If he can be a weekend starter for this team, the Hokies pitching staff would get a much welcomed boost in starter depth. 

You could list player stats for hours from this game, but the main story is the resilient bounce back of a team that was left somewhat shellshocked after a Friday night loss, especially after having just beat the same team 19-0 hours earlier. Bucknell is not slouch, mind you. The Bison are picked to finish 3rd in the Patriot League and have multiple all-conference players returning. Sunday's game was an early morale boost for a Hokies team that will need to play with contagious energy and enthusiasm if they're to compete in the top half of the ACC. 

ETSU is a familiar foe of the Hokies, and one that provided a good bump up in competition. The Buccaneers are coming off a 36-win season and returned the bulk of their lineup. 

Things started slow for the Hokies. Grant Manning once again struggled early on in his start. The cold weather and some less than stellar defensive plays didn't help, but Manning will need to get back in the pitching lab to figure things out. The Hokies need him, and he's a better pitcher than his last two appearances. Credit to ETSU who took advantage of some poor pitch location from Hokie pitching early in the game, hitting 4 homers on the day off the Hokies and doing much of their damage in the first few innings. The Bucs put plenty of runner's on base via their 10 non-home run hits, but the key for the Hokies was a couple of clutch strike outs late in the game to keep the Bucs at bay. 

With runners on the corners in a tied game in the 7th, Hokie pitcher Preston Crowl got a clutch strikeout of ETSU leadoff hitter  and all-conference player, Jamie Palmese. Then in the 9th with the winning run at the plate, closer Luke Craytor struck out Palmese himself to secure the win. Craytor, a transfer from Lafayette, has maybe the most velo of Hokie pitcher, hitting 96-97mph on his fastball. For now, he's the best closer option on the team.

The key for the Bucs was two-out hitting, as they were 8-16 on the day with two outs. Again, much of that damage was with two strikes in the count as well. Many times, the Hokie pitching staff is one well located fastball away from getting out of an inning, but they just can't get the job done. The box scores may not look like it at points, but this pitching staff is very close to being very good.

At the plate, the Hokies struggled to get extra base hits, but used their speed on the base paths to manufacture runs. Cam Pittman, a transfer outfielder from Radford, has really made in impact in that area. When he gets on base, he's looking to cause havoc. That's a kind of mentality that the Hokies have missed the past two seasons. They'll need to get back to that style of play this season. 

The Hokies will host the preseason SoCon favorite UNC - Greensboro Spartans for a three game weekend series before heading to Harrisonburg to play James Madison on Tuesday. Unforutnately, the NCAA for some reason thinks baseball season starts in the winter, so snowstorms around the state could impact game times.

The Spartans are coming off a midweek upset of top 15 Wake Forest and will provide a tough test, and big resume building opportunity, for the Hokies. James Madison is also a tough midweek game, especially on the road. Last season, the Hokies lost in walk-off fashion in Harrisonburg while game in Blacksburg later in the season was cancelled due to weather. Some revenge against one of the top teams in the SunBelt conference would be well received.