Hammerin' Hokies Live on the Edge in a Hard Fought Week

Four games for the Hokies, all came down to the ninth inning. And frankly, all four were games that the Hokies could have found themselves winning or losing. 

Well, you play four 50/50 games, and you end up wining half of them. Mathematically that makes sense and that's what the Hokies did. A 1-2 series loss to the Yellow Jackets certainly stings, but completing the season sweep of in-state foe James Madison is a nice consolation prize and also keeps the Hokies a perfect 5-0 in midweek contests this season, something many of the top ACC programs can't say for themselves.

The Georgia Tech series did highlight some recurring pain points for the Hokies program over the last few years that, although have been addressed on the roster, have remained on the field. In both losses to the Jackets, the Hokies gave up two runs in the ninth inning, both having been walked on base. That's a gut punch that the Hokies have felt all too much over the past 2+ seasons.

For only the second time this season, the Hokies offense was held quiet for most of the game. Only amassing 4 hits and a handful of walks, the Blacksburg Bombers were grounded by Georgia Tech's stud reliever, Mason Patel. Patel is one of the best relief arms in the country. He threw 5.0 scoreless innings against the Hokies and shut the door even after getting into some trouble in the later innings. 

On the mound for the Hokies, Brett Renfrow put in another fantastic performance that deserved some more offensive support. His fastball command has been exquisite this season, and it's showing in his strikeout numbers. If this continues, he could see an all-ACC nod. But the offense just didn't have it on Friday evening, and with a one run lead in the top 9th, a couple of walks and a base hit down the left field line sealed the deal. 

The Hokies bullpen was mostly lights out, which makes the loss even more frustrating. Preston Crowl came into the game with runners on the corners and no outs and walked away unscathed. He was one of a handful of bullpen arms that had a pretty good weekend. 

In much more Hokies fashion, the bats were alive on Saturday with a trio of homers that shot the Hokies past the Yellow Jackets. Sam Tackett, who is putting together an All-American season, hit homers on back to back at-bats as the Hokies took control of the game.

Starting pitcher Jake Marciano battled for over five innings. Every time it looked like he was done, he came back and got tough out after tough out vs a Georgia Tech offense that is one of the more potent in the ACC. Much like Renfrow last season, Marciano has a tendency to remain calm and throw strikes in tough spots. He also showed control beyond his years early in this game, dropping his fastball velo a tad bit which allowed him to go over the 100-pitch mark for the first time this season. At the end of the game, Cameron LeJune shut things down with 3.0 innings of elite stuff. He looks like the best closer on the team, and will most likely be a main-stay in that role for the rest of the season.

The long 

The Hokies deserve some credit for fighting tooth and claw in this game. After grabbing a run in the first, the Hokies fell behind 3-1 and were trying to comeback the whole game. After falling behind 6-2, a big third innings from Sam Tackett and Ben Watson, who has been getting hot as of late, pulled the Hokies to within 1. 

It was another Watson hit that tied the game up at 6-6 in the 7th inning, and the Hokies had all the momentum. However, unable to convert with runners on base in the 8th left the door open for the Yellow Jackets, and the capitalized. A mid-game umpire switch saw a pretty big change in the strike zone...and that killed the Hokies in the 9th as two Jackets were able to draw walks on pitches that were, truthfully, right down the pipe. After that, a ground rule double and a hit to right field was all that was needed for the Jackets to pull out the series.

The Hokies had issues with the strike zone all weekend. Although that's not the reason for the series loss, it was evident that Georgia Tech adjusted to the zone better than the Hokies did. That might have been the difference in a very well played weekend of baseball. It should also be noted that playing this close to a team like Georgia Tech does bode well for the Hokies. The Yellow Jackets have recruited at an elite level for a few years in a row, and have a couple of bullpen arms that would be massive parts of any bullpen in the country. If Georgia Tech is a top 25 tournament team, then the Hokies certainly are as well.

But to stay at this level, the Hokies need a Sunday starter. Logan Eisenreich looked to be that guy, but we haven't seen him in over two weeks now. Hopefully if there's an injury its nothing serious. Still, to have recruited this well over the past few seasons and to still be trying to piecemeal together a weekend pitching staff is inexcusable. There are very talented pitchers on this roster, they need to be used correctly, however.

The Dukes have started to really struggle this season, but they're always a tough out. They have really good pitching, and the Hokies struggled to get a big inning on the road in Harrisonburg. But a solo homer from freshman catcher Anderson French and some electric base running from J.D. Davis were enough for the Hokies to squeak past JMU for the season sweep.

Freshman arm Chase Swift got the start and impressed again, slamming the screen door on three Dukes in his 2.0 innings of work. At the end, Luke Jackman came in with 2 men on and one out and pitched lights out. His offspeed pitches were perfectly placed, and he worked his way around JMU's best power hitter to force a ground out. I'd expect to see more from Jackman in the coming weeks.

As the season moves along, I'll try to summarize how things are looking in the ACC. So far, the conference has had a mixed bag of results. Florida State and North Carolina look like two of the best teams in the country, while Virginia, North Carolina State, and Duke have had rocky starts. The ever steady Wake Forest has started to hit their stride and may find themselves as a top 10 team here in a couple weeks. Here's a stab at power ranking (based on current form and results) the ACC:

1. Florida State
2. North Carolina
3. Clemson
4. Wake Forest
5. Stanford
6. Georgia Tech
7. Louisville
8. NC State
9. Boston College
10. Virginia Tech
11. Virginia
12. Duke
13. Miami
14. Pittsburgh
15. Notre Dame
16. California

The Hokies will head to Raleigh for a weekend series with NC State. The Wolfpack have an elite pitching staff, but have struggled to string together good hitting against better competition. This will be the first ACC series of the season for the Wolfpack, who were preseason top 15 but have losses to Liberty, Ohio State, Alabama, Coastal Carolina, and Richmond.

If the Hokies can win the series, they put themselves in really solid position to start off the season. Winning one game would be a tough outcome, but the not a killer. Just have to avoid sweeps and take care of business against the bottom half of the league.