No. 13 Virginia Tech Tops Gardner-Webb with Seven Home Runs

The No. 13 Virginia Tech Hokies defeated Gardner-Webb 15-3 on Wednesday, marking their seventh straight win.

Virginia Tech put on an absolute hitting clinic Wednesday with the team combining for seven home runs, 13 hits in total, and 15 runs. All seven home runs were hit by different players, the bulk of them coming in the fourth inning.

Teagan Thrunk batted second in the fourth, smacking her third homer of the season while driving in pinch runner Maija Louko to go up 8-3. A few batters later, Bre Peck and Cameron Fagan had back-to-back bombs to center field, tallying up another four runs for the Hokies.

Tech got right back into it in the fifth, with seniors Grace Chavez and Morgan Overaitis knocking another back-to-back pair over the wall to lead 15-3. Going into the bottom, Gardner-Webb was quickly retired with three groundouts to end the game.

The Hokies now hold a staggering 83 run advantage over opponents this season, 45 of which come from home runs. Virginia Tech currently leads all of NCAA Division 1 in home runs.

Freshman Lyndsey Grein got the win from the circle, her fifth of the season. Grein pitched for three innings Wednesday, allowing three hits and three runs.

Gardner-Webb’s pitchers couldn’t get settled against the Hammerin' Hokies, swapping out the starter Alli Stidham for Kalyn Kyle to start the fourth. Kyle faced just six batters, allowing five hits and three runs while securing a single out before getting pulled for Clara Wyatt.

The Runnin’ Bulldogs struggled to fight their way past Grein and Molly Jacobson, their efforts amounting to four hits on the night. Two of GWU’s three runs came off of errors in the third as Tech momentarily let some slack off the tight leash.

Virginia Tech will continue its stint in North Carolina at UNC (8-13) for a three game series over the weekend. The Hokies will then travel to Boone to face App State (11-5) on Wednesday at 5 p.m.