Hokies defeat Dukes in a dramatic midweek game

The Virginia Tech baseball team (24–14, 10–10 ACC) continued its streak of dramatic midweek games after a 7–5 win over James Madison (23–17, 8–8 Sun Belt) on Tuesday night. 

The Dukes had the Hokies where they wanted them in the eighth inning, up 5–3 with two outs in the inning, when disaster struck James Madison. It started with a Christian Martin double with a full count. Brody Donay was then hit by a pitch, which Garrett Michel followed with a walk of his own.

James Madison then changed pitchers from Matt Leikus to Matt Kleinfelter. Kleinfelter began his outing with an unusual walk, scoring the first run of the rally for the Hokies. David Bryant then reached first, drawing a walk. Chris Cannizzaro followed the Bryant walk with one of his own, scoring the tying run.

Kleinfelter then was pulled from pitching duties in favor of Joe Vogatsky, the third pitcher attempting to get the final out of the eighth. He faced Carson Jones, who was also able to draw a walk to score the go-ahead run. To rub salt in the Dukes’ wound, Clay Grady singled to score an insurance run for the Hokies before going into the ninth, with the Hokies leading 7–5. 

Henry Weycker came in to pitch the ninth inning for the Hokies. Weycker earned the save after allowing the leadoff batter to single, but he then sat down the next three batters he faced.

Kiernan Higgins started the game for the Hokies, pitching the first four innings and only giving up three hits while striking out three.

The Hokies will host another ACC foe, North Carolina, for a three-game series starting on April 28.