Collegiate Times

Virginia Tech sought to bounce back from their home weekend series loss at the hands of Georgia Tech in a match-up against visiting USC Upstate.

Thanks to a three-run double by catcher Anthony Sosnoskie in the seventh inning, the Hokies were able to pull out a 5-3 victory over the Spartans.

Tech won the previous meeting between the two squads, 12-3, back on Feb. 22, but their second victory over the Spartans was far less easy. 

Hokie starting pitcher Josh Wymer found himself in trouble early with the two men on in the top of the first after surrendering back-to-bask hits to catcher Jimmy Tanner and designated hitter Austin Moyer. An error by shortstop Ty Hohman allowed Tanner to score from second, putting the Spartans up a run early.

But Wymer stuck out the next batter to end the inning, then fell into his grove pitching three solid innings surrendering one unearned run and allowing only two hits and a walk.

The Hokies were able to strike back right away after a double to the left field corner by first baseman Austin Wates, scored center fielder Steve Bumbry in the bottom of the first.

Wates, making his first career start at first, added two stolen bases to his stat sheet as well, giving him a team high 11 on the season and for first in the ACC.

"I just try to be aggressive out there," said Wates. "You've got to know you're better than the guy on the other side and just really get after it."

Spartan's pitcher Dempsey struggled mightily in his first start of the season. The junior surrendered one run in each of the first two innings, walking 4 batters in only 1.2 innings.  Spartans head coach Matt Fincher went to the bullpen in the second inning, putting righty Barrett Stover in to face off against the Hokies.

"Well, we always talk about our approach offensively and we always want to hit our pitch," said Tech head coach Pete Hughes. "Hopefully if we're doing that, we can get base-runners from people who don't seem to have a good command of the strike zone."

The Hokies struggled at first to keep pace with Dempsey's replacement. The junior pitched four economical innings allowing no runs on just three hits.

Stover showed his first signs of weakness in the seventh inning, walking the first two batters to put runners on first and second with no outs. Fincher went to his bullpen yet again, inserting southpaw Philip Meyers.

Meyers surrendered an infield hit to designated hitter Steve Domecus to start his outing. The dribbler along the third base line extends Domecus' hitting streak to 15 games.

Tech's next batter, Anthony Sosnoskie, blasted three-run double, giving Tech the go-ahead lead with only six Spartan outs left.

"I was just trying to see the ball, stay with my approach and not get sucked into what the pitcher was doing," he said. "We knew we still had to keep playing though, no matter what inning or what the situation is."

Meyers settled down after the three-run shot, retiring the next six batters in order -- striking out five of the six.

USC Upstate's center fielder Kyle Simpson was the main statistical leaader on the evening, picking up two hits and driving in one run for the Spartans. The senior got it done with his glove too, making a diving catch in the sixth to rob Hokie second baseman Michael Seaborn of a base hit.

Ben Rowen came in to pick up the final out of the seventh and pitched a scoreless eighth. The side-armed hurler picked up the win and carried the game over to the ninth.  That's when closer Brandon Fisher took over, recording his second save on the season.

The Hokies look to carry the momentum of tonight's win into the match-up against the VCU Rams Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m.

"We've got to play to win," Wates said. "That's what our coach has been preaching, and we've just got to play to win and that's what we're going to do to get back up in the standings."