Collegiate Times

Justin Wright delivers a pitch against Wake Forest on April 5. Wright pitched a complete game and currently holds a 5-2 record along with a 3.99 ERA.

"Right now, we get everyone healthy, we can make a run to the championship game, and we could win the ACC," outfielder Steve Domecus said.  "We're good enough to do that, and we've shown that.   I wouldn't put it past our team.  We've got the players, we've got the pitching. We're good enough."

Unfortunately for the Hokies, Domecus has been sidelined for the past two ACC series with a broken hand.  

Domecus originally broke his hand against Georgia Tech, but the first x-ray came back negative, and he continued to play for an entire month before getting another x-ray, which revealed the break.  Though injured, Domecus continued to produce and still leads the ACC with a .408 batting average.

At the end of the season, the top eight teams make the ACC Tournament, and after getting swept by Florida State last weekend, the Hokies need a bit of help and some excellent play to get the final spot.  

To make the tournament, Tech must sweep No. 13 University of Virginia at home in a week and then have Boston College get swept by the No. 4 University of North Carolina Tar Heels.  

The Hokies have struggled lately in conference play, dropping five of their last six to college baseball powerhouses at the University of Miami and FSU, so a regular season finale against UVa at home will be a welcome sight for Hughes and an opportunity for the team to prove itself to the rest of the league.  

"No school in the ACC has ever had that schedule in back to back weekends. No college baseball team I guarantee you has ever played at both those places in back to back weekends, and our own conference does it to us, and I'm pissed at that, and if anything, I'm motivated by it, and our guys are too," Hughes said. "Let me put it this way.  It wouldn't happen if the scheduling fell that way in Clemson's lap, or Georgia Tech, or North Carolina or Virginia's lap.  They would have said, 'Nah, we can't do that to them, but we don't have any respect, so who cares?

"So, we're all about trying to gain some respect in the league with the teams we play against and in the front office - change the perception - and I think we're on our way to doing that."

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