Collegiate Times

All throughout last season, Virginia Tech head baseball coach Pete Hughes endured a patchwork defense that finished 10th in the Atlantic Coast Conference, but despite the shoddy play, he knew better days were ahead.

Sitting on Hughes’ bench was redshirt junior shortstop Tim Smalling, the key to solving many of Tech’s problems. But as a transfer from the University of Arkansas, he was ineligible for the 2009 season.

“I watched him take ground balls after our games,” Hughes said. “(He) made me feel great about next year.”

Smalling wasn’t just some disgruntled lower-tier player who couldn’t crack into the lineup on a talented Southeastern Conference team during his two years at Arkansas — he was the Razorbacks’ starting shortstop for 101 games during his freshman and sophomore seasons. 

Despite instant success and a soaring draft stock going into his junior season, Smalling simply did not like the environment in Fayetteville, Ark.

“I played out there for two years, and after two years I kind of decided it wasn’t the place for me,” Smalling said. “I’m in a great situation now here at Tech — got some great coaches, great teammates. It’s an (up-and-coming) program.”

Still, sitting out for an entire season was difficult for Smalling since he never had to spend much time watching games from the bench.

“It was hard for him, but you know what, he knew it was the right move for him,” Hughes said. “You talk about career development — it just goes to show, if you’re not happy in a place, it doesn’t matter if you’re in the SEC. (Arkansas) leads the country in attendance every year, them and LSU, and he was playing under that environment every night and starting — he’s gonna be great, and he’s gonna be drafted — but he wasn’t happy.”

Smalling, who played his high school baseball in Raleigh, N.C., made his way to Tech through associate head baseball coach Dave Turgeon, who knew of him while he was the recruiting coordinator for Duke in the 2006 season.

“He got his release from Arkansas and contacted us, and I was ecstatic to get the call,” Turgeon said. “You have a two-year starting shortstop in the SEC. All of a sudden, that’s going to be an anchor in the infield, and all of a sudden you’ve got guys playing where they’re supposed to.”

“It was big,” Hughes said. “Any time you can sign a quality middle, that’s all we try to do is go get middles, and here’s a kid who’s been battle tested in the SEC, so that was a big get. Really big get.”

With Smalling inserted as the starting shortstop, the left side of the Tech infield has changed for the better.

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A version of this article appeared in the Mar 2 issue of the Collegiate Times.