Collegiate Times

The No. 25 Virginia Tech baseball team couldn’t muster enough situational hitting and lost to the No. 9 Miami Hurricanes, 9-2 on Saturday at English Field.

Miami (23-8, 11-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) roughed up Tech starter Mathew Price, tagging him for eight earned runs. Price (4-2) was unable to make it through three innings.

“Price had good stuff, honestly,” head coach Pete Hughes said. “I don’t know if they were seeing the ball. I don’t know if they were picking stuff up on him or not. That’s something I haven’t seen in my career — that much barrel contact on that quality of an arm that early. That would indicate that they might have had something on him.”

The Hokies (22-11, 7-7 ACC) couldn’t find any offense to counter. Miami starter Eric Erickson (3-1) mowed down the potent Hokies lineup with ease, going seven innings, allowing one earned run and striking out five.

“I think (Erickson) was doing a real good job of mixing it up with everyone and keeping them off balance and throwing changeups in fastball counts,” said Tech redshirt senior catcher Steve Domecus. “I don’t really think he was someone who could overpower you with the fastball, so I was just sitting there looking for something.”

Hurricanes catcher Yasmani Grandal crushed two home runs off Price, one to left field and one to right field. The home runs helped Miami score runs in each of the first three innings.

Freshman Joe Mantiply replaced Price and stopped the bleeding. A slew of other Tech relievers kept the game from getting completely out of hand.

Whenever Tech had chances to rally, it seemed there was always a spectacular catch by Miami’s center fielder Zeke DeVoss.

“Those (catches) could be momentum changers,” said redshirt senior outfielder Sean Ryan, “but you don’t know since he made the catches. He played well today, and he definitely didn’t let us try to get back in the game.”

The Hokies also left seven runners on base. A few times the leadoff batter would get on base, but Tech couldn’t find a way to plate him.

“That’s the batter’s approach I guess,” Domecus said. “Sometimes you get a runner on second, and then you get big and want to hit a home run. But you have to realize if you have no outs and you have a runner on second, your job is to either get a hit or hit something to the right side to move him over to third. We just weren’t doing that. We just got to put more balls in play and more balls on the ground then in the air.”

Most notably, preseason All-American Austin Wates went 0-4 with three strikeouts for Tech. In the eighth inning, he reached first base on a fielder’s choice and was later thrown out trying to score.

Miami’s win evens the weekend series at one apiece. Tech overcame a five-run deficit, Friday, to beat the Canes 9-7.

In that game, Tech committed six errors but their strong offense bailed them out. Domecus, Ryan and sophomore first baseman Ronnie Shaban all belted home runs.

The Hokies, who are ranked for the first time since 1992, will look to rediscover their offense, Sunday, when the Hokies and Canes meet for a decisive third game. Tech doesn’t have time to ponder why they lost this game.

“Especially when you lose game two, you really don’t have much time to sit around and feel sorry for yourself,” Hughes said. “You got to throw all the positive energy back on for tomorrow to win the series. We’re playing the best baseball of the year. We need to know that and remind them of that.”

Junior Jesse Hahn (4-2, 2.23 earned run average) will get the start, Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for noon.