Collegiate Times

Tech's Ronnie Shaban takes a swing in the Hokies intra-squad series this past weekend.

While the San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers were battling to get into the World Series this past weekend, the Virginia Tech baseball team was playing in one of its own.

In a three-game intrasquad series, the Hokies got back on the field together for the first time since making it to the NCAA Tournament this summer.

The scrimmages featured a lot of youth on the team, especially at pitcher — a position where the Hokies saw their three best players leave for professional careers.

Of the young hurlers, freshman Colin O’Keefe was the most impressive. In four innings, he gave up just two hits and one unearned run in the gray team’s win Sunday.

At the plate, the Hokies saw some great performances from seasoned veterans, but a few fresh faces contributed as well. Sophomore infielder Brent Zimmerman collected four hits on Sunday alone for the gray team.

Gabe Ortiz, a junior college transfer from Panama, was perhaps the top performer in the series — logging a multi-hit game on Thursday and following it up with a powerful double on Sunday.

The scrimmages conclude the team’s fall practices as players are allowed only two hours of instructional time with coaches a week.

The Hokies begin their regular season schedule on Feb. 18 at a tournament in South Carolina.

A version of this article appeared in the Oct 28 issue of the Collegiate Times.