Collegiate Times

Turning on it led to a three-run moonshot over the left field foul pole. Padgett put the Hokies up for good.

"Our whole team has been waiting for three-run home runs all year," Hughes said. "It makes things so much easier when you can get a three-run home run, when you don't have to manufacture so much to get runs."

It was Padgett's third homer of the year.

"He's a strong kid," Hughes said about the third baseman from Lynchburg. "He's the one legitimate deep threat we have in our lineup. That's why we played him, and it worked out."

Even with the help of the long-ball, the Hokies kept the pressure on Richmond's pitchers all game. Seven steals in a game would be sufficient for any coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference, but not Pete Hughes.

"We would have had two more stolen bases if we bunted behind it," Hughes said. "That's all according to who we're playing and what the pitcher gives us. Some weekends in the ACC, we can't control the running game and sit still. That is our game. If we can get guys moving and put them in scoring position, that helps out a lot."

Tech will have to assemble more runs today for the Price's Fork Road rumble against Radford. This marks the first time in a month the Hokies play back-to-back weekday games. During the second week in March, the Hokies beat Liberty and Marist in consecutive weekday contests.

"The last time we had that happen we survived it. They're hard," Hughes said. "They're hard when you have a pitching staff that isn't deep. It won't have too much affect on us because we won't run our guys into the ground arm-wise."

Using five pitchers against Richmond will not help the cause for the Hokies. Freshman Rob Whitley will take the mound today, but he is expected to have a long day against the Highlanders.

"We need to get some length out of Rob," Hughes said. "We're going to have to piece it together and hold our strike throwers for last, because if you don't save one strike-thrower at the end of the game, it could be all over."

The Hokies and the Highlanders battle it out a mere 15 miles from campus today at 3 p.m.

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