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Well, we'd have said that we warned you, but that'd be sort of obvious. Miami is a ranked team for a reason, and the Hokies are doing their best to get noticed. Eventually the law of averages and the reality of baseball come around to remind a team and a fan base that there is a whole lot of work to be done.
Saturday's game started off really well. Tech scored early and often to jump out to a steady one to two run lead, and at the opening of the 5th inning, were looking to put something significant together for another win. Unfortunately, Miami's offense looked like it was finally getting the range, and Kit Sheetz, Tech's starting pitcher, looked like he was beginning to have some control issues. Miami began putting up manufactured runs to pull within one run at the top of the 7th, then Tech's wheels sort of fell off.
Virginia Tech Hokies vs. the Miami Hurricanes - Game 2 Saturday 3/12:
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
R |
H |
E |
|
(5) Miami (FL) (12-3, 1-1) |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
11 |
12 |
1 |
|
Virginia Tech (10-6, 1-1) |
3 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
11 |
3 |
Virginia Tech Box Score for Game - 2 of the Miami series:
|
|
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
BB |
SO |
PO |
A |
LOB |
|
Saige Jenco CF |
4 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
|
Packy Naughton DH |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Logan Bible PH |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Grant Maiorana PH/DH |
4 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Tom Stoffel RF |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
|
Phil Sciretta 1B |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
9 |
1 |
0 |
|
Nick Anderson LF |
4 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
|
Andrew Mogg C |
4 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
6 |
3 |
0 |
|
Ryan Tufts SS |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
|
Matt Dauby 2B |
5 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
4 |
|
Chris Meador 3B |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Sam Fragale PH/3B |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Kit Scheetz P |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Connor Coward P |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Aaron McGarity P |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Totals |
38 |
6 |
11 |
6 |
4 |
18 |
27 |
11 |
11 |
Doubles: Sciretta, Anderson, Fragale
Home Run: Maiorana
RBI: Jenco, S.; Maiorana (2), Sciretta, Anderson (2)
Sacrifice Flies: Sciretta
Stolen Bases: Jenco (2)
Errors: Jenco, Dauby, Coward
Men Left on Base: 11 (a major issue in this game)
"Sort of" is a critical phrase, because Tech was never completely out of this baseball game. Right up until the bottom of the 7th inning the Hokies were within two runs of Miami. Even in the eighth inning, with a single run traded in each frame, tech was still just two runs away from putting extra innings on the ‘Canes - at least. A disastrous 9th more or less sunk the Hokies, though. A hit batter, a walk, a throwing error, and a single pushed across three insurance runs for the Hurricanes in the top of the inning, and then the air just seemed to come out of Tech at the plate with a three up three down bottom of the 9th.
Tech dropped the game with a "closer than the score looked" 11-6.
Game Three of the series was played early today with an 11:00 start. Maybe it was the weather, cloudy and cool? Maybe it was the Daylight Savings Time "Spring Ahead" hour loss? Maybe it was the old specter of baseball's hubris Nemesis game that I call Batting Karma? (How's that for a cultural mixed metaphor?) Whatever it was, Tech's offense didn't show up at the plate, and Miami took full advantage.
Virginia Tech Hokies vs. the Miami Hurricanes - Game 3 Sunday 3/13:
|
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
R |
H |
E |
||
|
(5) Miami (FL) (13-3, 2-1) |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
7 |
8 |
2 |
|
Virginia Tech (10-7, 1-2) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
Virginia Tech Box Score for Game - 3 of the Miami series:
|
|
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
BB |
SO |
PO |
A |
LOB |
|
Saige Jenco CF |
5 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
|
Grant Maiorana DH |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Tom Stoffel RF |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
|
Phil Sciretta 1B |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
9 |
1 |
1 |
|
Nick Anderson LF |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Andrew Mogg C |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
|
Ryan Tufts SS |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
|
Matt Dauby 2B |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
|
Sam Fragale 3B |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Jon Woodcock P |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
Aaron McGarity P |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Cole Kragel P |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Totals |
32 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
3 |
10 |
27 |
11 |
8 |
RBI: Sciretta
SF: Sciretta.
Men Left on Base: 8 Which probably wouldn't have helped much today.
Tech didn't score until the bottom of the 5th; and the two runs would be the last that Tech would score for the game, too. There isn't anything particularly grand about the way the runs came across the plate, there was a single, and then a walk, and a throwing error on Miami, but no great offensive threats manifested themselves, today.
The math gurus all talk about "chaos" and the jagged line curves that surround event trend lines in the plots that are produced within that chaotic event tracking. The idea is that the trend of fuzzy ups and downs has a direction over time. Tech dropped two in a series that they could have just as easily won two. The point is, did the curve plot show a downward trend, or was this just a weird temporary deflection?
Time will tell. Tech Drops game 3, by not having any offense show up at the plate.
Next up is Liberty for a single game at English Field, before a road trip to face a ranked Georgia Tech Team on Friday.