Averages. Baseball is a game of beating your averages. The Hokies drop 4 on the road to ranked Georgia Tech and then JMU.

The Hokie Baseball team rolled into a Friday situation against #13 Georgia Tech with a head of steam on, and then the wheels came off the bandwagon. The first problem was that the big magic seemed to drain from Griffin Green’s arm. He didn’t pitch a bad game, but seemed to run out of gas in the 6^th inning as he gave up 2 runs of a 4-run lead, and set the stage for two more.

Game 1 Hokies vs. Yellow Jackets – Their Walk Off

The Hokie offense was good enough to keep pace with the Yellow Jackets, and managed to get them back into a narrow 1-run lead as the bottom of the 9^th loomed. The Jackets had pulled out to a two-run advantage in the bottom of the 8^th, and the stubborn Hokies wouldn’t go away with a 3-run top of the 9^th. The glimmer of hope faded though, and reliever Ryan Kennedy gave up the walk-off single after filling the bases by hitting two batters and walking a third.

At the Plate

Doubles: Andrew Jenkins (1); Stephen Reid (1)

On the Bags

Steals: Chandler Simpson (1)

Plonks: Andrew Jenkins (1); Tim Borden II (2); John Anderson (1)

In the Field

Errors: Chandler Simpson (1)

The offense did enough to win, but the pitching just couldn’t manage to hold off the Georgia Tech offense when it counted. The relief staff, in particular really struggled, and the number of pitchers subbed in shows it.

Game – 2 Hokies vs. Yellow Jackets Game 1 of a Sunday Double Header

The problem between Game 1 and Game 2 was the weather on Saturday. That meant that Game 2 was rescheduled to be the first game of a double header on Sunday. Everyone, here knows how much I despise double headers. It’s hard to win both games, and if it’s a Sunday game the final game is the end of the series and the trip to the airport or long, very late bus home. It’s never ideal for the visiting team, and the Hokies had already dropped a game.

Game 2 was a pitching disaster for starter Ryan Okuda. It started out quite nicely, actually. He grabbed a three up and three down in the 1^st, and then the first two outs in the 2^nd. Suffering only a single. Then the wheels fell off, and the Yellow Jackets scored six runs. The story of this game is the pitching grid.

There was some good offensive effort and six runs would normally win a game, but the Hokies being buried in the bottom of the 2^nd ended the game before it got going.

Game 2 ended up being a write off, and the door was closed on pushing the staff. Okuda was left in to live with his shelling, and Ryan Metz was left to close the game out with two more runs added to Okuda’s loss.

Game 3 Hokies vs Yellow Jackets – the Marathon

So, there was some measure of redemption and some measure of bitter pills to swallow all at the same time. The Hokies redeemed themselves just a bit for the night cap of the double header, but the bitterness was in accepting the loss after the 14-inning marathon and another Georgia Tech walk off victory.

What can you say when your pitching staff manages to redeem itself by holding the #13 team in the nation to seven scoreless innings, four of which were in extras? In the pre-escape marathon that developed, the Hokies who were behind 4 runs at 5-1 in the bottom of the 6^th managed to keep GT off the bags and score those four needed runs by the top of the 9^th. It was a valiant effort, and then the bats evaporated on both sides until the top of the 14^th inning when some Hokie hope glimmered. Virginia Tech managed to plate a single run after manufacturing it, and went into the bottom of the inning in the same shape as game 1, but with less arm left on the mound. Again, the Hokie pitching staff was victimized by patient base placements and a two out walk single after tying it due to an advance on a wild pitch.

There were some highlights to not, however.

BATTING

Doubles:

Gavin Cross (1)

Home Runs:

Nick Biddison (1); Jack Hurley (1); Cade Hunter (1)

BASERUNNING

Steals: Jack Hurley (1)

That 7^th run ended the series in a Yellow Jacket sweep, and a long and disappointed trip home to face James Madison in Harrisonburg on Tuesday.

Tuesday Game – Hokies vs. Dukes in Harrisonburg

There is something about dragging across country after being swept in a massively tough series, and add insult to injury 2 of those wins were come from behind walk offs with the last one going 14 full innings. That something is either steel or mush. Well, in this case it looks like it turned the Hokie bats into mush, and the pitching sort of like old rusty steel. The Tuesday “pitch by committee just couldn’t stop the Dukes from scoring in the 1^st, 3^rd, and 4^th innings. The total lack of any sort of Hokie offense sealed the fate of the effort and Tech’s 2 runs in the 5^th and 6^th were of little consequence.

The only real Hammerin’ Hokie highlight was a solo shot by Eduardo Malinowski. Other than that, a manufactured run in the 5^th that killed the skunk is the only redeeming characteristic for this game.

I’d post the numbers, but they’d just take up space for no reason.

The Hokies come home to face Pitt for a three-game series and then Radford comes up Prices Fork Road for a visit in the NRV rivalry. Let’s hope that the Hokies shake off the Ides of March Week and get back to winning.

GO HOKIES!!!