On Tuesday, Stanford baseball fell to Virginia Tech in the first round of the ACC tournament in Durham, North Carolina by a final score of 7-4. Preston Crowl (2-0) was the winning pitcher for the Hokies in a relief role while Grant Manning (5) picked up the save. Joey Volchko (3-4) was the losing pitcher for the Cardinal in a starting role, giving up five earned runs while striking out four batters in 5.0 innings pitched.
BOX SCORE: Stanford vs. Virginia Tech-Tuesday, May 20th
Early on the game was tight as neither team scored in the first two innings of the game. In the top of the 3rd inning, Stanford got on the board as Cort MacDonald scored on a wild pitch while Tatum Marsh advanced to third base. That made it a 1-0 lead for the Cardinal. In the bottom of the 3rd, Virginia Tech evened it up 1-1 as Hudson Lutterman hit an RBI double to left center to bring home Cam Pittman.
In the bottom of the 4th, Virginia Tech added two more runs as Jackson Cherry hit a single bunt RBI after which Pittman hit an RBI single to left field. That made it 3-1. In the top of the 5th inning, Trevor Haskins hit a solo home run for Stanford to make it 3-2. Virginia Tech would not answer in the bottom of the 5th, keeping it at 3-2.
In the top of the 6th inning, Stanford failed to score despite having a great opportunity to even things up. Jimmy Nati got hit by a pitch after which Temo Becerra was walked, advancing Nati to second base. Rintaro Sasaki then flied out to center field to advance Nati to third base. Unfortunately for Stanford, Nati was left stranded at third base, unable to be brought home.
In the bottom of the 6th, Virginia tech added three runs to made it 6-2 as Pittman hit an RBI fielder’s choice after which Clay Grady hit a two-RBI single to center field. Volchko did not finish the inning nor did he get an out for Stanford as Aidan Keenan had to replace him on the mound.
In the bottom of the 7th, Virginia Tech added one more run as Mycah Jordan went yard off Keenan to left field. That made it 7-2. From there, Virginia Tech would go on to win 7-4. Jimmy Nati hit a two-run blast in the top of the 9th to close the gap a bit, but it wasn’t enough. Stanford’s season comes to an end in the first round of the ACC tournament.
For Stanford, this is a disappointing way to end the season. Especially after they took two out of three against NC State on the road to end the regular season. Ideally, they would have at least won their opening game of the ACC tournament to make things a little interesting. But alas, it wasn’t to be. Considering they finish the season 27-25 overall with an 11-19 record in league play, this was overall a disappointing season for the Cardinal.
At this point, all they can do is learn what they can from this season and make some changes to how they are approaching things. Especially on the pitching side. The ACC kicked their butt for the most part and they have to ensure that this doesn’t happen to them going forward. It will certainly be interesting to see what adjustments head coach David Esquer makes to his ball club to get them back on track.
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