No. 14 Hokies primed for weekend set against Bryant

No. 14 Virginia Tech (3-1, 0-0 ACC) 
vs. Bryant (0-3, 0-0 America East) 

Friday, Feb. 24
English Field at AUBP
1 p.m. ET
ACC Network Extra
Virginia Tech Sports Network

Saturday, Feb. 25
English Field at AUBP
1 p.m. ET
ACC Network Extra
Virginia Tech Sports Network

Sunday, Feb. 26
English Field at AUBP
1 p.m. ET
ACC Network Extra
Virginia Tech Sports Network

BLACKSBURG – Winner of three consecutive games, the No. 14 Virginia Tech baseball team (3-1, 0-0 ACC) will look to keep its wheels rolling this weekend when it hosts Bryant (0-3, 0-0 America East) at English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park (Feb. 24-26).
 
Friday through Sunday's games between the Hokies and the Bulldogs will air live on ACC Network Extra with coverage beginning at 1 p.m., 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively. Fans may also listen to all three games as called by the voice of Tech baseball, Evan Hughes, on the Virginia Tech Sports Network.

PROBABLE STARTERS
• Friday:  Griffin Green (0-0, 1.93 ERA) vs. Coleman Picard (0-0, 1.80 ERA)
• Saturday:  Drue Hackenberg (0-0, 1.93 ERA) vs. Ken Turner (0-0, 2.25 ERA)
• Sunday:  Anthony Arguelles (0-0, 2.25 ERA) vs. Logan Frasier (0-1, 12.00 ERA)
 HAMMERIN' HEADLINES

• Virginia Tech held strong inside the top 15 nationally after the first week of the season, placing there in four of the five leading polls. The Hokies maintained their No. 14 ranking by D1Baseball while dropping one spot to No. 14 in Baseball America's top 25.
• Tech has won 10 consecutive multi-game regular season series dating back to its come-from-behind, home weekend against Pitt in March 2022. Eight of its 10 series wins during the stretch have been earned against ACC competition (excludes one-game series win at No. 12 Notre Dame in March 2022).
• The Hokies have outscored their opponents, 44-15, through the opening four games of the 2023 season. Tech's +29 run differential through four games ranks as its third best start under the leadership of head coach John Szefc.
• Heading into Friday's series opener against Bryant, Virginia Tech is seeking to score 10-plus runs during four consecutive games for the second time during Szefc's head coaching tenure. The Hokies' prior instance overlapped March and April 2022 with Tech's four victories against Radford (10-3), No. 12 Notre Dame (10-5), VMI (13-4) and No. 18 North Carolina (12-1).
• Virginia Tech has come back to win two of the three games it has trailed in this season with all instances having been achieved during its season-opening series at College of Charleston (Feb. 17-19). The Hokies flipped their 3-1 deficit against the Cougars after five innings on Feb. 18 and also overcame their 1-0 deficit to defeat them on Feb. 19.

ON THE MOUND

• Virginia Tech's starting pitchers – Griffin Green (Friday), Drue Hackenberg (Saturday) and Anthony Arguelles (Sunday) – combined to toe a 2.03 ERA during the season's opening weekend, racking up 15 strikeouts and scattering eight hits across 13 and one-third innings pitched.
• Considering the entire 2023 season, the Hokies' four starting pitchers have combined to concede runs during three of the 17 innings for which they have appeared in.
• Last weekend against College of Charleston, the Hokies' bullpen accounted for a 3.55 ERA across 12 and two-thirds innings, combining for 19 strikeouts.
• Fourth-year reliever Henry Weycker set a career high with 10 strikeouts while closing the final four and one-third innings of Saturday's 12-3 win at College of Charleston. All but three of Weycker's 13 outs came by strikeout, earning him status among Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's National Players of the Week.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS

• Virginia Tech is 7-6 all-time against Bryant, having contested all meetings since 2009 – the year Bryant University began reclassifying to NCAA Division I athletics. The Hokies have hosted the Bulldogs during all 13 series meetings.
• Tech's three-game sweep of Bryant in 2020 at English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park – the teams' most recent head-to-head matchup – marks the Hokies' lone series victory spanning four chances. The programs split respective two- and four-game sets in 2010 and 2011 while the Hokies lost the three-game series that was contested in 2019.
• Virginia Tech has won four straight individual meetings against the Bulldogs dating back to the teams' 2019 series finale.
• Bryant is competing in its first America East season since departing the Northeast Conference (NEC), where the Bulldogs were tenured from 2010 to 2022. The program won postseason NEC titles in 2013, 2014 and 2016, advancing to the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship on each occasion.
• In 2016, Bryant entered the NCAA tournament with a 47-10 record and the country's best winning percentage (.825), earning the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Charlottesville Regional – the highest regional seed earned by a NEC member.
• As recently as the opening weekend of the 2022 season, the Bulldogs shocked No. 12 East Carolina by sweeping a three-game road series against the Pirates.
• Virginia Tech associate head coach Ryan Fecteau served as Bryant's assistant coach and recruiting coordinator between 2011 and 2016.

UP NEXT

• No. 14 Virginia Tech will continue its home stand on Tuesday, Feb. 28, when it plays for New River Valley supremacy against Radford. First pitch between the Hokies and the Highlanders is scheduled for 1 p.m. at English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park.
• The Hokies' season-opening home stand features 13 games at English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park beginning Feb. 21 and running through Tech's ACC-opening series against Boston College (March 10-12).
• Tickets to Virginia Tech's five ACC regular season home series against Boston College (March 10-12), Virginia (March 31-April 2), Georgia Tech (April 14-16), North Carolina (April 28-30) and Clemson (May 12-14) are still available at all pricing options. Purchase your tickets today.
• Fans, before making your way to English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park this season, consider reviewing the ballpark's 2023 Visitors Guide.