Hokie ClubLYNCHBURG, Va. – With Jared Davis and Ben Watson hammering two-run home runs during the late innings on Wednesday night, the Virginia Tech baseball team had a chance to complete a mammoth comeback against Liberty, despite ending on the wrong side of a 7-4 result at Worthington Field at Liberty Baseball Stadium.
Two batters into the seventh inning, Davis deposited his eighth home run of the season over the visiting bullpen in left field as Virginia Tech (27-22) began clawing back from its 7-0 deficit. In similar fashion, two batters into the eighth inning, Watson mashed a second two-run homer for the Hokies, extending his hitting streak to 14 games while creating a three-run ballgame with six outs remaining in the contest.
Singles by David McCann and Davis in the wake of Watson’s home run during the eighth inning allowed Virginia Tech to bring the game’s potential tying run to the plate with two outs. However, Mycah Jordan – who had pinch hit during the previous inning – was unable to catch up with reliever Tyler August’s heat, striking out on three pitches to preserve the 7-4 score line.
Liberty (27-22) piled on six runs during the bottom of the first inning, including five charged to the Hokies’ starter, Mathieu Curtis. Camden Troyer and Easton Swofford belted RBI singles for the Flames while Tucker Moore greeted reliever Brendan Yagesh with a three-run home run shuttled to left center field.
Luke Jackman settled Liberty down through two and two-thirds innings of relief. After inheriting the bases loaded from Yagesh during the bottom of the third inning with none out, Jackman escaped by allowing one run to score on Moore’s sacrifice fly – his fourth RBI of the game.
Marcel Kulik stranded the bases loaded during the bottom of the fifth inning, turning in two and one-third scoreless innings of relief. Grant Manning registered two strikeouts during the eighth inning as the Hokies’ bullpen managed to keep the Flames off the scoreboard from the fourth inning onward.