Hokie ClubCHARLOTTE, N.C. – Hammering three home runs during its quarterfinal game at the 2026 ACC Baseball Championship, the seventh-seeded Virginia Tech baseball team gave second-seeded (No. 2) North Carolina a scare, despite exiting the tournament courtesy of its 10-4 defeat at Truist Field.
Ethan Gibson and Henry Cooke slugged back-to-back home runs during the top of the third inning for the Hokies, who chased 2026 All-ACC First Team pitcher Jason DeCaro from the game after three and one-third innings pitched. Ethan Ball led off the fifth inning with a solo home run – his third of the championship – tying the program record for the most home runs hit during a single ACC tournament week (Chad Pinder, 2013).
Virginia Tech (30-24) trailed, 5-4, at the game’s midway point and faced a 6-4 deficit during the eighth inning when North Carolina (44-10-1) iced the outcome by plating four insurance runs. Leadoff shortstop Jake Schaffner went 2-for-3 for the Tar Heels with a double, a triple and four RBIs – one of three multi-RBI producers in the UNC lineup along with Owen Hull (three) and Macon Winslow (two).
Right-handed starter Griffin Stieg matched DeCaro’s length at three and one-third innings pitched, holding North Carolina’s feisty offense to three hits, though issuing five walks (career high). Stieg worked around back-to-back leadoff walks during the bottom of the first inning to punch strikeouts of Hull and Erik Paulsen, stranding two Tar Heels in scoring position to delay the game’s opening run.
However, UNC went to work again during the second inning, receiving a pair of two-out hits that put Steig and the Hokies behind, 2-0. With a runner on first base, Carter French shuttled a single to center field before Schaffner split the gap in left center field for three bases, pocketing a two-RBI double due to a slight outfield bobble by Sam Gates.
Dialing up its power, Virginia Tech answered with five hits against DeCaro during the third inning, highlighted by Gibson and Cooke’s back-to-back jacks hit to left center field – two home runs both estimated to have traveled 400 feet and beyond. Staking the 3-2 lead, the Hokies loaded the bases behind the fireworks and nearly struck for a big inning when Gates barreled a fly ball into the right center field alley, despite French chasing down the inning-ending out and preserving the one-run margin.
Stieg took Virginia Tech’s lead into the fourth inning where North Carolina spurred the bases-loaded rally that ultimately ended his outing. Two batters after Stieg had forced in the tying run by hitting Schaffner, Hull connected on the go-ahead, two-RBI single against Ethan Grim, shooting the Tar Heels out to the 5-3 lead.
Willing the Hokies back during the top of the fifth inning, Ball unloaded a center-cut, leadoff home run to right center field, circling the bases to halve the deficit at 5-4. Pete Daniel furthered the inning against UNC reliever Caden Glauber by drawing a one-out walk, through was unable to survive the first of two inning-ending double plays that were turned by the Tar Heels down the stretch.
North Carolina regained its two-run lead during the bottom of the sixth inning on an RBI single by Gavin Gallaher – the lone run Grim allowed through three and two-thirds innings of relief. Grim finished with a three-up, three-down seventh inning, recording four strikeouts after his all-too brief start on Wednesday during the second round against Notre Dame.
Stymied at the plate by Glauber, Virginia Tech succumbed to the Tar Heels’ four-run rally during the eighth inning that featured an RBI triple by Schaffner and a two-run homer by Winslow. With the security of a 10-4 lead, Glauber blanked the Hokies during the ninth inning to collect his ninth win of the season, posting six strikeouts through the game’s final five and two-thirds innings pitched.
UP NEXT
Virginia Tech will turn its attention to the 2026 NCAA Division I Baseball selection show, airing nationally (ESPN2) on Monday, May 25, at noon ET. The Hokies are eyeing their first NCAA tournament berth since 2022 when they championed the Blacksburg Regional, reaching the Super Regional round for the first time spanning program history.