Pack9 Opponent Preview: Virginia Tech

Live Stats: Stat Broadcast (Friday | Saturday | Sunday)

Tell me about this team

John Szefc is a hell of a good coach, but this Virginia Tech job may be getting the better of him. Szefc led Marist to four Regional appearances in seven years during his first go as a head coach from 1996-2002. The Red Foxes have been to just three Regionals since. After a four-year detour to the middle of the country for assistant gigs at both Kansas and Kansas State, he took over as the head man at Maryland and led the Terrapins to three Regionals – advancing to the Super Regionals in two of those – during a five year run there. Prior to Szefc’s arrival in College Park, Maryland hadn’t been to the NCAA postseason since 1971. They’ve made three Regionals in the eight postseasons since Szfec left.

That leads us to Szfec’s current gig, entering his 9th season as the Hokies head man. It started out slow, as you’d expect for a program rebuilding from Pat Mason’s four-year ditch driving run. Year five, though, saw Virginia Tech go 45-14 with a 19-9 ACC mark, hosting a Regional and Super Regional in Blacksburg with a team that had an RPI ranking of 5th in the country. It really looked like Szefc might turn the Hokies into a power, but since then it’s been a program stuck on average. Three winning seasons since, but no winning conference marks, with RPI’s between 49 and 68.

This year’s squad doesn’t look like they’re going to break that trend. The Hokies started off the year 7-1, but that included a 4-0 mark in one-run games. They went 1-8 in their next nine games, although that run included games against Texas A&M, Mississippi State, Georgia Tech, and Virginia, all potential NCAA Regional hosts this year. Things got a little better, winning the last game of the Virginia series, topping VCU in a midweek game, and then winning their series over Duke.

Unfortunately, a 4-8 run followed, including midweek losses to East Tennessee State and Liberty, as well as a series loss at home to Stanford. That series with the Cardinal was one the Hokies had to win, but dropped it in an extra-innings loss in the rubber match. NC State will catch the Hokies back on a bit of a heater, winning four of their last five after topping Pittsburgh last weekend.

That early season luck in close games has evened back out, with Virginia Tech going 3-3 in games either decided by a single run or that went extra innings. It’s not hard to find the culprit for the Hokies woes this year: the pitching staff.

Hokies hurlers are sporting a combined 7.21 ERA over 336.0 innings this year, with a walk rate of 12.6% and a strikeout rate of 23.1%. They do have two solid starters in JR RHP Brett Renfrow and rJR RHP Griffin Stieg and that group strikeout rate will play, but once you get past Renfrow and Stieg, only one of the next nine pitchers who have tossed more than 10.0 IP this year have a sub-10.0 walk rate. That’s an issue, and will obviously lead to giving up more runs.

The lineup hasn’t been great, but it hasn’t been bad with a collective .267/.379/.440, 78 2B, 44 HR, 12.6 BB%, 22.6 K%, 43-56 SB. The issue is there’s not a player who does any one thing exceptionally well, so it’s hard to construct an offensive identity. It is a strong defensive team, though, although the lack of errors combined with the high ERA of the pitching staff does make you wonder what kind of range the team has in the field, and some of the advanced metrics tell that story. Only four VT position players have a DRS (Defensive Runs Saved) total over 1.00 this year. Compare that to NC State that has 11 players over that mark.

Barring the Hokies going 6-3 or better down the stretch in ACC play and then making some noise at the ACC Tournament, it’ll be four straight missed Regionals for Virginia Tech.

Pitching Matchups

Friday: TBD vs TBD

Saturday: TBD vs TBD

Sunday: TBD vs TBD

Key Players:

Offense

C Henry Cooke (SR) – .252/.369/.409, 7 2B, 3 HR, 13.4 BB%, 28.2 K%, 3-3 SB. Hitting .361/.467/.623, 5 2B, 3 HR, 17. BB%, 26.7 K%, 1-1 SB in ACC play. Has also thrown out 23.7% of base stealers, with an almost identical 23.1% mark in ACC play. Multiple hits in 4 of his last 7 games.

1B Hudson Lutterman (SO) – .291/.357/.545, 6 2B, 8 HR, 7.0 BB%, 17.1 K%, 0-0 SB. Undersized first baseman (5’10, 180 lbs) is having a big sophomore jump after hitting just .208/.291/.392 over 34 starts in 2025. Hit 2 HR last weekend at Pitt, including a walk-off in the series finale.

SS Ethan Gibson (JR) – .319/.385/.511, 6 2B, 4 HR, 10.9 BB%, 20.9 K%, 1-1 SB. Mostly used as a defensive sub over his first two years with the program, making 28 starts over 73 games across 2024-2025 with just a .193 batting average over that time. Has been fantastic with the glove, committing just 3 errors on the year with a .979 fielding percentage. Current 10-game hitting streak.

2B Ethan Ball (FR) – .299/.387/.565, 13 2B, 8 HR, 7.7 BB%, 33.3 K%, 3-3 SB. Started off his college career with a 10-game hitting streak before being more spotty over the last month. Only has four hits over his last six games, but they’ve all been doubles, including two in VT’s win over VCU on Tuesday.

Pitching

RHP Brett Renfrow (JR) – 2-4, 6.41 ERA, 46.1 IP, 7.8 BB%, 30.1 K%. Two-time 3rd Team All-ACC selection, he was listed by some as a Top 100 prospect entering this year, but has had a rough go of it. The 6’3, 220 lbs righty has some nice tools, with a mid-90’s fastball that will touch 97, a upper-80’s cutter, mid-80’s slider, low-80’s curve, and mid-80’s changeup. It’s a nice arsenal of pitches, and the peripherals show what he’s capable of with them. Got beaten up by GT, UVA, Miami, and BC, but shut down Duke, Stanford, and Pitt, so it’s been a mixed bag.

RHP Griffin Stieg (rJR) – 2-2, 5.87 ERA, 46.0 IP, 8.8 BB%, 17.6 K%. Started 13 games for the Hokies in 2024 (3-2, 4.70 ERA, 51.2 IP, 5.7 BB%, 21.1 K%), but then needed elbow surgery at the end of that year that wiped out his 2025 season. Despite that, was drafted in the 18th round by the Mariners last year, but turned down the Mariners – as well as his transfer portal commitment to Alabama – to return to the Hokies. He’s a low-90’s arm who will touch the mid-90s, adding in a slider and changeup.

RHP Preston Crowl (JR) – 1-2, 4 SV, 6.42 ERA, 33.2 IP, 12.0 BB%, 22.7 K%. Has 55 career appearances with the Hokies. Hasn’t had the success he did last year (2-0, 1 SV, 3.90 ERA, 32.1 IP, 16.3 BB%, 26.9 K%) in terms of ERA or strikeout rate, but his control has been better and he’s been counted on in bigger spots. He’s heavily relied upon, making multiple appearances in a single ACC series three times this year and has topped 30 pitches in each of his last 7 appearances, including a 74-pitch relief outing at Boston College two weekends ago.

LHP Brendan Yagesh (SR) – 2-2, 1 SV, 7.47 ERA, 31.1 IP, 12.7 BB%, 20.4 K%. Former transfer from Mount St. Mary’s, originally hailing from Urbana, Virginia. Started 16 games over two seasons for the Mountaineers, but has mostly been a reliever for the Hokies, although he did start three ACC games earlier this year, including tossing 7.0 shutout innings against Duke (he then gave up 13 ER over 7.0 IP in his next two starts). Outside of those two negative starts and one bad turn at Virginia, he’s been solid.

LHP Chase Swift (SO) – 1-1, 4.00 ERA, 18.0 IP, 9.7 BB%, 45.8 K%. The mustachioed redhead is aptly named for a guy who ranks 12th in the country in whiff rate. Those peripherals say the guy needs more innings. He won’t blow the ball by anybody with a heater that only tops in the low-90’s, but he has a four-pitch mix (cutter, slider, changeup) that generate a lot of swings and misses.

Quick! Fun Facts!

The Hokies have four alums in the MLB this year: 1B T.J. Rumfield (Rockies), LHP Ian Seymour (Rays), OF Kerry Carpenter (Tigers), and LHP Joe Mantiply (Blue Jays). They had three other alums appear at the MLB level in 2025: RHP Nic Enright (Guardians; will miss 2025 with TJS), RHP Zach Brzykcy (Nationals; now with Marlins), RHP Jesse Hahn (Mariners; now with Blue Jays).

The seven former Hokies at the MLB level over the last two years is impressive for the program, given that there were only 11 former Virginia Tech players to make it to that level over the previous 25 seasons.

Virginia Tech doesn’t have a single player from the state of North Carolina. That’s wild.

The Hokies roster isn’t very deep on All-Name Team candidates, but FR INF Willie Hurt (.407/.619/.444, 1 2B, 0 HR, 27.9 BB%, 14.0 K%, 1-3 SB) is a no-doubt 1st Teamer. The lefty swinging DH currently has a 7-game hitting streak.

The Key To A Series Win For State

With Ryan Marohn unavailable for a second straight weekend, the Wolfpack bats are going to have to come alive against this Hokies pitching staff. The Hokies have been one of the best defensive teams in the conference, so State will need to also play clean to support the pitching staff and not supply any extra help to VTs lineup.

Prediction

There’s not a lot of confidence to be had for the Wolfpack after last weekend’s showing in Winston-Salem. With another road trip starting – and doing so without Jacob Dudan and Ryan Marohn – it’s hard to predict an NC State series win. Couple that with the Hokies coming off a series win of their own, it’s easy to see Virginia Tech coming out on top here in what should be a close, high-scoring three-game series.

Outcome: Hokies take two of three