Tech splits doubleheader at Nevada

Hokies won first game to improve to 5-0 for first time since 1993

February 24, 2017

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Virginia Tech (5-0)	0	1	1	0	4	0	0	2	0	8	13	0
Nevada (1-4)	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	4	7	15	1
Peccole Park Box Score

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Virginia Tech (5-1)	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	1	0	4	9	1
Nevada (2-4)	0	3	2	0	0	1	0	1	X	7	10	1
Peccole Park - 662 Box Score

RENO, Nev. – In its first-ever games in the state of Nevada, the Virginia Tech baseball team split a doubleheader against the host Wolf Pack, holding on to win the first game 8-7, but suffered a 7-4 setback in the nightcap on Friday afternoon in nonconference action at Peccole Park.

The win gave the Hokies their first 5-0 start since the 1993 season and their first four-game road winning streak to start the season since the 2009 season. They ended the day 5-1, while Nevada is now 2-4.

In the first game, Tech used a two-out, four-run rally in the fifth frame, highlighted by Tom Stoffel’s two-RBI single, to take a 6-2 lead. The Hokies added a two-run home run by Mac Caples in the eighth to push their lead to six, and they would need all of them.

Nevada would cut its deficit to 8-7 in the ninth and had the tying and go-ahead runners in scoring position before Aaron McGarity ended the game with a strikeout. McGarity notched his second save of the season, while Packy Naughton picked up his first win of the year.

The Wolf Pack jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning of the second game and held that lead the rest of the game.

The Hokies would chip away, but every time they scored – two runs in the third on a Ryan Tufts home run, a solo home run by Tom Stoffel in the sixth, and an RBI single by Garrett Hudson in the eighth – Nevada would respond with the same amount of runs in the home half.

Inside the box score

• Nick Anderson: two multi-hit games, four straight and fifth of the season; home run in G1, second of the season, sixth of his career; double in G2, two this season, 15 in his career; two runs and two RBI in G1, second for each this season.
• Caples: home run in G1, first of the season, fifth of his career; two RBIs, six career multi-RBI games in his career.
• Matt Dauby: double in G1, 15 for his career.
• Sam Fragale: double in G1, third of the season, 18 for his career.
• Hudson: two hits in G2, first time this season and fifth multi-hit game of his career.
• Jack Owens: two multi-hit games, including his third three-hit game of the year; two runs in G1, third multi-run scoring game of the season.
• Stoffel: home run in G2, first of the season, third of his career; two RBIs in G1, third multi-RBI game this year, 16 for his career.
• Tufts: season-high three hits in G1, including second double of the season, 24tth of his career; two-run home run in G2, first of the season, fourth of his career; two multi-RBI games, 12 in his career.

More Tech Notes

• Became just the seventh team in the last 50 years to start the season 5-0, the previous six all finished the season at least 16 games above .500, and just one of those teams (1987 won their sixth game);
• Won four road games for the first time since the 2013 season (six games, April 20-May 4) and is the first team to win their first four road games of a season since 2009;
• Is 2-2 all-time against Nevada, going 1-1 against the Wolf Pack back in 1995;
• Is 7-3 all-time on Feb. 24.

Up next

• The Hokies continue their four-game series at Nevada with a single game on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m. EST.

For updates on Virginia Tech baseball, follow the Hokies on Twitter Follow @VT_Baseball