Hokies fall in ACC season opener at Duke

Tom Stoffel notches only Tech RBI in 10-1 loss to Blue Devils

March 10, 2017

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Virginia Tech (9-7)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	4	3
Duke (9-7)	2	3	0	1	0	1	3	0	X	10	17	0
DBAP - 353 Box Score

DURHAM, N.C. – The starting pitchers in the Virginia Tech-Duke ACC season opener combined to strike out 17 batters over 11 frames, however, it was Blue Devil starter Mitch Stallings who picked up the win for his team. He scattered four hits, while Hokie starter Packy Naughton was tagged for six runs as Duke won the game Friday evening, 10-1, at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

The Hokies found themselves down 5-0 after two, but looked to get to Stallings in the fourth, loading the bases on a Tom Stoffel single, a Sam Fragale walk and a Mac Caples one-out single.

Stallings, though, got the next two Hokies and tossed a perfect fifth and sixth to keep Tech off the scoreboard. The Hokies only managed a Stoffel RBI grounder that scored Jack Owens in the eighth frame to avoid the shutout.

Inside the box score

• Fragale: double, sixth of the season, 21st of his career.
• Naughton: nine strikeouts, tied career high first set vs. Delaware (Feb. 26, 2016); sets career-high for strikeouts in an ACC outing, previous high was six, done six times last year.
• Kit Scheetz: 0.2 innings pitched, pushing his Tech career to exactly 200.0 – just the sixth Hokie to ever surpass the milestone as a member of the ACC.

More Tech notes

• Turned two double plays in the game, pushing its season total to 21. Duke and Tech entered the weekend tied for first in the country in double plays turned.

Up next

• The Hokies and Blue Devils will conclude their ACC opening-weekend series on Saturday with a doubleheader scheduled for a 1 p.m. start at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The second game will take place approximately 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first.

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