Tech splits doubleheader with third-ranked UNC

Kit Scheetz earns the win on the mound in his final home start

May 13, 2017

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
(3) North Carolina (40-9)	0	2	0	1	1	2	0	0	3	9	9	1
Virginia Tech (21-28)	1	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	7	1
EF at Union Park - 1,076 Box Score

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
(3) North Carolina (40-10)	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	4	11	0
Virginia Tech (22-28)	3	0	3	0	1	1	0	0	X	8	12	1
EF at Union Park - 716 Box Score Photo Gallery

BLACKSBURG – In his final home start in a Virginia Tech uniform, redshirt-senior Kit Scheetz held third-ranked North Carolina to four runs over six-plus innings and helped the Hokies earn a split in a doubleheader against the Tar Heels on Saturday afternoon in ACC action at English Field at Union Park.

After UNC grabbed the first game, 9-4, the Hokies responded in game two by jumping out to a 6-2 lead and registered an 8-4 win, as the team hit three home runs in route to the victory.

Scheetz surrendered single runs in the first, third and fifth frames only to see his team’s offense respond in the home half of those frames.

Jack Owens hit a leadoff home run to open Tech’s scoring – on the first pitch he saw – and Tom Stoffel added a two-run shot to give Tech a 3-1 lead after one. In the third, Stoffel and Sam Fragale hit back-to-back doubles to score one and Nick Anderson belted a two-run homer to make it a 6-2 contest.

Mac Caples added an RBI double in the fifth and Fragale tacked on a sacrifice fly in the sixth that gave the Hokies their largest lead at 8-3.

Scheetz, who improved to 4-2 this season and won his 17th game for the Hokies, exited with one out in the seventh after striking out four and allowing four runs on nine hits.

Stoffel completed the game, tossing 2.2 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out four batters.

In the first game, Tech got to UNC starter J.B. Bukauskas for four runs over 3.1 innings, his shortest outing of the season and second shortest of his career (2.0 innings at Tech, 4/18/15).

The Hokies got a solo home run from Ryan Tufts in the first, Stoffel scored on a wild pitch in the third, before Caples plated Fragale with a single, and Stoffel’s RBI double that scored Rahiem Cooper in the fourth chased the UNC ace as the Hokies led 4-3.

However, Tech could do nothing against the Tar Heels’ bullpen and their offense hit three home runs of their own to help notch the win in game one.

Inside Game 1 box score

• Coward: career-high tying eight strikeouts, second time this season (at Clemson, 4/7); 10th time in career he’s struck out at least five in a game, third time with at least seven.
• Fragale: double, 12th of the season, 27th of his career; two hits, 17th multi-hit game of the season, 33rd of his career.
• Stoffel: two doubles, 19 for the season, 35 for his career, sixth time this season he’s had two doubles in a game; two hits, 17th multi-hit game of the season, 35th of his career.
• Tufts: home run, ninth of the season, 12th of his career.

Inside Game 2 box score

• Anderson: home run, fifth of the season, ninth of his career; two RBI, fifth multi-RBI game of the season, 12th of his career.
• Caples: double, fifth of the season, ninth of his career.
• Fragale: double, 13th of the season, 28th of his career; two hits, 18th multi-hit game of the season, 34th of his career; two runs, 10th multi-run scoring game of the season, 19th of his career; two RBI, 18th multi-RBI game of the season, 31st of his career.
• Owens: double, 12th of the season and his career; home run, fourth home run of the season and his career; three hits, 21st multi-hit game of the season and career; 10th time this season with at least three hits.
• Scheetz: 37 career starts for Tech, second most for a Hokie as a member of the ACC; 17 wins are fourth most, 244.0 innings are third most and 171 strikeouts are fifth most.
• Stoffel: double, 20th of the season, 36th of his career; home run, seventh of the season, ninth of his career; two hits, 18th multi-hit game of the season, 36th of his career; two runs, 10th multi-run scoring game of the season, 17th of his career; two RBI, 12th multi-RBI game of the season, 25th of his career.

More Tech notes

• The Hokies have now hit 81 home runs this season, which is tied for the most in a single season at the school since 1989 – tying the 2010 squad. It is also tied for the seventh-most ever.
• Fragale’s sacrifice fly in the second game was his 12th of the season, which leads the country.
• Fragale’s 63 RBI are the second most in a single season at the school since the team joined the ACC (2005), trailing only Ronnie Shaban’s 67 in 2010.
• With Anderson’s fifth home run of the season, Tech now has nine players with at least five for only the second time in school history (1982). No Hokie team has ever had 10 men with at least five – Owens currently has four.
• In Tech’s history in the ACC, they have played 21 doubleheaders, 11 at home. In those, they have won two, lost three and, including today, split six.

Up next

• The two teams will complete the three-game ACC series on Sunday with a 1 p.m. first pitch, the final regular-season game for the Hokies at English Field at Union Park. The Senior Day ceremony, which will see five members recognized pregame, will begin at approximately 12:35 p.m.

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