Hokies drop second game of Westin Lake Mary Stetson Invitational to Purdue

Sam Fragale with two hits and two RBI in 12-5 defeat

March 3, 2018

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
(21) Wake Forest (20-10)	0	3	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	6	10	0
(11) Virginia Tech (21-7)	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	7	0
EF at AUBP - 1,412 Box Score

DELAND, Fla. – Four Hokies registered multi-hit games led by freshman Michael Fernandez’ three, and Sam Fragale added two RBI to his two-hit effort, but it wasn’t enough as Purdue made the most of its opportunities to register a 12-5 victory over Virginia Tech on Saturday afternoon at Melching Field.

Trailing 1-0 in the third, Tech (3-7) loaded the bases with no outs, but a double play and grounder to short ended that threat. During the game, 20 Hokies reached base via hit (12), walk (4), hit by pitch (3) and error (1), but 11 of those were stranded, while four were erased by double plays.

On the other side, Purdue (8-1), who loaded the bases three times in the game, capitalized twice on those situations, in the fourth and seventh – each time seeing four Boilermakers cross the plate in those innings. Purdue stranded just five of its 21 base runners, while two were caught stealing.

Tech scored five runs over the last four innings, included a three spot in the ninth that saw Jojo Odachowski notch his first collegiate hit, RBI and run. Fernandez, who made his first collegiate start, also registered his first career hit, and second and third, and first collegiate run.

Inside the Box

• Zach Brzykcy – two strikeouts, the first two of his Tech career.
• Fernandez – first collegiate start; three hits, first multi-hit game of his career.
• Fragale – two hits, third multi-hit game of the season, 41st of his career; two RBI, third multi-RBI game of the season, 34th of his career.
• Hayden Heflin – two strikeouts, the first two of his Tech career.
• Cam Irvine – two hits, first multi-hit game of his career.
• Nick Menken – two hits, first multi-hit game of his career.
• Odachowski – first collegiate hit, RBI and run scored.
• Jack Owens – hit by two pitches, leads the team with six.
• Tom Stoffel – double, second of the season, 39th of his career.

Additional Notes

• This was the fifth all-time meeting between the two schools, with Purdue now holding the edge at 3-2 and winners of the last three.
• In the Sunshine State, Tech is 48-99 all-time, which includes a 14-14 mark in DeLand. They are now 34-34 in neutral site games in the state, 13-6 in DeLand.
• As the head coach at Maryland, Coach John Szefc faced Purdue seven times and held a 6-1 record included a 5-3 win in last year’s Big 10 Baseball Championship.

Up Next

• The Hokies will stay in DeLand for their next three games as they continue play in the Westin Lake Mary Stetson Invitational. They face Central Michigan on Sunday night at Melching Field at Conrad Park with first pitch set for 7 p.m.

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