Seymour, Fragale, Fernandez lead Tech to victory against Fighting Irish

Hokies open ACC series with 9-1 win at Notre Dame

April 20, 2018

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Virginia Tech’s Ian Seymour held Notre Dame scoreless over seven frames while at the plate, Sam Fragale knocked in a season-high tying four RBI and Michael Fernandez had a season-high three hits as the Hokies picked up a 9-1 win over Notre Dame in ACC action Friday night at Frank Eck Stadium.

With the win in South Bend, Tech picked up its fourth road ACC win of the season, which is tied for the most in a single season since 2013 – when the squad went 8-7. The only time since was back in 2015, when the team went 4-11 on the road, the Hokies’ last appearance in the ACC tournament.

Tech (17-21, 7-12 ACC) put single runs on the board in the third, fourth and fifth before erupting for four runs in the sixth inning – all but putting the game away. The key in those frames was getting the leadoff batter on base.

In the third, Fernandez doubled to lead off the inning and scored on a Jack Owens’ sacrifice fly. In the fourth, Fragale had a leadoff single and scored on a Nick Menken sacrifice fly. In the fifth, Fragale plated Owens on a squeeze play that made it 3-0.

In the sixth, Owens notched his second RBI of the night with a single plating Fernandez, who led off the inning with his second double of the game. A couple of batters and outs later, Fragale blasted a three-run home run that put Tech up 7-0.

Tech added two more in the seventh – on a Luke Horanski RBI double and a Nick Owens bases-loaded walk, his third free pass of the night.

Meanwhile, Seymour was solid on the mound in his first ACC Game 1 start of the season. He scattered five hits and four walks, and never allowed a runner to third base with less than two outs. He struck out five in the game as he improved to 3-2 this season. Ryan Okuda worked the final two frames for Tech.

Notre Dame (15-23, 6-13 ACC) got its only run of the game in the ninth, after Ryan Cole hit a one-out triple and scored on a grounder to second.

Inside the Box

• Fernandez – two doubles, second and third of the season; season-high tying three hits, fourth multi-hit game of season; two runs, second multi-run scoring game of season.
• Fragale – home run, team-high tying sixth of the season, 29th of his career; two hits, 13th multi-hit game of season, 51st of his career; four RBI, 11th multi-RBI game of season, 42nd of his career; second four-RBI game of the season, seventh four-plus RBI game of his career; two runs, eighth multi-run scoring game of season, 27th of his career.
• Horanski – two doubles, leads the team with 13 this season; two hits, 11th multi-hit game of the season.
• J. Owens – three hits, 10th multi-hit game of season, 34th of his career; fourth game this season with at least three hits and the 16th of his career; two RBI, fifth multi-RBI game of season, 11th of his career; three runs, eighth multi-run scoring game of season, 24th of his career; fourth game this season with at least three runs, fifth of his career.
• Seymour – quality start, his fifth of the season; seven scoreless frames, a team-high 45 for the season; two were perfect, 14 this year; five strikeouts, 60 for the season, second-most on the team.

Additional Notes

• Seymour becomes just the third freshman pitcher at the school to win two ACC starts (Justin Wright, 2008; Mathew Price, 2009) and ties Joe Mantiply (2010) and Wright (2009) as the only true freshman to win three starts in a single season (since 2005).
• During an ACC career (since 2005), Fragale’s 29 home runs in his career is tied for the second most by a Hokie with Tyler Horan (2011-13) and only trails Andrew Rash (2010-13), who hit 42.
• Tech is now 3-4 in the first game of an ACC weekend series this season.
• The Hokies are now 9-12 all-time against Notre Dame and, with the win, ended a three-game skid to the Irish.
• The win was the first for Tech at Notre Dame since May 22, 2004. They’ve only played the Irish three times prior on the road, but that 2014 series was not played on campus due to renovations at Frank Eck Stadium.

Up Next

• The two teams will continue the three-game ACC series at Frank Eck Stadium on Saturday with a 2 p.m. first pitch.

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