Hokies win two on first day at ACC/Big Ten Challenge

Eberle, Dail register their first shutouts of the season

February 16, 2018

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Purdue (1-5)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	1
Virginia Tech (4-2)	1	0	1	0	0	0	X	2	5	0
Durham, N.C. Box Score

DURHAM, N.C. - Virginia Tech opened the ACC/Big Ten Challenge with a sweep on Friday as the Hokies posted shutout victories over Penn State, 1-0, and Purdue, 2-0.

Tech (4-2) has now won four in a row after dropping the first two games of the season. Carrie Eberle (1-2) earned the win against the Nittany Lions while Jordan Dail (2-0) posted her first career shutout against the Boilermakers.

Emma Strouth went 2 for 4 over the two games and drove in two of the Hokies’ three runs on the day. Olivia Lattin went 2 for 5 with three runs scored and a home run.

VIRGINIA TECH 2, PURDUE 0

Against Purdue, the Hokies scored in the home half of the first for the second straight game. Lattin led off the game with her first home run of the season and the 15th of her career, giving Tech an early 1-0 advantage.

Lattin later led off the third on an infield single before coming home on an RBI double from Strouth. The 2-0 lead was all Dail needed as she got out of a jam in the fourth and retired the side in the top of the fifth.

After sitting down the Boilermaker bats in order in the sixth, Dail closed the door in the seventh, inducing a groundout to Caitlyn Nolan with two runners on to seal the shutout win.

VIRGINIA TECH 1, PENN STATE 0

After Eberle worked out of a bases loaded jam in the first, Lattin reached on a wild pitch after a strikeout and then advanced to second on her second stolen base of the season.

With one out, Strouth sent a single up the middle that scored Lattin from second, putting the Hokies ahead 1-0.

The Hokies loaded the bases in the third and put two on the sixth but the one run was all Eberle needed. The sophomore retired the final nine batters she faced and 12 of the last 13 to earn her second career shutout.

Tech will next take on Penn State tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. for the third of four games at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

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