Hokies hammer Tiger pitching, likely bashing Clemson's NCAA Tournament hopes

The Hokies celebrated early and often (Photo courtesy of ACC).

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Thu May 26 23:43:25 GMT-04:00 2022

Max Wagner added yet another home run to his historic season, but it wasn’t enough as top-seeded Virginia Tech hit six of their own in a 18-6 victory over Clemson in the ACC Tournament at Truist Field.

The ACC Tournament is over for the Tigers, who went into the tournament likely needing to win at least one game to have a chance at the NCAA Tournament. Instead, the Tigers were outscored 27-8 over the two games and might miss the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row, the first time that’s happened since 1982-86.

The loss drops Clemson’s record to 35-23 while Virginia Tech improves to 41-11. Virginia Tech will face North Carolina Friday for the right to advance to the tournament semifinals. Clemson will return home and watch Sunday’s NCAA Selection Show to see if the selection committee spends an at-large pick on Monte Lee’s program.

"We made a run at it. We hit a few balls out of the ballpark and made it interesting there early in the game, but ultimately their offense was just so good," Lee said. "We haven't had a chance to play those guys this year, but looking at them before we went into the game, we knew how good they were. Seeing them in person they have a fantastic ballclub that is built to make a deep run. Give Virginia Tech credit, they were the better team tonight. They played a great baseball game and we wish them luck moving forward."

Lee said he didn't know if his team would make the tournament.

"It's not in our hands now. It will be dependent on the selection committee," Lee said. "I think we have a lot of really good points. We are sitting in the low 30's (in RPI) if I'm not mistaken. Hopefully we get an opportunity to keep playing, but this week did not go the way we wanted it to go. We will have to see how all the pieces of the puzzle fit across the country and how our resume looks compared to some of the teams that are on the bubble."

Clemson started righty Billy Barlow and Barlow ran into immediate trouble. Nick Biddison drew a leadoff walk, stole second and then advanced to third on a dropped third strike. Biddison scored on Jack Hurley’s sharp single to right and the Hokies led 1-0 after the first inning.

The Hokies added two more in the top of the second on a walk, a Biddison double, and an RBI groundout for a 3-0 lead. However, the Tigers climbed right back in the game when Blake Wright’s two-run homer to right scored Cooper Ingle, who had singled to start the second, making it 3-2 Tech at the end of two.

The Hokies chased Barlow as part of a seven-run third inning. Carson Jones smacked a two-run, two-out homer that sent Barlow to the showers trailing 5-2. Barlow was replaced by Austin Gordon, who promptly walked a hitter and gave up a single. That brought up Biddison, who launched a three-run homer over the wall in right for an 8-2 lead.

Barlow pitched 2 2/2 innings, giving up five runs (three earned) while walking three and striking out three.

Gavin Cross and Tanner Schobel followed with solo homers – both to left – as the Hokies went back-to-back-to-back for three home runs in a row and four in the inning, giving them a 10-2 lead.

Wagner and the Tigers got two of those runs back in the bottom of the frame. Will Taylor walked and Wagner drilled the first pitch he saw over the wall in left for his 27th home run of the season. Those 27 homers tie the program’s season record, first set by Khalil Greene back in 2002.

Camden Troyer hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth to make it 10-6, but the Hokies added two more runs in the fifth and two more in the seventh to extend the lead to 14-6. The Hokies added four runs in the ninth off Ryan Ammons to account for the final score.

Gordon pitched 1 1/3 innings, giving up six runs (all earned) on just four hits. He walked two and struck out three. Geoffrey Gilbert pitched 2 2/3 innings and gave up two runs.

Biddison had three hits, scored three runs, hit two homers, and drove in five for the Hokies, while Jones scored three times and drove in four runs. Troyer was the only Tiger with two hits.