2017 Virginia Tech Hokies Baseball Preview

The Verdict

If the Hokies stay healthy, this team should be vastly improved.

That, of course, is a big IF, considering what the team went through across the board last season.

As Tim Thomas from The Tech Lunch Pail points out here, head baseball coach Pat Mason is returning for his fourth season due in part to the school not being particularly keen on buying out another contract in the athletic department.

As Thomas points out, the Hokies had just bought-out the agreement between the school and women’s basketball coach Dennis Wolfe, which in addition to Mason, would have been a good bit of dead money going to coaches who theoretically would no longer be with the school.

Can Mason save his job in a brutal ACC? That is the million dollar question, which leans more than anything, on the pitching staff improving under new pitching coach Jamie Pinzino. If Packy Naughton can live up to increased expectations and Aaron McGarity can fill-in with his solid repertoire in the number two spot on the staff, the team should improve enough to keep Mason around for the entirety of the season.

Sure it’s not a ringing endorsement, but if improvement is shown and the team can get back towards the .500 mark overall like they did two seasons ago in an ACC with three of the top 15 teams in baseball in Florida State, Louisville, and North Carolina, there is a chance that Mason could hang around beyond the season.

It will be easier said than done, and Mason will be on a short leash, but at the very least, the Hokies qualifying for the conference tournament would be a step back in the right direction for the baseball program in 2017.