After a couple of seasons of frustration, the Virginia Tech baseball team is back in the NCAA Tournament. After beginning the season 7-1, things went south quickly for John Szefc and his team. They were stuck below .500 midway through their ACC schedule, but quickly turned things around.
Virginia Tech won its final four conference series, and with a difficult non-conference schedule, the Hokies all of a sudden became a team that got on the right side of the 64-team bubble for the NCAA Tournament. They finished 15-15 in the ACC and drew the seventh seed for the conference tournament last week in Charlotte.
After beating Notre Dame in the second round, the Hokies fell in the quarterfinals to a tough North Carolina squad. However, the Hokies did enough to secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament. They figured to be a three-seed in a Regional, but when the field was announced on Monday afternoon, they were a two-seed.
It didn't take long to hear their name called as Virginia Tech landed in the Los Angeles Regional with top-seeded UCLA. The Hokies will play third-seeded Cal Poly in their opener on Friday at 8 p.m. EST on ESPN+. The Bruins get Saint Mary's on Friday afternoon in their opener.
Virginia Tech faces daunting Los Angeles Regional in NCAA Tournament
Cal Poly will be a difficult opener for Virginia Tech. They won the Big West Tournament and are a team that nobody wanted to see in their Regional. Saint Mary's is a tough four-seed, but UCLA should be able to survive that to advance.
As far as the Hokies go, all eyes will be on the health of No. 1 pitcher Brent Renfrow, who did not throw in the ACC Tournament last week. However, Szefc expects his right-hander to be ready and available this weekend. They are going to need him to be available at some point.
The double-elimination format makes it extremely difficult for a team to advance after losing its opener. That's why so much emphasis should be put on the opening game. Yes, UCLA or Saint Mary's would be a difficult matchup on Saturday, but being 1-0 has a different feeling than going down 0-1 with a loss to Cal Poly.
Virginia Tech's offense has been cooking as of late after they put up 17 runs on the Irish in the ACC Tournament and then chased UNC ace Jason DeCaro after just 3.2 innings last Friday. To back the pitching and mainly the bullpen, the Hokies' offense will need to produce against some tough pitching staffs. UCLA is the overwhelming favorite and rightly so, but if the Hokies have any dreams of pulling a massive upset, they need to get off on the right foot on Friday night in Southern California.
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