It was turning into a complete embarrassment on the baseball diamond for Virginia Tech down in South Florida. The Hokies were blasted, 19-1, by Miami on Friday night to kick off a three-game ACC series. On Saturday night, Virginia Tech lost, 8-6. On Sunday afternoon, the Hurricanes were going for the sweep, but the Hokies had other ideas.
Virginia Tech jumped out to a 4-1 lead through three innings and rode the right arm of Griffin Stieg to a 6-3 victory to avoid the sweep and salvage one game. Stieg scattered seven hits in six innings and allowed two earned runs with three strikeouts. It was an outing that Tech needed to have to improve to 15-15 overall and 6-9 in the ACC.
Ethan Ball homered for the Hokies, as did Sam Grube. Leading 4-2 going into the top of the ninth, the Hokies added two big runs on an RBI single from Ethan Gibson and a Hudson Lutterman ground out before Miami added one in the home half. Virginia Tech will host Liberty for a mid-week non-conference game before visiting Boston College next weekend for a three-game conference series. The middle game on Saturday will be played at Fenway Park.
Softball win series against Clemson ahead of UVA showdown
After dropping the opener of their three-game series against Clemson on Thursday night, the Hokies softball team rallied to win the series by winning 9-1 on Friday night, before outslugging the Tigers, 10-5, in the rubber match on Saturday night.
Virginia Tech improved to 33-5 overall and 9-3 in the ACC. They visit Radford for a mid-week non-conference game before a huge three-game Commonwealth Clash series next weekend in Charlottesville.
Former Virginia Tech hurler promoted majors
Former Virginia Tech left-handed pitcher Joe Mantiply had his contract selected by the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday, paving the way for him to head to Toronto. After being swept by the Chicago White Sox over the weekend, the Blue Jays head home for a World Series rematch with the Los Angeles Dodgers beginning on Monday night.
Mantiply will likely serve as the left-handed specialist out of John Schneider's bullpen. He could very well end up facing superstar Shohei Ohtani over the next couple of days.
Megan Duffy gets key retention
It was a tough blow when Virginia Tech women's basketball coach Megan Duffy lost freshman Katie Sears to a season-ending injury before she even played a game. On Sunday, it was announced that she will be returning for the 2026-27 season, hopefully healthy and making a big impact.