On Thursday, Virginia Tech freshman point guard Ben Hammond announced that he was returning to Blacksburg for next season, which is a big lift for the Hokies. After a strong second half of the season, he certainly has a bright future. Also on Thursday, another key piece to the 2024-25 announced that he was returning as well.
He’s backkkkk‼️ Watch what T does with it 📈📈 pic.twitter.com/QayrgaIoGo
— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) April 3, 2025
Freshman forward Tyler Johnson also announced that he was returning to Virginia Tech. In his rookie season, he averaged 6.7 points and 4.8 rebounds a game while averaging 25.5 minutes. He started this season and played well at times on both ends of the floor. He had a career-high 14 points in a loss at Georgia Tech in January. It is pivotal that the Hokies got some retainment from some key players and both Hammond and Johnson fit in that category.
Men's basketball loses out on portal commitment
It's been 10 days since the men's college basketball transfer portal opened, and things are starting to move in terms of players committing to teams. Virginia Tech and head coach Mike Young have been in on some key players in the portal with visits and Zoom calls.
One player that the Hokies were in on and made a priority was East Tennessee State University's Quimari Peterson. The 6-foot-1 guard averaged 19.5 points this past season for the Buccaneers, with 4.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists. On Thursday, he committed in the portal and passed on Virginia Tech to play at Washington. This is the first portal loss for Young and Tech and hopefully, there is some good news coming soon for next season.
Baseball heads to Notre Dame
After sweeping Wake Forest last week in Winston-Salem, the Hokies cracked the Top 25, coming in at No. 25 by Baseball America this week. Looking to avoid a letdown in a mid-week non-conference game with Radford at home, the Hokies lost 8-1 on Tuesday, which was their first mid-week loss of the season.
This weekend, John Szefc and his team head to South Bend for an ACC three-game series against Nore Dame, which is 2-10 and in the season in the basement of the standings. Anything less than two out of three games would be a disappointment and take a lot of the momentum away from what they have after winning two straight ACC series against Top 25 teams.
Softball heads to North Carolina State
The Hokies softball team is on a 10-game winning streak after a thrilling sweep of Stanford last weekend and then beating No. 24 Liberty, 6-0, on Wednesday night at Tech Softball Park. Emma Lemley fired a three-hitter, and once again, Virginia Tech used the long-ball to pull away from the Flames.
This weekend, the Hokies head to Raleigh for a three-game set with North Carolina State who is 4-8 in the ACC and 21-16 overall. Virginia Tech is in second place, one game behind Florida State which is the lone undefeated team in conference play.