They say the last three outs in baseball are the hardest to get. The Virginia Tech baseball team found out painfully on Saturday.
Three outs away from pulling off the biggest upset in the history of the NCAA Tournament, the Hokies' bullpen imploded at the worst time. Taking a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the ninth and being 26-0 when leading after eight innings this season, the Hokies had UCLA, the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, in trouble of making history in the tournament. No top overall seed has ever been swept in the first weekend of the tournament. They were three outs away until the Virginia Tech bullpen melted down.
UCLA got back-to-back home runs from Mulivai Levu and Roman Martin to lead off the inning to tie the game, 5-5, off Madden Clement before they used an infield single, a single to left with one out, and an RBI single from Phoenix Call completed the comeback. Another gut-wrenching loss for the Hokies, who end the season 30-26.
Virginia Tech baseball suffers gut-wrenching season-ending loss to UCLA
There is not much to say for Virginia Tech. They were three outs away from a historic win before suffering a devastating loss. They got a two-run home run from Owen Petrich and solo shots from Ethan Gibson and Ethan Ball for a 4-3 lead through eight innings. They added an insurance run on back-to-back doubles from Gibson and Hudson Lutterman in the top of the ninth for a 5-3 lead. It wasn't meant to be.
Clement didn't make his first appearance this year until April, but he was who head coach John Szefc rolled with in the ninth. He started Brent Renfrow, but went to Preston Crowl for the fifth and sixth innings. His options were limited, as is the case in the second game of the tournament in less than 24 hours.
This would have been a program-altering win for Virginia Tech. Traveling across the country to play the No. 1 overall national seed and to have them on the ropes in an elimination game is not what many people envisioned. However, they were there and now, they have to take the cross-country flight back to Blacksburg that feels like its going to take forever.
After starting the season 7-1, the Hokies hit a rough patch and looked like a team that was going to miss the NCAA Tournament. They won their last four ACC series to finish seventh in the conference. They went 1-1 in the conference tournament. They were a surprising No. 2 seed in the Los Angeles Regional and dropped the opener on Friday night to Cal Poly. After being shut down by the Mustangs, they went toe-to-toe with the No. 1 team in the country, only to lose in devastating fashion.
Given all the success they had late in the regular season, it will be forgotten by the epic meltdown against UCLA. It's going to be a long eight months until the first pitch of the 2027 season in February.
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