Weekend Preview: No. 13/23 Virginia Tech
Mired in a four-game losing streak, the Eagles head to Blacksburg for a pivotal three-game series.
“It’s just one of those funks and it happens in a season,” head coach Mike Gambino said ahead of this week’s series with No. 13/23 Virginia Tech. “We have to play better, we’re capable of playing better, and I believe we will play better.”
The Eagles (12-11, 3-9 Atlantic Coast) head into Blacksburg, Va., having lost four straight games for the first time this season. First, it was a three-game sweep at the hands of Clemson in which the Tigers scored 32 runs on 44 hits. Then, on Tuesday, BC was dealt a humbling 12-0 defeat by Connecticut in which the bullpen allowed 10 runs in the final two innings. The losses dropped the Eagles to just one game above .500 on the year, a striking turnaround from a 9-2 start.
“We kind of got into a spot where we pressing as a team,” Gambino said. “We were trying to do too much offensively because we weren’t pitching it great.”
The biggest issue has been the pitching staff—especially the bullpen—which has given up a plethora of big innings over the last few games. Gambino used seven relievers in the loss to the Huskies, while the first two games against Clemson saw several tough relief performances.
“The simple way to stop a big inning is to get back to executing one pitch at a time,” Gambino said. “I think sometimes what starts happening is as things start getting going, the pitchers mindset is ‘I have to stop the big inning, I have to stop the big inning.’ We’re trying to do too much in these spots instead of execute a good pitch.”
With the bullpen—and rotation absent Emmet Sheehan—struggling some, it didn’t help that the lineup cooled off. They were shutout on Tuesday and held to five runs in the last two games against the Tigers, a result of trying to do too much at the plate to dig out of holes. Still, it’s too talented of a lineup to stay down for long, and Gambino believes the pitching has a similar ceiling that it can aim for.
“Our pitching numbers don’t say it, but if you look at the guys and the stuff they have,” he continued. “These guys are capable of pitching at level that’s going to allow us to play for a long time in the postseason. Especially with our lineup.”
The Hokies (13-8, 9-6), meanwhile, are coming off of an impressive weekend sweep of then-No. 15 Pittsburgh after dropping their previous two conference series. It’ll be a matchup of like-minded offensive teams that have wrestled with inconsistent pitching throughout the year.
Virginia Tech Preview
The Hokies are tied with the Eagles for third in the conference in OPS (.820) and have several big-name hitters in the lineup. Right fielder Gavin Cross, who usually hits second, is fourth in the ACC in batting average and sixth in slugging. First baseman TJ Rumfield, usually following Cross at third or fourth in the order, is ninth in average and has racked up 32 hits in 21 games. Other names to know include a pair of freshman in second baseman Tanner Schobel, a doubles machine with eight, and center fielder Jack Hurley, a prototypical leadoff man who’s near the conference lead in stolen bases.
One notable name missing is star Nick Biddison, who hasn’t played a game yet this season due to a shoulder injury. Biddison likely won’t be back for this series, either, as the Hokies are targeting to have him back at the end of the first week in April.
The injury bug has beaten the Hokies as of late, especially in the pitching staff. Anthony Simonelli, the Sunday starter, missed two starts before returning last weekend against the Panthers. Saturday starter Chris Gerard was sidelined with a groin injury last weekend and it’s unclear if he’ll be back to face the Eagles. Virginia Tech has gotten a pair of impressive fill-in starts from Shane Connolly, but it’s weakened the Hokies bullpen.
That’s been one of the biggest issues for Virginia Tech, as head coach John Szefc only seems to trust a few arms—Connolly, Matthew Sieverling, and Jaison Heard—to do the bulk of the relieving. He’s churned through other arms, once using 12 in a single game, but nobody has had the same consistency as those three. One key to this series, for both teams, is to get to the other teams bullpen as quick as they can. Neither team has shown enough in that department to be trusted in close ballgames.
Today’s Probable Pitching Matchup
It’s right-hander Mason Pelio up against Virginia Tech southpaw Peyton Alford. Alford is a fifth-year who was pegged as a Sunday starter during fall ball, but has largely flourished in the Friday night role for the Hokies. The left-hander has a four-pitch mix (fastball, slider, curveball, and changeup) that has helped him fan 42 in just 26 2/3 innings of work. Alford’s pitched into the sixth inning in each of his last three starts. Pelio, meanwhile, has struggled in the early innings of starts as of late. As a result, he’s given up four-plus runs in four of his six starts and the Eagles have lost each of his last three outings. When asked about Pelio’s weekly Jekyll and Hyde routine on the mound, Gambino chalked it up to a combination of tough luck and a bit too much pressing from the junior right hander.
“He’s not catching a break, sort of like a hitter who is swinging the bat great and hitting the ball hard but can’t get a hit,” Gambino noted, referencing several weakly-hit base hits in the six-run inning against Clemson. “He’s got a little bit of that going on but also once it starts going, he’s so competitive and wants to smother it right away instead of hey, just make one pitch at a time—get us back in the dugout and you’ll be fine.”
First pitch is at 1 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.