BLACKSBURG — Saturday’s baseball game between Virginia Tech and No. 12 North Carolina featured six home runs and four ejections.
The Hokies smacked a season-high five homers in a 10-6 win in front of a season-high 2,581 fans at Atlantic Union Bank Park.
Henry Cooke, Sam Tackett and David McCann homered in the first inning to give Tech (25-14, 10-10 ACC) the lead for good at 5-0. Tackett flipped his bat after his homer, prompting an umpire to warn both teams about excessive celebration.
With two outs in the eighth inning, Jared Davis hit a pinch-hit, two-run homer to extend the Tech lead to 10-6. An exuberant Davis threw his bat after the homer. Because of the earlier warning, Davis was ejected after going around the bases.
But that was only the first ejection of the game.
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UNC reliever Folger Boaz threw the next pitch behind Tech batter Anderson French. After French grounded out, there was chirping between the teams — and between both head coaches.
An umpire restrained Tech head coach John Szefc behind home plate to keep him from going over to the UNC dugout. Szefc was ejected.
French and UNC head coach Scott Forbes also were ejected.
“This game’s played with emotion,” Tech associate head coach Kurt Elbin said. “Frenchie, I think he felt like the guy was throwing at him. It’s just 18-to-22-year-olds playing with emotion and it obviously got out of hand.”
Of course, Szefc is not an 18-year-old and he got ejected, too.
“You’ve got to pick your spots as a skipper,” Elbin said. “It ignites people, it ignites the crowd. … He was defending our guy.”
Szefc did not address the media after the game.
The three-game series will conclude Sunday. The Tar Heels (30-9, 12-8) beat the Hokies 9-6 on Friday night.
The Hokies banged out 12 hits Saturday.
“We were really able to jump on them at the beginning of the game, and I think that really upset them. It kind of just led it to be a little bit of a time bomb,” said Tech’s Grant Manning, who got the win in relief. “By the end of the game, … things just kind of spiraled because people get emotional. But you know what? That’s the fun of the game. And this is one of the most fun games that I’ve ever been a part of.”
Tech improved to 7-5 against ranked foes this season.
“Our potential’s through the roof. We know we’re an Omaha-caliber team,” said Tackett, referring to Tech’s potential to make the College World Series in Omaha.
Tech had lost four straight ACC games prior to Saturday, having been swept by No. 9 Florida State last weekend and losing to UNC on Friday.
“We know we … can play at our best against these ranked opponents,” Manning said. “Unfortunately we had lost in that previous sweep and it was a tough loss last night. But we had a lot of belief.”
Tech has not made the NCAA tournament since 2022. But projected Wednesday that Tech will make the 64-team field as the No. 3 seed in a four-team regional hosted by Mississippi.
“We have such a deep roster,” Manning said. “We have so many great ballplayers.”
Tech jumped to an early lead.
After French singled in the first inning, Cooke smacked a two-run homer.
After Ben Watson singled, Tackett belted a two-run homer. McCann made it back-to-back homers by smacking a solo homer.
Kane Kepley hit a three-RBI triple to cut the lead to 5-3 in the top of the second inning.
Watson belted a two-run homer in the bottom of the second to extend the lead to 7-3.
UNC then pulled starter Aidan Haugh (4-3), who had entered the game with a 1.86 ERA. Haugh gave up four homers Saturday after having given up only four homers all year entering Saturday.
“We had a good plan going in (against Haugh),” Watson said. “We knew what he was going to attack us with and then we just capitalized on the mistakes he made. Everyone was just a little more locked in today.”
Luke Stevenson hit a solo homer off Tech starter Jake Marciano in the fifth.
Jackson Van De Brake hit a run-scoring sacrifice fly off Manning (3-3) to trim the lead to 7-5 in the top of the seventh.
Tackett had an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh.
UNC scored a run on Alex Madera’s RBI single to cut the lead to 8-6 in the eighth. Madera moved up to second on a passed ball, giving the visitors men on second and third. But Manning struck out Lee Sowers and retired Carter French on a grounder to get out of the jam.
“There’s always pressure. You’ve just got to be able to go out there with your best stuff and have confidence,” Manning said.
Manning struck out the side in the ninth. He allowed two runs (one earned), three hits and one walk while striking out four in 4 1/3 innings of relief.
Tackett had three hits and three RBIs, while Watson had three hits and two RBIs. Watson also shined in left field, jumping and making a catch over the wall to rob Stevenson of a first-inning homer.
Virginia Tech 10, UNC 6
North Carolina 030 010 110 — 6 10 1
Virginia Tech 520 000 12x — 10 12 1
Haugh, Johnson (2), Chmielewski (5), Seagraves (7), Boaz (8) and Stevenson; Marciano, Manning (5) and Cooke. W—Manning (3-3). L—Haugh (4-3). HRs—UNC: Stevenson (13th); VT: Cooke (5th), Tackett (12th), McCann (6th), Watson (5th) and Davis (7th).
