Virginia Tech baseball seeks to 'shock a lot of people'

But Tech has not made it back to the NCAAs the past two years.

The Hokies hope to be good enough to get back there this year.

"We'll shock a lot of people this year," first baseman Garret Michel said this week on a video conference. "We've got a ton of people from the portal that not many people know about.

"People have us low in the rankings. Granted, the last two years we haven't had a ton of success and so we … haven't really earned that ranking. But to be honest, I like being lower."

The Hokies have been picked to finish 12th out of 16 teams in the ACC's preseason coaches poll. The ACC, which has added two baseball teams in Stanford and California, has dropped divisional play.

In mid-April of last year, Tech was 22-8 overall and ranked No. 16 in the D1Baseball.com Top 25. Tech was in second place in the Coastal Division at the time with a 10-5 league mark.

But the Hokies finished 32-22 overall and 14-16 in ACC play.

"We got off to a hot start and … there was a lot … harder competition towards the end," said Michel, whose team opens the season Friday against visiting Bucknell. "We got kind of comfortable once we got that good record and got ranked pretty high and we felt like it was going to be handed to us and it wasn't."

Center fielder Ben Watson said the Hokies need to be more consistent this season.

"We have to … not ride the roller coaster as much," Watson said on the video conference. "We all want to go back to the tournament. We were all kind of bitter about not finishing the season off how we wanted last year."

Does coach John Szefc consider Tech to be an NCAA tournament team this year?

"With the lineup of players we have, I would say it is," he said on the video conference.

Watson, who led the ACC in batting (.419) last season, is back for his second and final season at Tech. The graduate transfer spent his first four seasons of college at Division III member Elizabethtown. He was granted two extra years of eligibility by Division III because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite his sterling batting average with Tech last year, the 2024 third-team All-American was not drafted last summer. Watson hopes to improve in certain areas this season so he can make a better impression on major-league scouts.

"Slugging is the biggest thing that I've been working on," he said. "And then just getting faster is another thing, … trying to make myself a little more valuable.

"But at the end of the day, I'm going to try to hit the best I can, just like last year, and kind of dare them not to take me again."

Watson is one of four starters back from last year's batting order, along with shortstop Clay Grady (.335), catcher Henry Cooke (.296) and designated hitter/catcher David McCann (.270). Cooke is day-to-day with a knee injury.

Michel, who missed all but nine games last season after breaking his wrist in early March, is also back. Two years ago, he hit .339 and earned Freshman All-America honors.

"I'm ready to go," Michel said. "It stunk not being able to play (most of last season). … It kind of just makes me enjoy the game a lot more. It was stripped from me, so I grew a deeper, deeper love for the game."

"Having him back in the mix, it should make us a lot better offensively," Szefc said.

The Hokies must replace five players who were drafted last summer — second baseman Christian Martin (.313); third baseman Carson DeMartini (21 homers); outfielder Eddie Micheletti Jr. (.311); starting pitcher Wyatt Parliament (59 strikeouts); and reliever Jordan Little (seven saves).

Tech also must replace All-ACC third-team outfielder Chris Cannizzaro, who hit .346 in his final college season.

David Lewis, who earned Division II All-America honors at North Greenville last year, will see action at third base this year. He smacked 24 homers as a North Greenville junior last year. He began his college career at Clemson.

The other contenders for the second base and third base vacancies are Jake Slade, Ethan Gibson, junior-college transfer Jared Davis and freshman Hudson Lutterman.

Treyson Hughes, who hit .227 for Mississippi last year, will see action in the outfield this season. He made the All-Southern Conference first team as a Mercer sophomore in 2023, when he hit .387 with 11 homers.

Jefferson Forest graduate and Mercer graduate transfer Jackson Cherry is another new face in the outfield. He hit .290 with 18 homers for Mercer last spring.

"Based on what he's done in intrasquad games, I'd say he's ready (for the jump to the ACC)," Szefc said. "He's very good and really mature."

Another new face in the outfield is Radford transfer Cameron Pittman. He made the All-Big South second team as a junior last year, when he batted .357 with 14 stolen bases.

"We played him last year and had a tough time getting him out, so it's good to have him on our side now," Watson said.

The other contenders for the two outfield vacancies are Sam Tackett and Nick Locurto.

Brett Renfrow, who made the All-ACC third team as a freshman last year, will start on the mound Friday. He went 6-4 with 78 strikeouts last spring.

But starting pitcher Griffin Stieg will be sidelined all season because of Tommy John surgery.

The contenders to join Renfrow as weekend starters are Madden Clement, Grant Manning and freshmen Logan Eisenreich and Jake Marciano.

Only 18 members of the 46-man roster were on the squad last year.

"People might look at that in a bad way, but I love it," Michel said. "We've got (transfers) that are experienced with college and we have some very talented freshmen.

"A lot of guys aren't really known to the public eye. To be honest, I like it that way. We need guys to be able to sneak up on people."

Seven ACC teams have made the national preseason coaches Top 25 poll, including six that are on the Hokies' schedule. Tech will host No. 6 Florida State, No. 8 North Carolina and No. 4 Virginia and will visit No. 16 North Carolina State, No. 15 Wake Forest and No. 12 Duke. Tech will also host No. 25 Troy for a nonleague game.