Stanford baseball season ends in first round of ACC tournament
Stanford’s season came to a close Tuesday with a 7‑4 loss to Virginia Tech in the opening round of the ACC Baseball Championship at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The 13‑seed Cardinal (27-25, 11-19 ACC) grabbed an early lead but could not keep pace with the 12‑seed Hokies (31-24, 12-18 ACC), who advanced behind an 11‑hit attack.
Stanford struck first in the third inning when junior Cort MacDonald scored on a wild pitch, but Virginia Tech leveled the score in the bottom half and pulled ahead with two runs in the fourth. A fifth‑inning solo homer by senior infielder Trevor Haskins trimmed the deficit to one, yet the Hokies responded with three runs in the sixth and another in the seventh to create decisive separation.
Virginia Tech’s Clay Grady two‑run single highlighted the sixth‑inning surge. The single came after freshman Charlie Bates lost a fly ball in the sunlight and watched the would‑be-inning‑ending out drop to his left, extending the frame. An inning later, Mycah Jordan nailed his first collegiate home run for the Hokies to build a 7-2 lead. Starter sophomore Joey Volchko absorbed the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits over five innings.
Despite the ultimate loss, Stanford’s lineup showed late life. Junior infielder Jimmy Nati belted a two‑run homer as the Cardinal was down to its final out in the ninth inning. The big knock gave Nati his 16th home run of the year, which leads the team, while Haskins’ solo shot earlier in the game accounted for his 14th of the season. Freshman outfielder Tatum Marsh finished with two hits and raised his batting average to .377.
For the Cardinal, this year marks the second straight season without an NCAA tournament berth after a run of three consecutive College World Series appearances. This is the first time since manager David Esquer was hired back in 2017 that Stanford will be on the sidelines for the NCAA tournament in consecutive seasons.
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