April 12, 2022

collegiatetimes.com

April 12, 2022

An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903

Ut Prosim

resurfaces.

PAGE 2 April 12, 2022

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NEWS

Ukrainian Hokies reflect on ongoing Russian invasion Ukrainian students and staff describe how the conflict has affected them and their families.

JANE PARK assistant news editor

On Feb. 24, Russia launched a military attack on Ukraine. According to CNN, explosions were heard across Kyiv, the country’s capital.

Kira Morse, a Ukrainian citizen and English professor at Virginia Tech, explained the history between the two countries and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s motives behind the invasion.

“Ukraine proclaimed independence (from the Soviet Union) in 1990 or 1991 and was a separate country with the borders that were there at that time,” Morse said. “It started kind of building its own country and its own government.

We have our own money system, our own official language, so it is a different country.”

She stated that the National Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) — formed in 1949 to militarily and politically protect the Allies’ freedom and borders — played a role in the invasion. Putin demanded from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the country not ever join the alliance.

“But Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union, which did not join NATO obviously because those were two big kind(s) of separate organizations,” Morse said.

“But now in more recent years, Ukraine has shown a lot of interest in joining the European Union, in joining NATO and kind of joining the Western world, and Russia doesn’t like that. (The) Russian government doesn’t like that because Ukraine is so big and covers such a big part of the border with Russia, they don’t like the idea of NATO encroaching and

getting close.”

However, Nataliya Brantly, a graduate student in public health and Ph.D. candidate in science and technology studies at Virginia Tech, does not believe that Russia will keep its promise to end the conflict if Zelenskyy refrains from joining NATO and the European Union (EU).

“I think that Russia cannot be trusted,” she said. “I think that it’s obvious to whoever listens to the news and is reading the history and looking at the events happening right now that Russia cannot be trusted, and any promises made today and in the past cannot be trusted, so the resolution right now is to come to a consensus that can be supported by European nations and the United States that can guarantee (that) this agreement, whatever the agreement is, can be upheld.”

Brantly stated that most of her family evacuated Ukraine. Those who are still in the country are internally displaced but have housing, food and supplies.

Some of her friends are also in Kyiv, fighting alongside the Ukrainian army.

As a mother with young children, Brantly also said it was terrible to hear about the deaths of Ukrainian children.

“It felt unreal, like a terrible nightmare, to be honest, of something like this happening in 2022,” Brantly said. “For just beautiful people, kind, that are not seeking issues, just want(ing) to build a life and future for their families.”

Tim Covert, a senior majoring in history and a reservist in the Marine Corps, stated that his aunt and cousin escaped from Ukraine to the United Kingdom, while his uncle stayed in Kyiv.

His grandparents left Kyiv for Lviv in

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western Ukraine.

Covert’s grandparents lived 30 minutes away from the Bucha Massacre. If they had stayed, “you can probably assume that they could’ve become victims in the same way,” Covert said.

Most of Covert’s friends are also in Ukraine, volunteering to fight and defend the country.

“Some of them have died, at this point,” Covert said. “Some of them are still alive.

One of them is in Mariupol, currently being besieged by Russian forces. He’s still alive, and he’s fighting there.”

Morse stated that her parents were currently safe and that they have been able to evacuate Kyiv to Poland, one of Ukraine’s neighboring countries. While they were still in Kyiv, however, Morse recalled hearing gunshots when speaking with them over video chats.

“They were asked to keep all the lights off in the evenings and at night (and) I would talk to them on video calls and they’re like, ‘Oh, hold on. There’s some shooting outside; we heard something,’ And it’s surreal, you’re just talking to somebody, all of a sudden, there’s an explosion or shots fired, and you don’t know what to do,” Morse said.

Despite being safe in the United States, Morse had trouble sleeping and eating and avoided watching the news because “it is very traumatic seeing the streets where you grew up with tanks and people in military uniforms.”

Morse was also unable to continue her daily routines and had to take a step back from her job due to various triggers, such as the construction noise right outside her office window.

“When I hear construction outside, and I talk about my parents hearing explosions, like to me, this is very triggering,” Morse said. “Or when I came to class, and I had cadets in my class, and I just broke down and cried, you know?

So they’re like little things that are now really affecting my life because I think of my friends and relatives in Ukraine.”

Due to Covert’s position in the Marine Corps, he was told that he could not travel overseas and volunteer to fight, like his friends. Covert then had to make a decision between renouncing his

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American citizenship and defending his home, or remaining in the Marine Corps, but decided to stay.

“It was a very, very difficult decision,” Covert said. “Ultimately, I decided that I can do more damage to the Russian regime, that I can do more to defend democracy (and) freedom, by serving in the U.S. military than I would as a volunteer in Ukraine.”

On campus, Covert has been involved with spreading awareness and fundraising with other Ukrainian students.

Morse did not feel that the invasion was unexpected due to past invasions such as in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine, but was surprised that Russia had in fact carried through with its plans to invade Ukraine. She initially saw Russia’s claims as nothing more than empty threats to incite fear.

“But we thought they were just trying to scare us,” Morse said. “They’re testing out the American president; they’re testing out the world; they’re testing out how people would react. They’re trying to scare the Ukrainian president who is extremely inexperienced (and) really he didn’t know what he was doing at all, so we kind of saw it as just a scare tactic.”

Morse expressed her frustrations with the lack of action from world leaders but understood not wanting to turn the invasion into a larger worldwide conflict. She referenced the Budapest Memorandum in 1994 when Ukraine relinquished its nuclear weapons to Russia in exchange for acknowledgment of the country’s independence and sovereignty.

On the civilian level, Covert was concerned that people were not understanding that the conflict does not solely impact Ukraine and Russia, and it is simply “another headline on the news.”

“From an economic standpoint, Ukraine possesses 10% of wheat production, so right now we’re not seeing the effects of it yet, but in about three months, you’re gonna see the global prices of wheat are gonna skyrocket, and that’s gonna affect our ability to produce food and to have food available,” Covert said.

According to Brantly, the first step for the Blacksburg and Virginia Tech community to show their support for Ukraine should have been to acknowledge the war. She recalled being disappointed in the lack of community support after seeing the World Market selling Russian products.

collegiatetimes.com “I asked if they have any plans to discontinue, if they understand by selling products from Russia and procuring them from Russia, they are supporting the war efforts,” Brantly said. “They are providing financial assistance for the war in Ukraine, and their response was that they would actively continue to procure Russian goods because there are Russian community members that deserve to have access to these products. There seems to be a lack of compassion, generally.”

On Ma rch 21, the Cranwell International Center hosted an event, “Coming Together: Ref lection and Learning in the Midst of the War in

Ukraine,” for students to reflect on the crisis, as well as learn about the Slavic holiday, Maslenitsa or Maslyana. Food from Ukraine and surrounding areas was served.

Morse felt the event was offensive because, despite the ongoing conflict, it did not solely focus on Ukraine but it was rather an event to bring people, both Ukrainian and Russian, together. She also stated that she would have appreciated the university personally reaching out to her and others from Ukraine to attend the event.

“Why does it have to be Ukraine and Russia?” Morse said. “Why do you have

April 12, 2022 PAGE 3

to have Ukrainian and Russian food?

Why can’t you just have Ukrainian food? When you have a country that is an aggressor, that’s invading and bombing and killing and forcing people to leave, celebrating them together seems like a very strange thing.”

For more information on how to help support families in Ukraine, visit unicef. org.

@CollegiateTimes

ETHAN CANDELARIO / COLLEGIATE TIMES A sign posted in downtown Blacksburg showing support for Ukraine during the war with Russia, March 26, 2022.

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April 12, 2022 PAGE 5

OPINIONS O

Fight for gender equity must continue after U.S. Women’s Soccer settlement

While the settlement is a step toward equal compensation in sports, gender discrimination continues to pollute the industry.

ne week before the beginning of Women’s History Month, the U.S. Soccer Federation came to a $24 million settlement with the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT), ending a multi-year lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed by the USWNT against the U.S. Soccer Federation in 2019, citing unequal pay on the basis of sex. Now, three years later, the federation and team have agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement, most of which is back pay. While this settlement is a step forward toward equal pay in sports, there is still much to be done to eliminate gender discrimination and unequal pay between genders.

Gender discrimination is rooted in American culture, and sports are no exception. Since the enactment of Title IX, women’s representation in sports has greatly increased over the years.

According to The Sport Journal, the number of female collegiate athletes has increased from 15% in 1972 to 43% in 2001. While Title IX has since opened the door for more women to participate in sports, female athletes continue to face gender discrimination. Whether it be unequal pay or a lack of media representation compared to male athletes, sports federations continue to treat females as

inferior athletes simply because of their gender.

Letisha Brown, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Virginia Tech, detailed how gender discrimination impacts sports and how this has contributed to wage discrepancies between male and female athletes.

“Because sports, as we understand them in a modern society, were kind of created for the performance of a white hegemonic masculine ideal, they still kind of cater to that same function,” Brown said. “Because sports are segregated by gender, there’s this perpetuation of this myth of athletic male superiority that feeds into why men outearn women in sports.”

The USWNT took a stand in 2016 and filed a claim with the Equal Employment O ppor t un it y Com m ission ( EEOC), which began a multi-year fight against wage discrimination. According to the New York Times, the team claimed they “often earned only half as much — or less — than their male counterparts.”

After three years of failing to come to an agreement, the USWNT revoked its claim with the EEOC and instead directly sued the U.S Soccer Federation (USSF) in

The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team embracing after a win.

COURTESY OF USWNT

March of 2019, targeting gender discrimination at the source.

While the team gained public support following its World Cup win in 2019, the momentum failed to translate in court.

In April 2020, R. Gary Klausner, United States District Judge for the Central District of California, ruled in favor of U.S Soccer dismissing the players’ defense that they were paid less than the men’s national team. Despite this unacceptable ruling, the USWNT continued to work with the federation until a settlement was reached in February of 2022 — a $24 million settlement, that is, most of which is back pay and seed money, also known as seed capital.

While this settlement is a momentous step toward the advancement of women’s sports, it only emphasizes the amount of work still needed to create a more equal and equitable environment for female athletes.

“It highlights that the issues are still there,” Brown said. “Other organizations aren’t really taking a lead from them, and making moves and having conversations about equal pay while this is going on (the lawsuit and settlement) speaks to the way that there’s still this larger issue that needs to be tackled within sports as a social system and institution.”

It is frustrating that female athletes, such as the players on the USWNT, must continue to prove themselves worthy of equal treatment as professional athletes.

The USWNT should not have had to fight for six gruesome years to reach a settlement that could have easily been achieved much earlier had the U.S. Soccer Federation acknowledged its perpetuation of gender-based wage discrimination. While it is hard to know what went on behind the scenes, the length of the lawsuit only reflects employers’ unwillingness to address unequal pay.

“It’s the fact that the federation kept them on the hook for that amount of time while they went on to continue to win championships that is mind boggling

because they are bringing in revenue when they’re winning,” Brown said. “The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team isn’t just a national phenomenon, they’re an international global sensation. They deserve equitable pay.”

The USWNT has also been considerably more successful than the men’s team, securing four World Cup wins and four Olympic gold medals, whereas the men’s team has yet to achieve either.

Taking the successes of the USWNT into consideration, the settlement could have easily been expedited had the U.S. Soccer Federation recognized the wage discrepancies between the two national soccer teams and compensated the women accordingly.

“When we have a situation like the women’s soccer team who outperforms the male soccer team consistently and yet make significantly less and have less access to resources, it just doesn’t make any sense,” Brown said. “I think that as long as we live in a society that values money and capital, we need to make sure that we’re getting what we deserve based on our skills, not on our gender identities.”

W hat, then, was the reasoning behind the federation’s unwillingness to compensate its female players? The men’s and women’s teams had very different contracts, which the USSF used to initially deny equal pay. According to Time and the U.S Soccer Federation, “the women’s national team’s agreement includes, among other things, guaranteed annual salaries, medical and dental insurance, paid child-care assistance, paid pregnancy and parental leave, severance benefits, multiple bonuses — benefits that U.S. Soccer says are not provided to the men’s national team.”

Although the two contracts between the women’s and men’s teams differed, the principle of equal pay remains unchanged. continued on page 6

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There is also the argument that the men’s team garnered more profit than the women’s team. However, the USWNT actually generated more revenue than the men’s games following their World Cup win in 2015, only a year after the initial claim was filed with the EEOC. These excuses did nothing to justify the unequal treatment of the female players and only prolonged their fight toward equal pay.

Despite the long duration of the lawsuit, this settlement shows that society is moving in the right direction. Being such a high-profile case, the settlement offers

collegiatetimes.com a glimpse into what the future may hold for the advancement of women’s sports and gender discrimination on a broader scale. In a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2017, about 42% of working women in the United States have been victims of gender discrimination while on the job. Another survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2020 found that women earned only 84% of what men earn, which roughly equals an additional 42 days of work to account for the gap. There is still so much more work that needs to be done to fully eliminate gender discrimination in all aspects of life. However, it is accomplishments

such as this most recent settlement that have the potential to spark conversations over gender inequality and question the systems that continue to place women, regardless of profession, at disadvantages because of gender.

“Sports are a reflection of our larger social world,” Brown said. “If we can reach equal pay in sports, maybe we can reach equal pay in society across the board.”

Gender discrimination is not going away any time soon, but the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team’s hardfought victory shows that change is on the horizon as long as people continue

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to speak out against injustices. Looking back on Women’s History Month this past March, it is not only important to reflect on how far society has come, but how much farther we must go to achieve full gender equity. The USWNT is just one example of many more achievements to come if society continues to fuel conversations about gender discrimination and hold those in power accountable.

OLIVIA NELSON • sophomore • biochemistry

LIFESTYLES

Get around campus safely with VTPD’s Safe Ride Safe Ride provides reliable transportation across campus and aims to build a strong relationship between the student body and police department.

DAVID VU lifestyles staff writer

If you have ever walked around Virginia Tech during the night, you might have gotten spooked by the vast darkness and emptiness of the university. Luckily, the Virginia Tech Police Department (VTPD) has a service to help alleviate that spookiness of walking the campus at night called Safe Ride.

Safe Ride is a nighttime safety escort service that is funded through the Virginia Tech’s Hokie Family Annual Fund. It is available to all students, faculty, staff and visitors of the university, and it provides

them with safe and free transportation anywhere within the geographical boundaries of the campus. The usual form of transportation that the service offers is its Safe Ride van, but on some occasions, if the van isn’t operating at all hours of the service, the Police Department will provide a walking escort or even a ride in a police car to your destination.

The service operates seven nights a week, and it runs from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. in the fall semester and from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. in the spring semester; however, on Saturdays in both semesters, the service operates until 4 a.m. Students can contact Safe Ride by calling its number,

A Virginia Tech Police Department Safe Ride van, Oct. 2017.

COURTESY OF VTX

540-231-SAFE (7233) or through the TransLoc Rider app.

Sean Smith, administrative captain of the VTPD, is the main coordinator and supervisor of the Safe Ride program. His responsibilities lie in hiring, training and scheduling the drivers for the program.

“It (Safe Ride) is generally driven by student employees who have applied for that position and who have passed a background check,” Smith said. “So, they are verified to be nice, good people who are trusted to provide the service. We intend to build good relationships and provide a service to the community in doing what we’re doing.”

According to Smith, Safe Ride has been in service since he joined the Police Department nearly 20 years ago.

“I started at the Virginia Tech Police Department in 2003 and they were already doing it then,” Smith said. “My understanding for the reasoning behind the start of the program was just the need identified by students, parents and those security stakeholders on campus that said, ‘Hey, you should be providing a service on campus to provide free, safe travel from point A to point B.’” Safe Ride’s main goal, according to Smith, is to increase the perceived levels of safety for students and faculty to feel safer on campus.

“Our crime rates and crime statistics would tell you that you are safe because

we don’t have a great deal of violent crime on this campus, but people need to feel safe above and beyond just looking at crime numbers and crime statistics,” Smith said. “The things that we can do to increase the perception of safety are the things that actually are most satisfying to the community, because it helps them feel better about their personal protection or their safety in general. Safe Ride is one of those programs that is providing a service, but it’s primarily increasing the perception of safety on campus.”

Smith said he feels that Safe Ride has not only impacted community members’ perceptions and feelings of safety on campus in an effective manner but also that the service has built up the Virginia Tech Police Department’s relationship with the community in a positive way.

“What Safe Ride does — it does provide a service — but it also builds positive relationships between the Police Department and the community and that’s as important as anything else,” Smith said. “Most of the interactions we want to have with people through the Police Department are positive and we strive everyday to make those positive connections because we don’t want our first meeting with any person in the community being at their worst possible moment. … We want to establish a continued on page 7

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relat ionsh ip wit h t hem b efore that happens so that when that time comes, a level of trust has already been established.”

When discussing statistics of the Safe Ride service, Smith stated that, on average, about 2,000 to 2,500 people utilize Safe Ride per year.

“The Safe Ride van is only active when classes are in session, so that’s probably a collective eight months of the year or maybe less than that,” he said. “Our rider numbers are certainly impacted or were impacted by COVID, so for the

collegiatetimes.com 2020–2021 school year, our numbers were way down like everybody else’s, … but we are getting back up to those normal 2,000 to 2,500 rides a year.”

Reflecting on what he envisions for Safe Ride’s future on campus, Smith said he wants Safe Ride to continue to be a service that breaks down the barriers between the Police Department and the community.

“If that’s the first contact we have with a freshman the second week of school in the fall semester and our Safe Ride driver treats the customer very well and has a positive interaction with them, then we are building trust in the community between the Police Department and the

faculty staff, and students are increasing the likelihood that the person would reach out to us for service in the future,” Smith said. “I hope that we can utilize this service and many other programs that we offer through the Police Department to continue to build trust, break down barriers and continue to erase the line that could potentially exist between the police and community because we are both working towards the same thing, which is safety and harmony while allowing people to get a fantastic education.”

Safe Ride is just one of the many methods that foster a positive relationship between the Virginia Tech police

April 12, 2022 PAGE 7

department and the community. Besides giving people around campus safely, the Police Department also provides a multitude of classes for the students, such as self-defense and alcohol awareness, and additionally supplies Residence Life Resource Officers around campus with information and support for students in dorms.

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The Big Event returns to the New River Valley after 2 years The Virginia Tech community saw “Ut Prosim” resurface this Saturday through the Big Event, which had over 5,000 volunteers.

OLIVIA FERRARE lifestyles section editor

Another Virginia Tech tradition illustrating the “Ut Prosim” spirit took place on Saturday, April 9. The Big Event had over 5,000 volunteers completing over 1,200 community service projects in the New River Valley, strengthening the relationship between the school and the community and demonstrating how “Hokies help Hokies” and love doing it.

Many on-campus students were woken up Saturday morning to rave music and the voices of hundreds of students on the Drillfield. A large stage, booths and thousands of students covered the Drillfield, singing along to the Patty Carver Band, dancing with the Fusion Dance Team and the Club Jump Rope team and getting pumped up to volunteer even when snow flurries fell around the participants. The energy was electric when Virginia Tech football’s head coach Brent Pry took the stage, thanking the student body for their continued support of the team and hyping everyone up for a great two Saturdays (Big Event and Spring Game on April 16).

“Having over 5000 volunteers, speakers like Brent Pry, Tim Sands and the founder of VT’s first Big Event in 2002, and some cool performers made this one of, if not the most, meaningful days of my time here at Tech,” said Jacob French, a junior in chemical engineering and one of the Student Outreach executive members of the Big Event.

Students sign up as teams and are assigned a project in the local New River Valley

community, usually at a resident’s home or a small plot of land. Groups get their assignments in the morning and collect tools provided by Big Event staff to complete their jobs. The opening ceremony gets everyone hyped up to give back.

Then, it’s off to the races as teams travel around the community doing everything from raking leaves, mulching, trimming, painting furniture and more. The residents often provide food to the teams or chat with the students about their experiences at Virginia Tech. After the resident has no more tasks for the team, the students travel back to campus to drop off any borrowed equipment. Dozens of smiling volunteers (and a Sam’s Hot Dog food truck) greeted students as they returned to campus and thanked them for a job well done.

This was the first time the Big Event took place since 2019 because of cancellations due to COVID-19, and it ran smoothly thanks to months of detailed planning and coordination by the Big Event’s team of over 200 volunteers. The freshmen, sophomores, and juniors will experience how the student body comes together for a common cause for the first time.

“It was definitely a transition year since we have three ‘freshman’ classes who didn’t know what the Big Event was, but we finally got to see all our hard work pay off today,” French said.

The tradition started in 2002 with 475 volunteers completing 60 projects, and on April 9, 2016, the event had up to 9,200 volunteers with 1,102 projects. The size and effectiveness of the Big Event have only grown, reflecting how students strive to give back year after year.

ANTHONY WU / COLLEGIATE TIMES Tools are laid out on the Drillfield for distribution, April 6, 2019.

My team this year went to a local resident’s house and painted the resident’s concrete walkway and some outdoor benches, and trimmed some bushes. We chatted with the resident, and she explained how she had students come every year since the beginning of the event. Completing tasks as simple as those made her so thankful, and we instantly saw how our work made a difference in her life.

Sometimes, it’s difficult to see our impact outside the boundaries of campus. The stress of balancing school and extracurricular activities can make the immediate campus and Blacksburg area feel large enough, and the school’s effect on the community can be lost.

The Big Event strives to give thanks to the

New River Valley for its residents’ continued support of the student and faculty population and demonstrate how necessary “Ut Prosim” is to any Hokie.

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SPORTS

Women’s lacrosse falls in close one at home against Duke Vergano’s five goals and the Hokies’ late-game push against the Blue Devils was not enough for the victory.

ASHLYN O’NEILL sports staff writer

The Hokies came into their second-to-last home game of the season on Thursday, optimistic and ready to take on the Duke Blue Devils. Duke came into the contest ranked seventh in the country with a record of 14–1 overall and 5–1 in ACC conference play, while the Hokies sat at 8–7 overall and 2–5 in ACC play. Even though Virginia Tech ended up falling 14–15 to Duke, the game itself was certainly full of action from beginning to end and showed the potential of the Virginia Tech women’s lacrosse team.

The game also had a greater meaning for both teams. It was the annual Morgan’s Message game. Morgan Rodgers was a former Duke lacrosse player who died by suicide in 2019. A foundation was started in her memory to spread mental health awareness among student athletes. The two teams had matching hair ribbons and warm-up shirts with their

school logos and the Morgan’s Message logo, a teal butterfly with a semicolon in the middle.

Both teams came out of the gate in the first quarter ready to battle, but it was Duke that struck first, netting two goals.

But Virginia Tech quickly answered back with two of their own, tying the game at two. Each team scored one more apiece, tying the game at three after the first quarter. The quick pace of the game was evident as every goal coming in the first quarter was unassisted and most came in quick transition down the field.

The second quarter was more of the same back and forth between these two talented teams. Every ground ball was contested and the Hokie defensive effort was very impressive in holding off the explosive Duke attackers.

It wasn’t until the third quarter that the Blue Devils were able to exploit some of the weaknesses of the Virginia Tech team. Duke went on a five-goal run with one of the goals coming on a man-up advantage to finish out the third

quarter, for which the Hokies had no answer.

But when the fourth quarter came along, the Hokies showed flashes of a comeback. Virginia Tech went on a red hot run, scoring six goals in the quarter and three unanswered in the final minutes of the game. Olivia Vergano was the star of the night, scoring five goals, while Sarah Lubnow netted four. But ultimately, the efforts of Vergano and the rest of the offensive attack from Virginia Tech would fall just short of a rare top-10 upset.

Duke came out of Blacksburg with the win at 15–14 and sent Virginia Tech to 8–7 on the year and 2–5 in the ACC. The Hokies matched up evenly with the Blue Devils pretty much everywhere on the stat sheet except in draw controls and shots on goal. Virginia Tech as a team tends to be more cautious with the ball and less likely to take bad shots on goal, instead usually waiting for an opportunity to work their offense. The draw controls,

however, are what likely cost Virginia Tech the chance at overtime or the win.

Duke dominated on the draw circle 23–10 and gained the final draw of the night securing them the victory.

After the tough loss, Virginia Tech women’s lacrosse looks ahead to its final non-conference game and final away game of the season. The Hokies will travel south to face Coastal Carolina on Wednesday, April 13, as they look to break their losing streak. They’ll look to gain some positive momentum with them into their Senior Night matchup with UVA in late April.

@CTSportsTalk

Baseball takes two of three over N.C. State to secure another ranked series win The Hokies opened up the weekend with a dominating 21–10 win against the Wolfpack on Friday.

COLBY TALLEY sports staff writer

As the 2022 college baseball season has progressed, Virginia Tech (20–8, 7–6 ACC) has garnered a reputation as a team that plays up to competition.

With series wins over No. 13 Notre Dame and No. 22 North Carolina, the Hokies have had their mettle thoroughly tested and have frequently come out on the other side no worse for wear.

This weekend’s series against the No. 21 NC State Wolfpack (19–11, 7–7 Atlantic Coast) was more of the same.

The game on Friday was the most noteworthy, as it featured the Hokies putting on an offensive showcase en route to a 21–10 win.

Four different Hokies finished with three or more RBIs, with Gavin Cross and Carson

DeMartini both getting five, Cade Hunter getting four and Conor Hartigan finishing with exactly three.

Cross, who managed to get on base all five times he came to bat, went 4-for-4 with a walk and two home runs.

While Saturday’s game was less of an offensive spectacle, it was still a convincing series-clinching 8–2 victory for the home squad.

The hero for the Hokies in this game was Tanner Schobel who, after a fairly quiet 1-for-4 performance on Friday, went 3-for-5 with a pair of two RBI home runs that helped propel his team to victory.

This game also featured the Hokies’ best pitching performance of the weekend as freshman starter Drue Hackenberg only allowed two runs on six hits while striking out eight batters over the course of seven complete innings.

Another noteworthy play from Saturday came on the first score of the game when the aforementioned DeMartini successfully stole home.

With the Hokies already clinching the series on Saturday, they could afford to relax more over the game on Sunday. This fact makes the 10–3 loss they suffered in the third game of the series a little easier to swallow.

The Wolfpack led from the first inning onward as outfielder Devonte Brown crushed a leadoff home run to deep left field on the second pitch of the game.

The key to the Wolfpack’s salvage operation win was the pitching from the duo of starter Canaan Silver and reliever Chris Villaman.

Silver only allowed two hits and one run through six innings while Villaman relieved him and only gave up two runs on four hits in the remaining three innings.Conversely, the

Hokies struggled to gain any sense of comfort on the mound as they cycled through eight different pitchers, including three in the first inning alone.

The most impressive offensive of the game belonged to Wolfpack infielder LuJames Groover III who, despite not recording a single RBI, managed to get on base all six times he came up to bat with two singles and four walks.

Despite the disappointing third game, the Hokies have now won 10 of their last 12 games, including six of their last eight conference matchups.

This team is getting hot at the right time, but the biggest challenges are yet to come with a midweek matchup against Liberty on Tuesday and a series against No. 8 Miami next weekend. @CTSportsTalk