No one expected the Virginia Tech Hokies to do much of anything big this season. They were going to finish 6th in the Coastal, bomb out of the ACC Tournament and go home to figure it out for next year. The Pitt/JMU weekend and Tuesday road trip in mid-March had everyone convinced. Except John Szefc (who knew what sort of players he had), and the Hokies themselves... maybe after a little pep talk from MLB Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr. but they figured it out and it just took the other folks a while to, as well.
The Hokies defied that prediction and it kept defying it all the way to the end of the 9th inning in Game 1 of pool play for the ACC Tournament.