BLACKSBURG, Va. – Freshman Teddy Tokheim connected for a pair of home runs, including a go-ahead three-run shot in the eighth, as Stanford (12-12, 2-5 ACC) earned a 9-7 victory over Virginia Tech (12-12, 4-6 ACC) in the first game of a three-game series on Friday afternoon to extend its winning streak to five games.
Tokheim finished the game 3-for-4 with the two homers and five RBIs while hitting second in the Stanford order.
Including Tokheim’s two, each of the first three hitters in Stanford’s order homered. The trio of Rintaro Sasaki, Tokheim and Charlie Bates combined to go 7-for-14 with four home runs, seven runs scored and eight RBIs. All three players are now tied for the team lead with eight home runs.
Bates has now homered in four straight games, while Tokheim has homered in three straight.
After Sasaki, who finished 3-for-5 with a double and a homer, drew a walk to start the game, Tokheim quickly handed the Cardinal a 2-0 lead with a towering blast to left field one batter later.
Virginia Tech tied the game at 2-2 with a pair of runs in the second, but Sasaki promptly reclaimed the lead with his eighth home run of the season leading off the third.
Knotted at 3-3 headed to the fifth, Bates launched a go-ahead homer of his own with two outs to push the tally to 4-3 in favor of Stanford, but the Hokies responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning to take the 5-4 lead.
Still trailing 5-4 in the eighth, the Cardinal bats exploded for five runs on four hits – including a game-tying double from Sasaki in front of Tokheim’s three-run homer – to reclaim the lead it would not surrender the rest of the way.
Virginia Tech did not go down without a fight, scoring two runs in the bottom of the eighth, but senior Trevor Moore entered and struck out all four batters he faced – including the side in the ninth – to secure his first save of the season and seal the victory.
Senior Toran O’Harran was credited with the victory and moved to 2-1 on the season after working 2 1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts.
The Cardinal and Hokies will continue the three-game series on Saturday when they meet for a noon PT first pitch.
GAME NOTES:
- Stanford has homered in 16 consecutive games (46 home runs over the span), and has multiple home runs in 15 of those 16 games ... 16-game homer streak is the longest for the Cardinal since it hit 29 homers over 16 straight games from February 16 to March 16, 2025 ... has managed double-digit hits in 10 of the last 11 games ... drew 10 walks in Friday's victory
- Charlie Bates (1-for-5, 2 R, HR, BB, RBI) has hit safely in five straight and all but four games this season ... has homered in four straight games to become the first Cardinal to homer in four straight since Jimmy Nati hit a homer in four straight from May 10-16, 2025 ... has scored multiple runs in each of his last four games
- Ethan Hott (1-for-4, R, BB) has reached in seven straight and 13 of his 14 games with an at bat this year
- Cort MacDonald (2-for-2, R, 2B) has reached in six straight games
- JJ Moran (2-for-4, 2 BB) has a hit in 20 of the 24 games this season ... has reached in 10 straight games
- Rintaro Sasaki (3-for-5, 3 R, 2B, HR, BB, 2 RBIs) has hit safely in 13 of his last 16 games, compiling seven multi-hit games over the span, and has reached in 16 straight ... has homered in four of his last seven games ... has scored at least one run in each of his last seven games ... has compiled eight multi-hit games
- Teddy Tokheim (3-for-4, 2 R, 2 HR, 2 BB, 5 RBIs) reached five times on Friday ... recorded his first career multi-homer game ... has hit safely in seven straight games and has homered in three straight ... has multiple hits in four straight and five of his last seven ... owns eight multi-hit games and seven multi-RBI contests this season ... has hit safely in 15 of his 18 games played, has an extra-base hit in 11 of the 18, and has reached in 17 straight contests ... set a new career high in RBIs (5)