First-year starting pitcher Drue Hackenberg was named both 2022 VaSID Launcher of the Year and VaSID Rookie of the Year, joining Virginia’s Danny Hultzen (2009) as the only student-athletes in the state to claim both accolades since the awards’ inception in 2006.
John Szefc headlined Tuesday’s presentation as the 2022 VaSID Coach of the Year after leading Tech to its first ACC Coastal Division title, first NCAA Regional Championship and first appearance in the great NCAA region. Szefc becomes the third Hokies head coach to bear that name since 1992, following in the footsteps of multi-year winner Chuck Hartman (1992, 1993, 1997) and Pete Hughes (2010).
Virginia Tech celebrated six VaSID All-State 2022 first-team selections, doubling Virginia’s first-team appearances (three) and tripling Liberty and Old Dominion’s (two each). Among those Hokies winners was third-year catcher cade huntersecond shortstop Tanner Schobelthird-year outfielder Gavin Croixsecond outfielder Jack Hurleyfirst-year starting pitcher Drue Hackenberg and fourth-year junior reliever Jonas Hurney.
Freshman third baseman Carson De Martini completed Tech’s star-studded awards class, placing in the 2022 VaSID All-State Second Team.
Virginia’s all-state teams and major winners are voted on and chosen by the state’s Assembly of Sports Information Directors (VaSID); the varsity class is open only to NCAA Division I student-athletes.
Tech’s four players in the 2022 VaSID All-State first team were mapped directly to the Hokies’ top four RBI generators in Schobel (74), Hunter (66), Hurley (55) and Cross (50). Together, the Blacksburg quartet combined to produce more than half of Tech’s season home run production (53%, 67 of 126), led by Schobel (19 homers).
Hackenberg (10-2, 3.30 ERA) made 16 starts for the Hokies, leading the ACC in regular season ERA (2.44) while leading Tech’s staff with 87 strikeouts of his 92 and two-thirds innings pitched. Hurney (6-1, 2.70 ERA) held opposing hitters to a .211 batting average in his 25 relief outings, recording 54 strikeouts in 43 and one-third of innings pitched in addition to saving the win of the Hokies on March 8 against East Carolina.
DeMartini posted the fourth-highest batting average (.341) and third-highest OPS (1.111) on the Tech roster, starting 58 of his 59 rookie appearances at third base.
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The Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) annually nominate 44 all-state teams in 23 sports, as well as an all-state academy team and an all-sport champion in the college and college divisions. VaSID membership is open to all media relations professionals working at a university or conference in the state of Virginia.
