The Shadow
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Standing out among the conference’s elite on the baseball diamond during the 2026 season, Virginia Tech junior pitcher Brett Renfrow and freshman infielder Ethan Ball have earned year-end, all-conference honors from the ACC, as announced during Monday’s postseason awards presentation.
Renfrow garnered all-conference praise for the third consecutive season, placing onto the 2026 All-ACC Second Team – his highest career ACC accolade to date following successive appearances on the league’s Third Team (2024, 2025). Ball debuted in the conference’s award class on the 2026 ACC All-Freshman Team, ironically marking the Hokies’ first such selection since Renfrow’s rookie season in 2024.
One of the league’s more formidable starting arms, Renfrow pitched to a 5-2 record and a 4.60 ERA inside his 10 ACC starts where he racked up 69 of his 86 cumulative strikeouts spanning 69 and two-thirds innings pitched (14 overall starts). Considered among the best strike throwers to ever toe the rubber for Virginia Tech, the right-hander registered eight or more strikeouts five times against the ACC, highlighted by his masterful, 12-strikeout performance (career high) during the Hokies’ March 28 win against Stanford.
Locking in down the stretch, Renfrow won each of his final four ACC outings – all against top-60 NCAA
Division I Baseball RPI opponents – during which he sported a 1.53 ERA with a 0.89 WHIP and a .179 opposing batting average. On three of those occasions, he carried a shutout into the seventh inning, blanking NC State through eight innings on April 28 to take home ACC Pitcher of the Week and three more national honors from leading collegiate baseball publications.
Hammering 31 extra-base hits as a rookie, Ball crafted a .304 batting average and a 1.010 OPS during his freshman campaign, producing team-best tallies in doubles (17), home runs (13) and RBIs (47). One of two Virginia Tech position players to start all 30 games against the ACC (Sam Grube), the first-year second baseman chalked nine doubles, a triple and eight home runs against conference competition, reaching base during all but four league contests.
Beginning the season red hot, Ball launched his collegiate career with a 10-game hitting streak and a 21-game on-base streak, delivering key swings along the way like his walk-off home run during the 10th inning against Rutgers on Feb. 21. From the left side of the plate, he posted 17 multi-hit games and 14 multi-RBI games, rounding out the regular season with a .607 slugging percentage, a .403 on-base percentage and a .994 fielding percentage.
Ball and Renfrow will co-lead Virginia Tech into the 2026 ACC Baseball Championship this week at Truist Field in Charlotte, North Carolina. As the No. 7 seed, the Hokies will open tournament play on Wednesday, May 20, at 5 p.m. ET during the second round against the winner between 10th-seeded Notre Dame and 15th-seeded Clemson.
