Anthony Sosnoskie, who on Monday was named the ACC Baseball Player of the Week, was also named one of 12 national players of the week by RecruitingCloser.com, a Web site that covers college baseball with the objective of educating high school players and parents about the recruiting process.

The junior catcher earned MVP honors at the Courtyard by Marriott Classic in Spartanburg, S.C., last weekend after hitting .643 with three home runs, two doubles, seven runs scored, seven RBIs and six bases on balls. He turned in a slugging percentage of 1.429 and an on-base percentage of .750.

Click here to view the entire list of national players of the week or to learn more about Recruiting Closer.

Former Tech golfer Brendon de Jonge finished in a tie for 10th place at the Northern Trust Open held at The Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., this past weekend. It marked his first top-10 finish of the season and just the third of his career. In 2007, he finished in a tie for ninth at the Mayakoba Golf Classic held in Mexico, and later that season, he came in tied for sixth at the Reno-Tahoe Open held in Reno, Nev. – the best finish of his PGA Tour career.

Last year, he participated exclusively on the Nationwide Tour, where he won a tournament and finished second on the tour’s money list, earning his PGA Tour card for this season.

With his 10th-place finish, de Jonge won $157,500. This season, he’s made four cuts in six tournaments and pocketed more than $225,000.

Virginia Tech senior guard Laura Haskins is featured this week on ACC All Access. The program will air Thursday, Feb. 19, at 6 p.m. on FOX Sports South, FOX Sports Carolinas and FOX Sports Tennessee. The program will be re-broadcast on Friday, Feb. 20, at 9 a.m. on FOX Sports South.

Haskins is currently third in the ACC in assists (4.7), fourth in assist/turnover ratio (1.5) and 12th in steals (2.1). She is fifth on the Tech career assist list (372) and seventh in steals with 170. Haskins, who earned a degree in business management in three years, was recently selected to the 2009 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America District III Women's Basketball University Division team and is eligible for the national team. Additionally, Haskins has been named to the Dean's List and the Athletic Director's Honor Roll every semester and also has been chosen on three occasions to the All-ACC Women's Basketball Academic team and to the ACC Academic Honor Roll. She is currently working on a M.B.A.

The Virginia Tech men’s basketball team will wear a patch bearing the letters “AC” for the remainder of the season in honor of former teammate Allen Calloway, who passed away on Sunday morning at his family’s home in High Point, N.C., at the age of 25.

Calloway, originally from Danville, Va., was diagnosed with alveolar soft part sarcoma, a form of cancer, in late summer of 2005 before the start of his senior season. A tumor on his calf led to the diagnosis and the cancer ultimately spread to his lungs. Because of complications related to both the cancer and the treatment, Calloway only played in two games during the 2005-06 campaign.

He later developed brain tumors and underwent several operations. But in the spring of 2006, he took part in graduation ceremonies and later finished up coursework for his degree.

For his career, he played in 83 games, starting nine, and averaged a little over two points and two rebounds per game. His best two games came during his junior season. He scored nine points in the Hokies’ win over Georgetown in Washington, D.C., and then he scored seven points in 17 minutes in Tech’s win over Rutgers in the Big East tournament that season – the Hokies’ lone win in that league’s tournament.

Virginia Tech freshman wrestler Jarrod Garnett is in the spotlight this week as he is featured on TheACC.com as part of its "Getting to Know" segment. Check out what the nationally ranked 125-pounder like to listen to before a match, find out what instrument he used to play and other interesting tidbits by visiting TheACC.com.

Here are some comments from Tech head coach Seth Greenberg that game from Monday morning’s ACC coaches’ teleconference:

Opening remarks:
“I just don’t think we had the energy or passion or the commitment to doing what you need to do to beat a team as well coached and as competitive as Maryland on the road. We didn’t have a commitment to getting stops. We didn’t compete on offense and they beat us in every facet of the game. That is just what it is in this league. We have to rebound and get ready for a Virginia team that had a magnificent win against an elite Clemson team. In this league, you learn from the past and move on and hopefully we’ll be competitive this Wednesday and have a chance to be successful.”

On what is most challenging about a road game:
“If you’re not at your very best at home, you might be able to get jump-started to get you through some of those moments when you’re struggling. Obviously, you don’t get that on the road. I think that your routine is broken a little bit, and the other team usually feeds off the environment created by the home crowd. That’s what the home team wins more often.”

Is there anything you can do to simulate a road game to help be successful?:
“We don’t pipe in crowd noise or do anything like that. I tell you what it is – get stops. If you get stops, you’re a pretty good road team. If you don’t get stops, if you trade baskets, you’re not going to be a very good road team. If you go on the road with the mindset of getting stops and creating offense out of your defense and having the toughness to finish possessions, you’re going to be a pretty good road team.”

How much of a challenge is [Sylvan] Landesberg [of UVa] going to be?:
“We did a decent job on him the last game [Tech beat UVa 78-75]. I’m sure he’s going to score his points, but you have to make him work for his points. He’s a terrific player. He has a feel for getting to the basket and changing directions and changing speeds. He has a high basketball IQ. He’s developing a middle game, which makes him more difficult to defend. He has a feel. He has what I call a ‘city’ game. He just has that feel.”

What specifically do you guys need to do a better job with on defense?:
“Do you have an hour? I think we’ve got to be more consistent in our ball-screen defense and we need to be better on the basketball. We’ve got to guard the post earlier and we’ve got to finish possessions. There are so many areas where I’d like to see us improve. We’re just not as tough as we need to be at this stage of the season.

“It goes back to if you have one lockdown defender, it really takes a lot of pressure off the rest of the guys. We’re still trying to find that guy consistently. You get him for a game or two, but having a consistent lockdown defender who can take a guy out of the game, we haven’t developed that yet.”

How many players can you use in a rotation before it becomes counterproductive?:
“That’s a good question. I think chemistry is an essential part of basketball. In an ideal world, you want eight. You want a point guard, a wing player and a frontcourt player [as back-ups]. In a perfect world, you want eight and maybe you have a chance to get nine. But you have 13 guys on scholarship, so if you play eight, you’re going to have five guys who are unhappy and that can affect your chemistry.

“But if you can have eight guys who are on the same page, I think that’s a really solid rotation where you can develop a good chemistry.”

The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets honored Tech football player Dustin Pickle on Thursday afternoon for his support of the Corps of Cadets during his playing career. Pickle, a senior from Salem, Va., received a framed photograph from the Corps of Cadets and a standing ovation at the Corp’s recent Leadership Conference.

Pickle, who would salute the Corps of Cadets after every big play, served as a back-up running back and a special teams standout during his career at Tech. His eligibility expired after the Hokies’ victory over Cincinnati in the 2009 Orange Bowl. He rushed for 61 yards in his career and recorded 21 tackles – all on special teams.

The Sports Turf Managers Association recently named Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium/Worsham Field as the Field of the Year winner for its College and University category.

Three members of Tech's groundskeeping crew, Jason Bowers, Andy McReynolds and Emerson Pulliam, were on hand at the STMA convention in Arizona to accept the award.

In 1992, the STMA established the Field of the Year awards to recognize the outstanding fields and commitment to excellence of STMA members. Over the past 15 years, fields from every region of the country have been honored. The STMA Field of the Year Award represents a facility's pinnacle of achievement in the sports turf industry. Visit http://www.stma.org/professionalism/fieldyr/ for more info.

The ACC Office announced Tuesday morning that the 2009 football schedule will be released Thursday at 11 a.m. Fans can check back here at hokiesports.com for Tech's schedule or at TheACC.com entire league composite at that time.

Here are some comments from Seth Greenberg on the ACC men’s basketball teleconference on Monday morning:

Opening statement:
Yesterday’s game [against N.C. State] was, in a lot of ways, a game that defined what our league is all about. Just this weekend in general, whether it’s Miami and Duke or Clemson and Virginia Tech a week ago, or Clemson and Florida State when Florida State was able to come back, or us against N.C. State. I think this league reflects extremely competitive players and competitive coaches and one thing you’ve got to learn is you’ve got to finish. You not only have to play well and play hard, you have to do it for the full 40 minutes because the other team is not going to quit.

“Yesterday was obviously an emotional game and the technical I received was not at the best time and the team did not respond and that could have hurt us. Obviously, I’m sorry and I’m glad it didn’t affect the outcome of the game. I’m proud of the way our team responded. We had good leadership from Malcolm Delaney and we had some toughness out of our frontcourt down the stretch. A.D. Vassallo once again came up and made a big shot.
“Having said that, it doesn’t get any easier. Georgia Tech is an athletic, hard-playing team that is holding its opponents to a terrific defensive field-goal percentage, and they run the floor well. They challenge you at the front of the rim and offensive rebound as well as any.
 
“It’s just another day in the ACC. If you don’t play well and compete hard and aren’t focused on the task at hand, you’re going to get whacked pretty good. We’ve got a tremendous challenge ahead of us this week.”

On what he said to his team when they were down by a large margin:
“You try to paint a picture of how you’re going to get back in the game. I think that’s the most important thing. You’ve got to create a scenario where they see themselves getting back. Obviously getting stops is the key. If you trade baskets, you’re not getting back in the game. Trying to show them and giving them a scenario where they turn 16 to 10 and 10 to 5 with four or five minutes to go is the key.
 
“That’s what we talked about when Hank [Thorns] went down [in the second half]. It was 16 or whatever and I said, ‘We’ll make these two free throws and score a bucket. Two stops and we’ve got it to 10 and we can play it in.’ That’s the biggest thing. To get back in the game, you’ve got to convince your guys and create a scenario and a vision that they realistically can see to get back in the game so that they’ll continue to compete.”

What is it about overtime and this Tech team?:
“It’s not this team because it’s not just this year. We try to embrace overtime. We try to embrace the first 40 minutes and it doesn’t always work either. Getting off to a good start is a key, and getting stops. We never come into an overtime thinking, ‘Oh goodness, we’re going to overtime.’ My philosophy is, ‘Hey this is basketball. This is the greatest sport in the world and we get to play five more minutes. Let’s go out and have some fun.’ That’s the mindset I try to sell them on coming out of that timeout going into the overtime session.”

On Malcolm’s leadership:
“It’s by necessity. A.D. [Vassallo] leads by example in terms of his competitive spirit. He’s not afraid to take and make big shots. But Malcolm brings it all together. He’s got to use those energies to bring it all together in a positive way. He was a very good high school quarterback and he’s used to being in the huddle and being in control. He’s used to looking guys in the eye and saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got to get this done.’ And guys believe him. I think that’s a trait that has developed from his days playing football and it’s a trait that is paying dividends right now.”

On Tech’s post defense and rebounding:
“We’ve got to defend the post earlier. We can’t get pushed underneath. We’ve got to get people off the block. When the ball goes up, you’ve got to fight for position. We’re getting pushed under, and we’ve got to pursue the ball a little more aggressively. There are a lot of things.
 
“But in the second half [against N.C. State], we did a better job of getting them off the block. In the first half, they were catching it so deep, and part of that is [Ben] McCauley. He’s so big and strong and wide. He’s very patient, which is a great trait to have. We decided not to double him because he’s such a good passer. If I had to play them again, I might have to change that. He was so patient getting the ball to the middle of the floor and making plays.”

On playing Georgia Tech:
“They’re a good team and they play extremely hard. Their defensive field-goal percentages are terrific. Teams are shooting 39 percent from the floor and 31 percent from the 3-point line. Mo Miller gives them another dimension. They’ve got depth up front. They’ve played a lot of games where they’ve been in position to win and they just haven’t finished. In that way, they’re reflective of our league.”

Tech head coach Frank Beamer addressed the media this afternoon in regards to the Hokies’ 2009 recruiting class. Here are some snippets from that teleconference:

Opening statement:
“I think they’re really a terrific class. Not just a good class, but a terrific class. I like their athletic ability and I like the character and academics of this class. I think that’s strong. We got some defensive ends and that was important to us. These are all kids who can run. I think overall our class is very good.”

On making the scholarship numbers work:
“We have some people who were not in the program who were here earlier. And some of these guys who signed will come in January. When you say 21, not all 21 will start next fall.”

On who will enroll next January:
“I’m not sure exactly. We’ve got it worked out with each situation as to when we expect you to come in. If we can bring you in before, then we will. I think it’s a few.”

On recruiting in Richmond:
“Richmond always has been an important area for us and is right now. The guys we got out of there, we feel great about that. They come out of good programs and are good players. Jim Cavanaugh recruits that area and is familiar with that area and the coaches there are familiar with him. I think that gives us a good opportunity to get good players out of there.”

On who might play as true freshmen:
“We give them all a shot. I think an offensive lineman could play. The skilled athletes could play. The field-goal situation is open and we’ll see where that goes. I hate to get into names, but our philosophy is if they’re ready to play and we can play them a lot of plays, then I like playing freshmen. I think the enthusiasm and excitement they bring, that’s all good.
“We’re going to put the best players on the field. That’s the deal.”

On whether winning the bowl game helped in recruiting:
“Always winning the bowl game helps. It shows you can win at the highest level. But I don’t know that it turned the tide for us on any particular kid. From a program standpoint and a reputation standpoint and where we’re trying to get to, it helped on all those areas.”

On next year’s class:
“I think we’re ahead. We’ve watched more video and we’re more ahead on next year’s class than we’ve ever been. We think we’ve got a shot at a terrific class next year if things fall into place. Everything is moving up in college football. We’ve got names on the board and we’ve watched a lot of video of kids for next year.”

The Virginia Tech men's basketball team lost two tough ones this past week to Clemson and at Boston College. Here are some of coach Seth Greenberg’s comments following the ACC teleconference on Monday morning:

On his plans for the upcoming week:
“We’re going to take the first two days of the week and work on us. We’ll get a lot of shooting in, work on timing, work on execution and work on technique. We’ve slipped a little on our closeouts and we’ve slipped a little on our blockouts, and we’ve slipped in our ball screen defense. It’ll be very short – maybe an hour or an hour and 15 minutes – because it’s a long week. We need to improve our post defense, especially against N.C. State because they run their offense through [Ben] McCauley.

“I’ve been disappointed in our ball-screen defense the past two games and we’ve got to be tougher in our blockouts. Let’s face it, we’re a blockout away from having a great road win at Boston College.

“Those are the main areas and keeping our guys focused on the present. When you play in the ACC, you’re going to have some hiccups. The only way to deal with it is to stay in the present and not let the hiccup snowball. And it can easily snowball in this conference. Let’s get past it, let’s stay in the present and let’s move forward.”

On Tech’s struggles with N.C. State:
“It’s that damn, red jacket, I’m telling you. I can’t guard that red jacket. Nah, they have good players and teams that have good players are going to give you problems. We’ve had good games with them. The team with McCauley and [Engin] Atsur, the team that Herb [Sendek] left, that was a really good team. They still have McCauley and [Brandon] Costner and Fells, and they play with great spacing. They’re efficient and they get good shots every time.

“We won four in a row against Boston College and lost the other day. What comes around goes around. It’s a new game. The last four don’t have anything to do with the upcoming game. It’s important because it’s the next game and we have a chance to be 5-3 in the league. If someone had told me we’d be 5-3 at the halfway point, I’d take it. That’s pretty good in this league. We’ve got a chance to be plus 1 and that’s why this game is so important.”

On why is it tough to hold on to a lead:
“There is no quit in any team in this conference. The teams are so talented and can get it going. Then you get a little self-doubt. A 3, a turnover and another 3, and all of the sudden, a 12-point lead is a six-point lead. That can happen in a minute. You’ve got good enough players and competitive players that it has happen. This is a talented experienced, mature league that has competitive coaches and players who never give up. Teams find a way to get back in the game.”

On needing another scorer:
“We need a fourth scorer. There’s no doubt about it. The more people we have contributing, the better off we are. We’d love to have someone step up and be more consistent and be that guy. We’d love to have a fourth and fifth scorer. I think we have some guys who can do that. We’ve got to get it consistent. The teams that have a fourth and fifth guy consistently contributing are the teams that have separated themselves.”