Virginia Tech is out of the sweepstakes for standout quarterback recruit Phillip Sims. The Oscar Smith (Chesapeake) signal-caller orally committed to Alabama on Wednesday while visiting the school’s Tuscaloosa campus.

Sims, who stands somewhere between 6-1 and 6-2 and weighs 210-215 pounds, depending on which recruiting Web site you believe, was one of the Hokies’ top targets for 2010. He was considered the fourth-best QB prospect, according to Scout.com, and Rivals had him ranked No. 52 overall.

He threw for more than 2,500 yards and 30 touchdowns last year (again, these numbers are hard to verify because of the different information you get from recruiting sites) in leading OSHS to a state championship.

A couple of other Virginia Tech items to chew on …
**Hokies senior basketball player A.D. Vassallo, who played at Faith Christian Academy in Hurt, was included on the all-tournament team down at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament last week. He averaged 14 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and shot 48.6 percent in three games at the tournament, which draws scouts from every NBA team.

**Leave your video cameras at home for Saturday’s open football scrimmage. Apparently a fan taped last Friday’s scrimmage and posted the video online. From comments posted on his own Web site, coach Frank Beamer was very upset by this. He doesn’t want his team’s secrets getting into the hands of opposing teams. Saturday’s scrimmage kicks off at 11 a.m. The spring game is scheduled for next Saturday at 2 p.m.

**After Wednesday’s 22-13 win at High Point, Tech’s baseball team is 22-12 with 19 regular-season games left. Two more wins will give the Hokies their highest win total since joining the ACC in 2005. They already have seven conference victories, which matches the high set by the 2005 and 2008 teams.

Here were Tech’s records in the previous three seasons …
2005: 23-28 (7-19 ACC)
2006: 20-33 (4-25 ACC)
2007: 23-31 (7-23 ACC)
2008: 23-32 (6-24 ACC)