BLACKSBURG -- Mike Pohle was a Philadelphia Phillies fan. When he first met ardent New York Yankees fan and fellow Virginia Tech student Marcy Crevonis, they bickered about baseball.
Pohle was one of the 32 victims killed in the April 16 shootings.
Crevonis, who was his fiancee, was among the excited fans at English Field Tuesday when the Yankees played the Hokies in an exhibition that was arranged in the wake of the shootings.
But first, she went to the campus memorial, and waited with about 100 other fans for the Yankees to come by to pay their respects.
"I want to see them go by Mike's stone," said Crevonis, a sophomore from McLean, Va..
She placed a Derek Jeter jersey next to Pohle's stone. Pohle, who was from New Jersey, liked the Yankees' star shortstop even though Pohle was a Phillies fan.
Crevonis not only wore a Yankee hat but also a T-shirt she made. It had Pohle's name and "New York Yankees in Blacksburg" on the front. Pohle's photo was on the back, along with the date he was killed.
When Jeter stopped near Pohle's stone, she got him to take a photo with her. She also got Jeter, third baseman Alex Rodriguez and a few other Yankees to sign the back of her T-shirt.
It was the greatest moment in her life, she said later.
After the Yankees left the memorial, Crevonis picked up her Jeter jersey, and kissed Pohle's stone.
"It means the world to me that they took the time out of their busy days to come to Tech," she said. "I love the Yankees, but if I could trade the Yankees' not coming for Mike, obviously I would do that.
"So it's a bittersweet day. But it's a good day. The Yankees are here."
The Yankees won the seven-inning game 11-0 in front of 5,311 fans and almost 100 media members, including those from ESPN and CNN.
"Arguably this is the most important game I've played in my Yankee career because it makes you realize all the important things about life," said Rodriguez, who spent part of the game in the Virginia Tech dugout autographing baseballs. "To come here to Virginia Tech and kind of unite with them for one day is very important.
"This is probably the proudest day I've ever been to wear a Yankee uniform."
Yankees manager Joe Girardi said visiting the memorial "brought tears to my eyes." He was moved even more during the game when, as he briefly went up in the stands to sit next to Tech football coach Frank Beamer, the sister of someone who was killed in the shootings thanked him for coming.
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