$2 TUESDAY: @GTBaseball Hosts Mercer

April 7, 2015

>> A pair of 20-win teams square off Tuesday night at Russ Chandler Stadium when Georgia Tech hosts Mercer in the first of two meetings between in-state rivals. Live video of the game is available on RamblinWreck.com and the game can be heard live on WREK 91.1 FM in Atlanta and via WREK on the TuneIn app.

>> Tuesday marks the 161st all-time meeting in the all-time series, which favors the Yellow Jackets 106-54. Mercer, though, has won three straight and six of the last eight meetings, including taking both games last season. Tech is 5-0 this season versus in-state opponents, while Mercer is 3-2 with a pair of wins over Georgia.

>> Tech leads the ACC in fielding percentage (.978, 16th NCAA) and is fourth in double plays (30, 27th NCAA). Last season, the Jackets led the NCAA with 77 double plays and set school records for fielding (.973) and double plays. Since 2012, Tech has fielded .973 as a team and recorded the NCAA’s second-most double plays (223).

>> Senior CF Daniel Spingola has reached base safely in 23 straight games, which extends a career-high. He was a team-best 10-for-20 (.500) last week with two doubles, a triple, eight RBI, five walks, two hit-by-pitches and six runs. His .750 slugging percentage and .630 on-base percentage were team-highs last week as the Jackets went 4-1 in five road games. Spingola is hitting .381 against the ACC and a team-best .383 (23-for-60) in road games.

>> Tech is outscoring opponents 57-14 over the final two innings plus extras. That includes a +29 margin in the eighth (34-5), +13 in the ninth (20-7) and +1 (3-2) in extra innings. 11 of Tech’s 21 win are come-from-behind victories, including four when trailing in the eighth inning.

>> The Jackets have benefited from strong late-game work from sophomore right-handers Zac Ryan and Matthew Gorst. Ryan is already 5-1 with five saves and a team-leading ERA of 2.05. Gorst’s ERA has dropped to 3.70 thanks to six consecutive scoreless appearances. Last week, Gorst earned the win in relief at Virginia Tech on Friday and came back Sunday to match his career-high of 3.1 innings and set a career-high with six strikeouts to earn the save as Tech clinched the series with a 7-6 victory.

>> Of Tech’s 287.2 innings pitched this season, 82 percent have come from freshmen or sophomores (234 innings), which is the highest percentage of any team in the nation.

>> Freshman 2B Wade Bailey extended his hitting streak to career-best 11 games by going 2-for-4 Sunday with his first career home run. The rookie, who has struck out just nine times in 119 at-bats this season (one in every 13.2 at-bats), also owns a team-best 10-game hitting streak in ACC games. Arden Pabst owns a career-best seven-game hitting streak.

>> Tech is 5-4 in nine games without rookie slugger Kel Johnson, who suffered an ankle injury on March 21 versus North Carolina. Johnson was hitting .379 with seven home runs and 25 RBI.