May 18, 2015
| GT Game Notes • 2015 Media Guide • Season Statistics |
| GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS (32-22) vs. VIRGINIA CAVALIERS (33-19) 2015 ACC Baseball Championship Opening Round • May 19, 2015 • Durham, N.C.• Durham Bulls Athletic Park |
| TV: TV Distribution | ESPN3 | Radio: WREK 91.1 FM Atlanta Listen Live |
| #ACCBase Championship Central | Bracket | Tickets | ACC Fan Fest |
LEADING OFF:
>> Georgia Tech, which has appeared in all 36 ACC Baseball Championships, heads to Durham as the 10th-seed and is looking for its 10th title. The Yellow Jackets are the defending champions and have won two of the last three tournament titles. Tech’s nine titles tie Clemson for the most in conference history.
>> The Jackets open play Tuesday at 11 a.m. versus seventh-seeded Virginia in a single-elimination game. The winner enters Pool B with No. 2 Miami, No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 6 North Carolina State. Tech won two of three from Virginia earlier this season in Atlanta and leads the all-time series 71-50-2. In tournament play, Tech leads UVa 7-4.
>> Tech is 9-3 in its last 12 ACC tournament games and is 77-55 all-time in ACC tournament games, including 9-3 in the title game. The Jackets have played 19 times in Durham and are 7-12 at the DBAP in the postseason.
>> Lefty ace Jonathan King has been strong over his last four starts, allowing seven runs (four earned) in 34.2 innings for a 1.04 ERA in that stretch. He will draw Tuesday’s start versus the Cavaliers. King, who missed much of last season with a shoulder injury and redshirted, is 4-4 with a 3.24 ERA in 14 starts in 2015.
>> Senior A.J. Murray, whose 103 consecutive starts are second only to Matt Gonzalez’s 120, is second in the ACC with 15 homers. For the captain, eight of his 15 homers have come in the last 15 games.
>> Tech is outscoring opponents 80-40 in the eighth inning and beyond this season. That includes a +28 margin in the eighth (50-22), +10 in the ninth (25-15) and +2 (5-3) in extra innings. 18 of Tech’s 32 wins are come-from-behind victories, including five when trailing in the eighth inning and four when trailing in the ninth. Tech is 4-1 in walk-off games, and 3-1 in extra-inning games. Five of Tech’s last seven wins have been comeback victories.
>> Sophomore C Arden Pabst leads the ACC in runners caught stealing (24) and caught-stealing percentage (.436). Pabst is the first Tech catcher since Matt Wieters in 2007 to throw out 20+ runners in a season (22).
>> The Jackets continue to be one of the nation’s best defensive teams, entering the week ranked 14th in double plays (55) and 36th in fielding percentage (.975 — on pace to break school record of .974 set last year). Tech led the nation in double plays last year (school record 77) and its 248 double plays since 2012 are second-most nationally.
>> Tech is 20-4 this season when scoring first; 9-3 in one-run games; 7-10 versus ranked teams. Sophomore RHP Brandon Gold — a national semifinalist for the John Olerud Award — is 5-0 in series rubber-games — all coming in wins over ND, Duke, VT, UVa and Pitt. As a team, the Jackets were 8-1 this season in weekend rubber-games (6-1 in ACC play).
>> Danny Hall is in his 22nd season as Tech’s head coach (28th overall), and his last four seasons on the Flats have resulted in two ACC tournament titles (2012, 2014) and an ACC regular-season crown (2011). Hall is a two-time ACC Coach of the Year and is among the 15 winningest active coaches in college baseball with 1,131 wins.
