May 11, 2017

Baseball Heads to Durham for Final ACC Road Series

May 11, 2017

**** First pitch for Friday, May 12, has been moved up to 4 p.m. ET ****

GT Game Notes | Duke Game Notes | 2017 GT Baseball Information Guide

THE FLATS – With the 2017 regular season winding down the Yellow Jackets (24-22, 9-15 ACC) will hit the road for its final ACC road series this weekend at Duke (24-24, 9-15 ACC) in a pivotal conference match up. The three-game series will take place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 12-14, at Jack Coombs Field in Durham, N.C.

FOLLOW THE ACTION LIVE

• All three ACC games will be video streamed live on the ACC Network Extra and the WatchESPN App.

• Live stats can be found for all three games at GoDuke.com. A link to live stats can also be found on the baseball schedule page at RamblinWreck.com or at the top of this page.

• Wiley Ballard will also broadcast all three games live over the radio air waves on WREK 91.1 FM and online at WREK.org.

THINGS FANS NEED TO KNOW

• The Jackets regular season finale on Saturday, May 20, at home versus Virginia has been moved up to 12:30 p.m. It will be Senior Day for the Jackets.

LEADING OFF

• Georgia Tech is coming off a historic day on Tuesday night in which the Jackets played the program’s first-ever game at SunTrust Park, the new home of the Atlanta Braves. The Jackets and Georgia Bulldogs played in front of 23,737 fans, a record crowd for the game which had been played at Turner Field since 2003.

• The Jackets will be just the second team this season to play an ACC series at Duke on campus at Jack Coombs Field in Durham, N.C. The Boston College Eagles took two of three games from the Blue Devils in a three-game conference series on April 14-16.

• The Jackets have already posted three wins for the month of May. Tech is 3-1 in the month of May thus far with all three wins coming in ACC play.

• Georgia Tech enters the road weekend series at Duke having won four straight ACC contests. The Jackets took the third and final game of the Virginia Tech series back on April 22 in Blacksburg, Va. and then swept Pittsburgh in three games last week, May 6-8, at home inside Russ Chandler Stadium.

• Tech has had five multi-home run games by a single player so far this season. Kel Johnson hit three home runs at Georgia Southern on Feb. 21, while Joey Bart hit two home runs in a single game versus Belmont on Mar. 4 and again at Mercer on Mar. 28. Coleman Poje blasted two home runs at Wake Forest on Mar. 24, while Wade Bailey hit two home runs in the Jackets’ win at VT on April 22.

• Both teams are averaging 6.3 runs per game this season. The Jackets have pushed across 292 runs over 46 games this year, while Duke has scored 301 runs in 48 contests this season.

• Georgia Tech has just seven games remaining in the regular season slate with three games this weekend at Duke and four games next week at home against Georgia Southern (May 16) and a three-game ACC series against Virginia (May 18-20).

• After dropping seven straight games in April, the Jackets have won eight of their last 12 games since defeating Mercer 8-5 back on April 18. Tech has also posted wins over Georgia State (April 19), Virginia Tech (April 21 & 22), UIC (April 28) and Pittsburgh (May 6, 7 & 8).

• Going into the ninth with a lead, the Yellow Jackets are 21-1 this season. On the flip side, Tech is just 1-19 when trailing after eight innings of play, but are 2-2 in games tied going into the final frame.

• The Jackets are a perfect 3-0 this season when the contest goes 10 innings or more. In fact, all three of Tech’s extra-inning wins have come in ACC play (7-5 (11) at Miami on Mar. 11, 4-2 (12) vs. No. 9 North Carolina on Mar. 18 and 7-6 (11) at Wake Forest on Mar. 24).

OVERALL VERSUS THE DEVILS

• Georgia Tech has dominated the Devils in the two teams’ overall history, as the Jackets lead the all-time series 91-35.

• However, the Jackets enter play this weekend on a two-game losing streak to Duke, as the Blue Devils won each of the last two games of the three-game series last year at Russ Chandler Stadium.

• The Jackets have won 14 of the last 22 meetings between the two teams dating back to 2010.

• Tech is 32-16 all-time against Duke in Durham, N.C. and took two of three from the Blue Devils in their last visit back in 2015.

A LOT ON THE LINE FOR THE JACKETS

• There is a lot on the line for the Jackets this weekend, as Georgia Tech is looking to climb up the ACC regular season standings with just six conference games remaining in the season.

• The Yellow Jackets are tied with the Blue Devils for 10th overall in the ACC regular season rankings at 9-15.

• The Jackets are also just two games 2.5 games behind Florida State (7th) and 2.0 games behind NC State (8th).

SWARMING BACK

• Georgia Tech has bounced back well since dropping a season-high seven straight games from April 7-15.

• Since the losing streak, the Jackets have gone 8-4 over its last 12 games.

• Tech, who did not hit a single home run in the seven-game skid, has blasted 15 home runs over its last 12 games.

• Since snapping the streak on April 18 versus Mercer, the Yellow Jackets have hit .284 with 15 home runs, four triples, 29 doubles, 64 RBIs and 70 runs scored.

• The pitching has stepped up as well, as the staff has posted a 3.88 ERA over 106.2 innings, recording 82 strikeouts to only 35 walks.

FINAL ROAD SERIES

• This weekend will be the final true road series for the Jackets this season.

• The Jackets are 9-10 overall on the road this season, but have won four of their last five road contests.

• In ACC play, the Jackets are 4-8 in conference road bouts with two wins at Virginia Tech (April 21 & 22), and won win apiece at both Miami (March 11) and Wake Forest (March 24).

ROLLER COASTER OF A RIDE THIS SEASON

• The Jackets have had a roller coaster ride of a season thus far this year.

• First 15 games (11-4)

* Offense: .323 avg., 27 HR, 3 3B, 40 2B, 179 total hits, 119 RBIs, 129 runs, 8.6 runs per game

* Pitching: 5.13 ERA, 89 runs, 77 ER, 135 hits, 73 BB, 124 K

• Next 19 games (5-14)

* Offense: .255 avg., 19 HR, 0 3B, 35 2B, 171 total hits, 84 RBIs, 93 runs, 4.9 runs per game

* Pitching: 5.77 ERA, 129 runs, 109 ER, 186 hits, 110 BB, 134 K

• Last 12 games (8-4)

* Offense: .284 avg., 15 HR, 4 3B, 29 2B, 117 total hits, 64 RBIs, 70 runs, 5.8 runs per game

* Pitching: 3.88 ERA, 48 runs, 46 ER, 96 hits, 35 BB, 82 K

YOUTH VS. EXPERIENCE

• In ACC play this season, the Jackets have been out numbered in terms of years of experience by their opponents when it comes to starting pitching.

• In 22 of Tech’s 24 ACC games this season, the Jackets have started an underclassmen on the mound in freshman Xzavion Curry (7 starts), freshman Jay Shadday (5 starts), redshirt-freshman Jonathan Hughes (3 starts), sophomore Jake Lee (3 starts) and sophomore Keyton Gibson (2 starts). Redshirt-junior Ben Schniederjans is the lone upperclassman to make a start (2 starts) for the Jackets this season in ACC play.

• On the flip side, the Jackets’ conference opponents thus far in Miami, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Clemson, Notre Dame, Louisville, Virginia Tech and Pitt have combined to start 21 upperclassmen against Tech in the 24 conference games.

ON DECK

• The Yellow Jackets will return home for a four-game homestand to close out the 2017 regular season. The Jackets will host Georgia Southern on Tuesday night (6 p.m.) in non-conference play, before welcoming Virginia to Russ Chandler Stadium on Friday-Sunday, May 18-20.

For the latest information on the Georgia Tech baseball team, follow us on Twitter (@GTBaseball), Facebook, Instagram (@gt_baseball ) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com.