May 28, 2014

Baseball Opens NCAAs Friday With Washington

May 28, 2014

NCAA OXFORD REGION CENTRAL

#LEADOFF
>> No. 25 Georgia Tech, which has appeared in seven consecutive NCAA tournaments, in 28 of the last 30, and 30 all-time, begins play in the Oxford Regional Friday versus No. 14 Washington.

>> The ACC Champion Yellow Jackets, whose nine ACC tournament titles are tied for the most in league history, are the 3-seed in the regional that also includes 1-seed Ole Miss and 4-seed Jacksonville State. The winner of the double-elimination regional advances to play the UL-Lafayette Regional winner next week.

>> The Jackets are 68-59 (.535) all time in NCAA play, which includes a 4-5 record in three College World Series appearances (1994, 2002, 2006). Tech has played in the Regional championship game in each of its last nine postseason appearances.

>> In the last 30 years, only two teams have more NCAA appearances than Georgia Tech’s 28. Both Miami and Florida State have qualified for all 30 NCAA tournaments in that span.

>> Behind one of the ACC’s best middle infield duos of 2B Mott Hyde and SS Connor Justus, Tech leads the NCAA with a school record 73 double plays. The Jackets played error-free in all five games of the ACC tournament.

>> Tech is one of the youngest teams in the nation, having started as many as six true freshman position players this season. Four true freshman have started in at least half the team’s games — only three other schools in the NCAA have more. Tech’s rookie class was ranked No. 9 by Perfect Game.

>> Season-ending injuries to No. 1 and No. 2 starting pitchers Jonathan King and Cole Pitts on the opening weekend of ACC play, and the departure of two key relievers, forced the Jackets to completely re-shuffle the rotation — yet Tech’s team ERA of 3.26 is more than a run better than 2013.

>> Tech’s nine extra-inning games are the most in 21 seasons under Danny Hall and tied for the most in school history (1986). Of Tech’s 61 games, 29 have been decided by two runs or less (13-16).

>> Tech’s RPI sits at No. 32 against the 10th-toughest schedule nationally (toughest of ACC teams). The Jackets own 11 wins against the RPI top 50 (11-10) and won series over Miami, Florida State, North Carolina, Georgia and Duke.

>> Tech is 16-2 when hitting a home run and 32-0 when leading after 8 innings.

>> Tech has fielded .980 over its last 44 games since committing a season-worst five errors against Miami on March 14 — a 10-8 loss — that dropped the team fielding percentage to .957 (last in ACC).

>> Mott Hyde is the NCAA’s active leader in games played (249) and starts (249). He’s the veteran of a starting infield with rookies Connor Justus and Brandon Gold and junior Thomas Smith that have committed just seven errors combined over the last 28 games.

>> Including tournament MVP Dusty Isaacs, the Jackets had three players named to the ACC All-Championship team: Mott Hyde (2B) and Daniel Spingola (OF).

>> Spingola hit a team-best .389 (7-for-18) in Greensboro, and for the month of May, Spingola is on a tear: .382 (26-for-68) and slugging .559 with three doubles, three triples, a home run and 10 RBI.

>> Sophomore LHP Sam Clay owns a 1.33 ERA this year, which ranks second on Tech’s single-season list — he, along with Dusty Isaacs (1.81) and Devin Stanton (2.27) could each finish the year among the 20 best ERAs in a season at Tech.

>> Tech went 3-2 in last year’s Nashville Regional, taking national No. 2-seed Vanderbilt to a winner-take-all game. RHP Josh Heddinger turned in one of the Jackets’ all-time great NCAA pitching performances, twirling a complete-game, two-hit shutout of the Commodores to force the Monday game.

>> Tech played in front of the largest crowd in college baseball this season — 21,310 at Turner Field during a 2-0 win over Georgia. Tech and UGA have played annually at Turner Field for 12 years, and the crowd has averaged 19,000+.