Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate: Part II

April 25, 2016

LEADING OFF: STORYLINES TO KNOW

1. Georgia Tech enters Tuesday’s road game at Georgia with an 11-game Peach State road winning streak. Since 2014, Tech is 20-9 against in-state teams.
2. This season, Georgia Tech is 13-1 when it scores in the 1st inning, while the Yellow Jackets are 14-12 when they do not score in the 1st inning. In the month of April, Georgia Tech has scored in the 1st inning only five times in 16 games.
3. Georgia Tech has a 10-6 road record in 2016. The Jackets haven’t finished a season with an above .500 road record since 2011 (15-8).
4. Junior Matthew Gorst is a perfect 10-for-10 in save opportunities this season, recording an ACC-best 10 saves in 2016. Gorst ranks eighth nationally in saves.
5. Georgia Tech leads the ACC with 38 home runs, ranks second in hits (452), second in doubles (93), and third in batting average (.312).
6. While Georgia Tech leads the nation with 58 double plays, it’s been 2B Wade Bailey and SS Connor Justus involved in most of them. Bailey and Justus have combined to turn 34 of Tech’s 58 double plays. Either Bailey or Connor has been involved in 53 of Tech’s 58 double plays.
7. Junior LHP Ben Parr has earned “the vulture” nickname from his teammates after picking up his seventh win of the season Saturday night at Clemson. Six of Parr’s seven wins have come in relief when the Jackets are tied or trailing in the game.
8. Georgia Tech has used 34 different lineups in the first 40 games. Only 2B Wade Bailey and SS Connor Justus have started every game at the same position.
9. Junior SS Connor Justus is enjoying his best season with the White and Gold. Justus leads all Georgia Tech hitters with a .385 average – 136 points higher than his .249 batting clip in 2015.
10. Senior 3B/LF Matt Gonzalez is the NCAA Division I active leader in hits (263) and sacrifice flies (19). He leads UConn’s Bobby Melley (261) by two hits.

A TOUGH ONE TO CRACK
• Sophomore Wade Bailey is toughest Yellow Jacket to strikeout in 2016 as the second baseman strikes out once every 11.0 at bats. In 90 career games, Bailey has struck out only 32 times in 376 at bats.
• Bailey’s career at bat-to-strikeout ratio of 11.8 would rank him eighth all-time in Georgia Tech history, but he currently does not qualify (needs 400 at bats).

HOMEGROWN SUCCESS
• Since 1999, the Yellow Jackets own a 153-55 record against their in-state foes.
• Georgia Tech is 15-4 in its last 19 games against in-state rivals. Georgia Tech is 6-2 against in-state rivals this season.

(PEACH) ROAD WARRIORS
• Georgia Tech enters Tuesday’s road game at Georgia with an 11-game road winning streak in the state of Georgia. Tech went 5-0 in true road games in 2015 at Georgia schools, picking up wins at Georgia Southern, Kennesaw State, Georgia, Georgia State and Mercer.
• The Yellow Jackets’ current streak began with back-to-back road wins at Kennesaw State and Georgia State in 2014.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
• Georgia Tech enters Tuesday with a 10-6 road record. The Yellow Jackets are 6-4 in their last 10 road games. The Jackets haven’t finished a season with an above .500 road record since 2011 (15-8).

HOLY CRA-PORT
• Over his last six games, sophomore 3B Trevor Craport is batting .500, going 13-of-26 with one home run and nine RBI.
• During that stretch, Craport recorded a career-best four hits – not once, but twice. Craport went 4-for-4 with 3 RBI in Tech’s 9-8 loss to Mercer on April 19. Three games later, Craport went 4-for-6 with a home run and 3 RBI in the Jackets’ 16-1 rout at Clemson on April 23.

CONNOR’S CAREER YEAR
• Junior SS Connor Justus is enjoying his best season with the White and Gold. Justus leads all Georgia Tech hitters with a .385 average – 136 points higher than his .249 batting clip in 2015.
• Justus’ 14 doubles, which are a career high, rank second on the team and match his combined doubles total from his first two seasons.
• Through 40 games, Justus has a career-best 60 hits, surpassing his freshman season total (53) which he accumulated in 56 games.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
• This season, Georgia Tech is 13-1 when it scores in the 1st inning, while the Yellow Jackets are 14-12 when they do not score in the 1st inning.
• In the month of April, Georgia Tech has scored in the 1st inning only five times in 16 games. Tech is 5-0 when it scores in the 1st inning in April, while posting a 3-8 mark when it doesn’t.
• The Jackets are scored first in only 18 of 40 games this season, posting a 15-3 mark (7-2 in ACC) in those games. Tech is 12-10 when it does not score first.

THE VULTURE
• Junior LHP Ben Parr has earned “the vulture” nickname from his teammates after picking up his seventh win of the season Saturday night at Clemson. Six of Parr’s seven wins have come in relief when the Jackets are tied or trailing in the game.
• Parr is the sixth different Yellow Jacket pitcher to start the season with a 7-0 record and the first since Mark Pope in 2011.
• Since 2002, a Yellow Jacket pitcher has started the season 7-0 on nine different occasions.

#DOUBLETROUBLE
• While Georgia Tech leads the nation with 58 double plays, it’s been 2B Wade Bailey and SS Connor Justus involved in most of them. Bailey and Justus have combined to turn 34 of Tech’s 58 double plays. Either Bailey or Connor has been involved in 53 of Tech’s 58 double plays.

SHUT THE DOOR
• Junior Matthew Gorst is a perfect 10-for-10 in save opportunities this season, recording an ACC-best 10 saves in 2016. Gorst ranks eighth nationally.
• While he does have one loss on his resume, Gorst (0-1) has struck out 34 batters and allowed only two earned runs in 26.2 innings. Gorst’s 0.68 ERA would rank second nationally and tops in the ACC if he qualified (must have 1 IP / team game).
• Gorst’s streak of 18.2 scoreless innings was snapped in Tech’s 8-7 10-inning loss at Clemson.

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