Feb. 21, 2015
TECH STARTERS: Spingola/CF, Smith/1B, Johnson/DH, Murray/C, Gonzalez/LF, Justus/SS, Innis/RF, Gold/3B, Bailey/2B, Parr/SP.
COASTAL STARTERS: Paez/SS, Marks/LF, Remillard/3B, Owings/2B, Schroeder/C, Young/DH, Parrett/RF, Chadwick/1B, Ewing/CF, Cunningham/SP.
THE BASICS:
• Coastal Carolina scored all seven of its runs in the fifth inning and hung on to defeat Georgia Tech, 7-5, Saturday afternoon at the Caravelle Resort’s Baseball at the Beach in Conway, S.C.
• The Yellow Jackets led 2-0 in the fifth and got two back in the sixth and one in the seventh but could get no closer.
• Tech slipped to 4-2, while the host Chanticleers improved to 3-2.
• Tech played both games on Saturday in a persistent light rain with temperatures barely making it out of the 40s.
• Georgia Tech entered the game ranked 28th in the Collegiate Baseball Top 30, having defeated Baseball America’s 23rd-ranked team, FIU, 16-9 earlier in the day.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
• Freshman Kel Johnson has had at least one extra-base hit in the first six games of his rookie season. He finished the nightcap 2-for-4 with two RBI and a solo homer in the first inning.
• Johnson leads the Yellow Jackets in hits (12), RBI (12), doubles (four) and home runs (four).
• Daniel Spingola and Thomas Smith each had two of Tech’s eight hits.
• Connor Justus drew a bases-loaded walk in the sixth to make it 7-3 and Brandon Gold’s RBI infield single made it 7-4, but Tech left the bases loaded.
• In the seventh, Johnson’s RBI groundout pulled the Jackets within 7-5, but Coastal dodged trouble again by leaving two more Jackets in scoring position.
• Sophomore lefty Ben Parr pitched four shutout innings before encountering trouble in the fifth. He walked six in 4.1 innings, allowing six runs (five earned) and was dealt the loss (1-1).
• Matthew Gorst fanned three in 2.2 innings of relief as Tech tried to rally.
• Casey Schroeder hit a three-run homer and Tyler Chadwick hit a two-run shot to key the Chanticleers’ seven-run fifth inning.
• CCU starter Alex Cunningham picked up the win (2-0) while Mike Morrison retired the last eight Jackets he faced in order to nail down his second save.
QUOTEABLE:
• “It was a tough day (weather-wise) and we’ve been in it all day. It made it maybe a little difficult to pitch, but it really made it hard on ground balls. We made a few uncharacteristic errors and they ended up costing us. It wasn’t great baseball weather by any stretch. We battled, but we’re really making it too easy for teams to score right now. Give Coastal credit. Schroeder had a big home run. That seven-run inning is hard to overcome.” — head coach Danny Hall
UP NEXT:
The Yellow Jackets will finish play in the Baseball at the Beach on Sunday morning versus Albany at 10 a.m. The Great Danes defeated NC State, 9-6, earlier Saturday and were set to play Coastal Carolina on Saturday night.
