Feb. 25, 2017
THE FLATS – No. 17 Georgia Tech scored five runs in the first and never looked back en route to a 14-6 home win over the Youngstown State Penguins on Saturday afternoon inside Russ Chandler Stadium. With the win, Tech improves to 6-0 on the young season.
The Jackets, who have totaled 29 runs over the two games versus YSU, had seven different players register two hits or more for the game, highlighted by Joey Bart going 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.
The first five hitters in the Tech lineup – Wade Bailey (2-for-5, double, triple, 3 runs, RBI), Trevor Craport (2-for-3, BB, 2 runs, RBI), Bart, Kel Johnson (2-for-6, 1 run, 2 RBIs) and Coleman Poje (2-for-5, double, BB, 1 run) went a combined 11-for-23 at the plate on the day.
Junior Jared Datoc (2-0) picked up his second win of the season and career on Saturday in a relief roll, as the righty went 1.0 innings, striking out two and walking one after spelling start Jonathan Hughes in the fourth. Hughes allowed one run on two hits and walked two over the first 3.0 innings of the contest.
Youngstown at the plate was led by Lou Cardona, who was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, an RBI and a run scored, while Shane Willoughby was 1-for-4 with a two-run home run.
After plating eight runs in the first inning on Friday against the Penguins, the Jackets pushed across five more in the bottom of the first on Saturday to swarm out to an early lead.
Johnson put the Jackets on the scoreboard in the first inning, as he ripped a two-out RBI single to left to score Craport from second to put the home team up early at 1-0. Poje followed with a double, while freshman Chase Murray singled to left field to plate both Johnson and Poje to push the Jackets’ lead out to 3-0.
After Murray swiped second, outfielder Ryan Peurifoy tripled to left center field to drive in Murray to add to the home team’s early lead. Fellow senior Keenan Innis then doubled off the wall in right center field to drive in Peurifoy to put the team in gold in front at 5-0 after just one inning complete.
The Penguins got one run back in the top of the third on a hit batsman and an RBI double by Lorenzo Arcuri, only to see Tech answer with a run in the fourth on a wild pitch and then add three more in the fifth on a Peurifoy single, an Innis walk, a Parker McCoy sac bunt, a Bailey sacrifice fly, a YSU fielding error, a single from Bart and another RBI single from Johnson to put the home team on top at 9-1.
Refusing to go away, Youngstown State took advantage of a Tech fielding miscue and four hits to push across five runs in the top of the sixth on an RBI double from Cardona, an RBI single by Nico Padovan, an RBI fielder’s choice and a two-run home run by Willoughby to trim the Georgia Tech lead to just three at 9-6 with three innings to play.
Tech answered the big inning from the Penguins with a four spot of its own in the bottom half of the sixth. Peurifoy started the run by reaching on a throwing error by the third baseman and advanced to second. Innis then singled to center to score Peurifoy before stealing second. Pinch hitter Kyle McCann then crushed a home run over the right field wall to score two and put the Jackets up 12-6.
The inning continued, as Bailey tripled to left and later scored on a sac fly by Craport to extend the Tech lead to seven at 13-6.
The top of the order would strike again in the bottom of the eighth, as Bailey doubled to center and then advanced to third on a single by Craport. Bart followed with an RBI single of his own to put the Jackets in front at 14-6.
Despite the five-run sixth, in which only one run was earned, the Jackets’ bullpen of Datoc (1.0, 1 BB, 2 K’s), Jay Shadday (2.0, 5 hits, 1 ER, 2 K’s), Micah Carpenter (2.0, 1 hit, 1 BB, 1 K) and Andy Archer (1.0, 1 BB, 1 K) were solid over the final six innings of play in the win.
The Jackets (6-0) will wrap up the three-game weekend series with the Penguins (0-5) tomorrow afternoon with first pitch set for at 1 p.m. ET at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Tech Tidbits
* Tech improves to 6-0 overall on the season.
* The Jackets are now 5-0 all-time versus Youngstown State.
* Georgia Tech is 5-0 at home this season.
* The Yellow Jackets have yet to trail this year and have been tied with their opponent a total of just four innings over their first six games.
* Tech has now outscored their opponents 39-1 over the first three innings thus far this season.
* The Yellow Jackets have totaled 18 runs in the first inning over the last three game (5 at Georgia Southern, Feb. 21; 8 vs. YSU, Feb. 24; 5 vs. YSU, today).
* Wade Bailey recorded his first career triple in the win on Saturday.
* Parker McCoy made his first career start as a Yellow Jacket on Saturday.
* Andy Archer made his GT debut on the mound in the ninth.
Junior lead off hitter Wade Bailey post game after the Jackets’ 14-6 win over YSU on Saturday. #TogetherWeSwarm pic.twitter.com/gCFiZMj9b3
— GeorgiaTech Baseball (@GTBaseball) February 25, 2017
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