March 27, 2018
THE FLATS — Georgia Tech freshman pitcher Brant Hurter struck out a career-high 10 batters to help lead the Yellow Jackets to their ninth-straight win and a regular season series sweep of the Georgia Southern Eagles with a 3-1 victory at Russ Chandler Stadium on Tuesday night.
The win pushes the Jackets to 14-11 overall on the season, while the loss drops the Eagles to 12-12. Tech is now 3-1 versus its in-state foes in 2018.
Hurter (2-1) was in control from the start, as the 6-foot-6-inch lefty allowed just four hits and struck out 10 batters over a career-high 7.0-scoreless innings to earn his second win of the season.
Out of the bullpen, Hugh Chapman (1.0 IP, ER, 2 hits, 2 BB, K) and Jared Datoc (1.0 IP, BB, K) pitched the final two innings of the game, with Datoc recording his third save on the year. Overall the Jacket pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts and just three walks.
The loss went to the Eagles’ Zach Cowart (1-1), as the righty threw a career-high 6.0 innings, allowing three runs, two of which were earned, on eight hits, two walks and four strikeouts.
At the plate, outfielder Chase Murray (3-for-4, 3B, RBI, run) stayed hot, pushing his ACC lead in hits out to 44, while Luke Waddell (1-for-2, run, SB), Colin Hall (1-for-3), Joey Bart (1-for-4), Tristin English (1-for-4, RBI, run), Kyle McCann (1-for-4) and Wade Bailey (1-for-4, SB) all had one hit apiece in the win.
For Georgia Southern offensively, Mason McWhorter (2-for-4, run) and Steven Curry (2-for-4, 2B) had two hits on the night.
A Waddell single and stolen base, followed two batters later by an RBI single by Murray put the Jackets on top 1-0 in the bottom of the third.
After a Bart single to put runners on first and third, English grounded out to the shortstop to plate Murray and push the Jackets’ lead to 2-0 heading into the fourth inning.
The White and Gold added another run in the sixth as back-to-back singles from English and McCann, as well as heads up base running by both Jackets, put runners on second and third with no outs. Two pitches into Hall’s at bat, a passed ball opened the way for English to scurry home from third and give the Jackets a 3-0 lead.
That is all that Hurter would need, as the freshman starter sent the Eagles down in order 1-2-3 in the first, second and third innings, and did not allow a runner on base until a base hit in the fourth in which he stranded the player on second to keep the visitors off the scoreboard.
Hurter then pitched a 1-2-3 fifth and faced only three batters again in the sixth, as Bart threw out a runner trying to advance to second on a ball in the dirt, before pitching around two singles in the seventh by striking out the final two batters in the frame.
With a 3-0 lead, Chapman got out of a bases loaded jam in the eighth with some help from Austin Wilhite deep in the hole at shortstop, while in the ninth Datoc got a huge 4-3 double play with the bases loaded to hold the Eagles to just one run and preserve the 3-1 home win.
The Eagles stranded seven runners on base, while Tech left six Jackets on the base paths.
The Yellow Jackets (14-11, 3-6 ACC) will host Miami (12-11, 6-3 ACC) in ACC play this weekend Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Russ Chandler Stadium.
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Chase Murray had three hits on the night, including a triple, and then caught up with Wiley Ballard postgame. #TogetherWeSwarm pic.twitter.com/jAN0xbAqWM
— GeorgiaTech Baseball (@GTBaseball) March 28, 2018
