THE FLATS – No. 2 Georgia Tech baseball (50-10) ended a record-breaking season on a heartbreaker, falling to Oklahoma, 8-7, in extra innings of the NCAA Atlanta Regional Championship game on Monday afternoon.
Georgia Tech gained a 7-3 lead, scoring seven unanswered runs, but Oklahoma rallied back with five runs over the final four innings for the win.
The Yellow Jackets worked out of a 0-3 deficit as the Sooners plated three in the bottom of the first, but Drew Burress began Tech’s comeback, sending his 60th career home run 418 feet to deep center field, also scoring Carson Kerce who reached on a walk, to setup a 2-3 score in the top of the third.
In front of an electric crowd, Parker Brosius launched his 10th home run since May 8, and fourth of the regional, to tie the game 3-3 to open the fifth. Seconds after Brosius entered the dugout, the Yellow Jackets took their first lead of the game when Caleb Daniel sailed a solo shot to right field, putting Tech in front, 4-3.
Tech added to its lead, plating three in the sixth inning and capitalizing on a timely throwing error from the Sooners. With runners on first and third with one out, Brosius grounded out to first, but Dayton Tockey looked for a double play and threw it into the outfield, scoring Alex Hernandez and moving Kent Schmidt to third on the play. A pair of RBI singles followed from Daniel and Kerce to extend Tech’s lead to 7-3.
The Jackets posted seven unanswered runs behind the arm of Mason Patel who threw five scoreless innings out of the bullpen before Oklahoma got two across in the seventh, setting a 7-5 score entering the eighth. The Sooners made it a one-run game in the eighth, scoring on a fielding error, but Dylan Loy came in with runners on first and second and one out and forced Jason Walk into a line drive to Kerce who turned it into a double play at second to end the inning.
Oklahoma tied the game in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI single, forcing extra innings and took the win on a solo home run from Tockey in the 10th.
A full recap will be posted shortly.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
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