April 13, 2017
THE FLATS – Georgia Tech held the No. 2 Louisville Cardinals to just three runs over the nine inning ACC contest, but couldn’t get the bats going in a 3-0 loss on Thursday night at Russ Chandler Stadium.
The loss drops Georgia Tech to 16-16 overall on the season and 4-12 in ACC play. The Cardinals move to 29-4 overall and 13-3 in league play with the road win.
Senior Ryan Peurifoy was robbed of a home run in the fifth inning, which was the theme for the night for the Jackets whose only hit was a single in the fourth by Coleman Poje (1-for-3).
Tech had four base runners in the game, one in the third, two in the fourth and another in the ninth, yet couldn’t get that key hit to get a run across the plate.
Louisville lefty Brendan McKay (5-2), who was named to the 2017 Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List earlier this week, picked up the win as the starter pitched 8.0 scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked two and struck out eight, but also had some help from the defense with a home run saving catch in center field in the fifth and a one-handed grab by the shortstop on a tricky ground ball in the ninth.
Reliever Lincoln Henzman (10) earned the save pitching around a walk in the ninth.
Tech’s Jake Lee had a strong outing out of the bullpen, as he entered the game for starter Ben Schniederjans (0-2) to start the top of the fourth and pitched the final 6.0 innings. Lee surrendered one run on six hits, one walk and three strikeouts.
Schniederjans and the Jackets pitched around an error, a walk and a single in the first, as Poje threw out a runner trying to score from third on a fly ball to right field for out number three.
After a clean second inning by Tech, the Cardinals took advantage of a throwing error and a wild pitch by the Jackets in the third to get on the scoreboard.
Louisville led off the inning with a single to left field. Following a pop out to the catcher for the first out, the next Cardinals’ hitter laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runner up to second. On the play, the throw flew offline and allowed the hitter to reach base safely and the runner on first to advance up to third.
The next hitter singled to right field to score the runner from third and put the visitors up 1-0, while the runner from first moved up to third on the hit. A wild pitch allowed the runner from third to score moments later to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.
Tech tried to get a run back in the bottom half of the third, as Austin Wilhite drew a lead-off walked, advanced to second on a Chase Murray sac bunt and then moved up to third on a ground out to first. However, McKay got the next GT hitter to hit a pop out to first in foul territory to end the inning and strand Wilhite at third.
In its next at bat, Georgia Tech’s Kel Johnson worked a two-out walk and then moved up to second on Poje’s single to center to put two on. Yet again, McKay was able to get out of trouble with a foul ball to keep the Jackets off the scoreboard.
Louisville added an insurance run in the top of the fifth by way of three straight singles to push its lead out to 3-0.
That would be enough for McKay and the Cardinals who held on for the 3-0 road win.
The Jackets (16-16, 4-12 ACC) will look to even up the series versus No. 2 Louisville Cardinals (29-4, 13-3 ACC) tomorrow night. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m. ET.
Tech Tidbits
* Georgia Tech has dropped five straight games, its longest losing streak of the season.
* The Jackets are 4-11 on the year when the opponent scores first for the game.
* Georgia Tech is 2-11 on the season when getting out hit by its opponent for the game.
* The one hit for the Jackets on the night is a season-low for the Tech offense.
* The Yellow Jackets have not hit a home run in five straight games, their longest drought of the season.
* Jake Lee matched his career-high on Thursday night by throwing 6.0 complete innings.
* Wade Bailey extended his on-base streak to four straight games with a base on balls.
* With a walk in the first inning, Kel Johnson has now reached base safely in a season-high 12 straight contests.
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