May 23, 2017
LOUISVILLE, KY. – Starting four true freshmen that were playing in their first-ever ACC Baseball Championship game, the No. 10 seeded Yellow Jackets took the No. 6 seeded Miami Hurricanes to extra innings before an RBI walk-off single by UM in the bottom of the 13th inning allowed the higher seeded Canes to escape with the 6-5 win in ACC Championship pool play on Tuesday at Louisville Slugger Field.
The loss drops Tech to 27-27 overall on the season and ends their chances at making it to the conference tournament semifinals slated for Friday afternoon.
After the Hurricanes took a 5-4 lead in the third, the Jackets’ bullpen took over the game holding Miami scoreless for 9.1 innings before a one-out RBI single in the 13th inning.
Offensively, the Jackets’ Brandt Stallings went 2-for-6 with a double and two RBIs, while freshman Austin Wilhite was 2-for-6 with an RBI and a run scored. Senior Coleman Poje was 1-for-6 with an RBI, while the top two hitters in the lineup in Wade Bailey (1-for-6, BB, run, SB) and Trevor Craport (2-for-7, 2 runs, 2 SB) combined to score three runs in the loss.
The Hurricanes were led by Hunter Tackett who was 2-for-6 with a grand slam and Michael Burns who went 1-for-5 with a solo home run and two runs scored.
Miami jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, as Michael Burns hit a solo home run off the glove of a leaping Ryan Peurifoy at the wall in center field.
Georgia Tech answered back in the top of the second on a two-out double down the left field line by Stallings, which plated both Kyle McCann and Wilhite to put the visitors in front by one at 2-1 midway through the second inning.
The scoring continued in the third, as the Yellow Jackets got a lead-off walk from Bailey, a single by Craport and a double steal by the top-two Tech hitters to put runners on second and third with one out.
After a balk on Miami pitcher Evan McKendry allowed Bailey to score from third, Poje hit a two-out single up the middle to score Craport from third and put the Jackets in front by three at 4-1.
However, in the bottom half of the third the Canes retook the lead by way of a single, a hit batsman, a walk and a two-out grand slam by Tackett to send the game to the fourth with the home team leading 5-4.
The Jackets tied the game up in the fifth, as Craport led off the inning with a base hit and then swiped second. Following a walk to Peurifoy, a wild pitch and a walk to McCann to load the bases, Wilhite lined a one-out RBI single to right field to score Craport and tie the game up at 5-5.
However, Tech was unable to push across another run, as the next two batters flew out and grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the inning and strand three base runners.
While stranding eight runners combined in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, the Jackets rode the right arm of Datoc who gave up just two hits, including striking out the side in the sixth, over the middle four innings to send the game to the eighth inning tied at 5-5.
That’s when the two bullpens took over the game, as Tech’s Datoc and Zac Ryan (3) continued to find ways to get out of trouble and keep the Canes off the scoreboard, stranding five base runners on two hits over the eighth, ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th innings combined to give the Jackets’ offense chances to retake the lead over those same innings.
Yet, the Tech offense could not get the bats going against the Miami bullpen, as Andrew Cabezas (5-3) matched Datoc and Ryan, by holding the Jackets hitless and without a single base runner from the eighth inning on until Nick Wilhite drew a walk in the top of the 13th.
In the 13th, N. Wilhite was stranded which allowed the Canes with another chance to score the winning run in the bottom half of the inning.
The Canes did just that, as the home team in the neutral site contest got a one-out walk and then back-to-back singles with the latter one driving in the game-winning RBI to give the No. 6 seeded Canes the 6-5 extra-inning walk-off win.
Datoc threw a career-high 5.0 scoreless innings, giving up five hits, while striking out four over a career-high 66 pitches. Ryan followed with a season-high 4.2 innings of work out of the bullpen, striking out five along the way.
The Jackets stranded a total of 12 base runners for the contest and struck out a total of 15 times at the plate for the 13-inning contest.
Georgia Tech (27-27) will return to the field tomorrow night to take on No. 3 Wake Forest at 7 p.m. ET in the final game of day two of the 2017 ACC Baseball Championship.
Tech Tidbits
* Tech is 2-15 on the season when giving up a big inning (four runs or more) in the game.
* Georgia Tech is 3-1 on the season in extra-inning games.
* The 13-inning contest was the longest game of the season for the Jackets this year.
* Ryan Peurifoy has reached base safely in 22 straight games.
* Kyle McCann has now reached base safely in 11 straight games.
* Wade Bailey has now reached base safely in 26 straight games, a new career high.
* Trevor Craport has posted a team-high 25 multi-hit games on the year.
* Trevor Craport has reached base safely in 15 straight games.
* Nick Wilhite has reached base safely in five straight contests.
* Wade Bailey extended his hitting streak to 16 straight games.
* Jared Datoc threw a career-high 5.0 innings and a season-high 66 pitches.
* Zac Ryan pitched a season-high 4.2 innings out of the bullpen for the contest.
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