March 14, 2017
THE FLATS — Georgia Tech baseball’s Ben Schniederjans and Jay Shadday combined to throw a two-hit shutout, while freshmen Chase Murray and Austin Wilhite each recorded an RBI double in the seventh inning to lead the Jackets to a 2-0 win over No. 12 Oklahoma on a frigid Tuesday evening at Russ Chandler Stadium.
The win pushes the Jackets to 11-4 on the season, while the loss drops the Sooners to 17-3 on the year. It was also the first-ever win for the Jackets over the Sooners on the diamond (1-6).
The 2-0 win was the Jackets’ first shutout win of the season.
On a day in which the temperatures never raised above 43 degrees, Schniederjans was hot on the mound for the Jackets as he made his first start in over two years — Feb. 24, 2015 at Auburn. The righty gave up just one hit, walked two and struck out a career-high six batters over 5.0 scoreless innings.
Shadday (1-0) followed with 4.0 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit while striking out three Sooner hitters to pick up his first career win as a Jacket.
Offensively for the Jackets, Wilhite was 3-for-3 with a double, an RBI and run scored, while Murray was 1-for-4 with an RBI double. Wade Bailey went 1-for-3 with a walk to extend his hitting streak to 15 games, while Coleman Poje continued his hot bat going 1-for-3 with a walk on the day.
Oklahoma’s Austin Kerns (1-2) picked up the loss despite throwing just one pitch in the game. Coming in the game in a relief role in the seventh, Kerns hit the first batter he faced in Tech’s Keenan Innis who eventually scored what would prove to be the winning run.
The two Sooner hits were both singles off the bats of Domenic DeRenzo (1-for-3) and Blake Brewster (1-for-2).
While Schniederjans cruised through the first three innings, sending the Sooners down 1-2-3 in all three frames, the Jackets threatened in the first with a lead-off single by Bailey and a failed pickoff attempt and then again in the third on a Wilhite single and a Bailey walk, but couldn’t push across a run leaving all three runners on base.
After Oklahoma got its first base runner on via a walk and back-to-back fielder’s choice ground outs in the top of the fourth, the Jackets again stranded two more runners in the bottom half of the inning to keep the score knotted up at 0-0 through four complete.
The Sooners recorded a base hit, its lone hit off of Schniederjans, in the fifth, but to no avail, while Tech again stranded two more runners to keep the game scoreless.
Following a 1-2-3 inning for both teams in the sixth, Shadday pitched around an error and a single in the seventh to leave two on base and keep the Sooners off the scoreboard.
The Jackets’ offense finally broke through in the bottom half of the inning, as Innis was hit by a pitch and then moved up to second on a sac bunt by Ryan Peurifoy. With one out, Wilhite hit a double over the head of the right fielder to score Innis and put the home team on top at 1-0.
Two batters later, Murray doubled to the gap in right center field to score Wilhite and double the Jackets’ lead at 2-0.
That would be all that Shadday would need, as the lefty finished off the last six batters with a total of just 16 pitches in the final two innings to complete the shutout win.
Tech left nine runners on base, while the Sooners stranded five.
The Jackets (11-4, 1-2 ACC) hosts North Carolina (13-4, 2-1 ACC) in a three-game ACC weekend series this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Mar. 17-19, at Russ Chandler Stadium. First pitch on Friday is set for 6 p.m. ET.
Right-handed pitcher Ben Schniederjans with Wiley Ballard after 5.0 scoreless innings in his first start in over two years. #TogetherWeSwarm pic.twitter.com/p3GUjjF04f
— GeorgiaTech Baseball (@GTBaseball) March 14, 2017
Tech Tidbits
* The win is Tech’s first-ever win over Oklahoma (1-6).
* The shutout win is the Jackets’ first of the season.
* The shutout on Tuesday was the first shutout for the Jackets since defeating Boston College 6-0 on March 24, 2015 at the ACC Championships.
* The Jackets are now 10-1 when scoring first in the contest.
* Ben Schniederjans made his first start in over two years on Tuesday.
* Ben Schniederjans pitched a career-high 5.0 innings and recorded a career-high six strikeouts in the no-decision.
* Jay Shadday recorded his first career win as a Jacket.
* Jay Shadday threw a career-high 4.0 innings and picked up a career-high three strikeouts.
* Wade Bailey extended his career long hitting streak to 15 straight games, as he has hit safely in every game this season.
* Trevor Craport reached base via a walk to extend his on-base streak to 15 straight games.
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