THE FLATS -- Georgia Tech Baseball completed a home-and-home series sweep over Atlantic Coast Conference rival, Clemson, defeating the Tigers 8-5 on Saturday afternoon during a nine-inning exhibition at Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium. The Yellow Jackets utilized the long ball, connecting for four home runs off the bats of Nathanael Coupet, Coleman Lewis, Will Baker and Ryan Zuckerman. The Jackets won both games of the series, out-hitting Clemson 24-13 in a very strong showing, improving their record this Fall to 3-0.
Reid Gainous made the start. The freshman from Thomas County Central HS retired six of seven batters he faced over 2.0 innings with three strikeouts, all coming in the first inning, and no runs or hits allowed. In total, the Yellow Jackets used six pitchers, headlined by scoreless outings from senior transfer Josh Gunther (2.0 IP | 2 Ks | 1 H), a scoreless 8th inning from Dylan Loy (1.0 IP | 2 Ks) and three straight strikeouts from freshman Brett Slymen to slam the door shut in the ninth inning. Tech pitching finished with 14 strikeouts, bringing the series total to 24 Ks over 18.0 innings.
Offensively, Tech jumped in front in the bottom of the second inning when Nathanel Coupet connected for a two-run home run. The lead grew to 3-0 the very next inning, when Caleb Daniel picked up his second RBI of the weekend on a two-out double. Clemson cut the lead to 3-2 in the top of the fourth only for Coleman Lewis to pop a solo shot in the bottom of the inning to restore the multiple run lead. Another two-run homer from Will Baker in the fifth gave Tech runs in four straight innings and made it a 6-2 game before Ryan Zuckerman put the finishing touches on the day with a two-run blast of his own. Tech finished with 10 hits from nine different players, headlined by a 2-for-3 showing from Lewis.
The Jackets will conclude the fall exhibition schedule next weekend, when they travel to Chattanooga, Tenn. to take on Tennessee at Erlanger Park. First pitch is set for 2 pm ET.
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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