May 25, 2017
LOUISVILLE, KY. – The Yellow Jackets got six complete innings and a career-high eight strikeouts from freshman starter Xzavion Curry, yet saw the No. 12 nationally ranked Demon Deacons score four runs in the top of the ninth to come from behind and defeat Georgia Tech 5-4 in Pool C Play at the 2017 ACC Baseball Championship on Thursday afternoon at Jim Patterson Stadium on the campus of the University of Louisville.
Tech took a 4-1 lead into the ninth and was just three outs away from a season finale win when the Demon Deacons got a lead-off single by Stuart Fairchild and a two-run home run by Gavin Sheets over the right field wall to cut the Jackets lead to one at 4-3.
After a single and back-to-back outs put the tying run on second for the Deacons, a wild pitch moved the runner up to third base with two outs.
Down to its last out, Wake Forest got an RBI triple from Keegan Maronport to knot the game up at 4-4. A Tech fielding error on a ground ball to the right side kept the Deacons alive and allowed Maronport to score from third and give Wake Forest its first lead of the game at 5-4.
Curry did not factor in the decision despite allowing just one run on one hit and one walk, while striking out eight over the first 6.0 innings of play. He struck out seven straight batters over the second, third and fourth innings.
The Jackets pounded out 13 hits on the day led by redshirt-senior Coleman Poje (3-for-5, 2 RBIs, run) and junior Wade Bailey (3-for-5, 2B). Freshman Kyle McCann (2-for-3, BB, RBI) and junior third-baseman Trevor Craport (2-for-5, 2 runs) each had two hits in the loss.
Wake Forest was led offensively by Sheets (2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, run), Maronport (1-for-4, 3B, RBI, run) and Jake Mueller (1-for-4, 2B, RBI).
Georgia Tech took a 1-0 lead on a McCann two-out RBI double in the bottom of the first and then doubled its lead with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the third from Poje to put the Jackets in front at 2-0.
After a two-out RBI double by Mueller in the top of the sixth put Wake on the scoreboard at 4-1, the Jackets added a run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly from Keenan Innis and another run in the seventh on another RBI single from Poje to give the No. 10 seed a 4-1 lead with two innings to play.
Following Wake Forest’s four-run ninth, the White & Gold put two runners on base, the tying run on second and the winning run on first, yet could not get a run across as the Demon Deacons held on for the 5-4 win.
Wake’s Drew Loepprich (3-3) earned the win in 1.0 inning of relief, while the loss went to Micah Carpenter (0-3), as the sophomore gave up one run on one hit in 1.0 inning of work.
For the first time in head coach Danny Hall’s 24 years on The Flats, the Jackets finished the season below .500 at 27-28 overall.
Tech Tidbits
* The Jackets finished the season at 5-11 overall versus nationally ranked top-16 teams.
* Tech went 2-16 on the season when giving up a big inning (four runs or more) in the game.
* GT went 3-9 overall on the year in one-run games.
* Ryan Peurifoy has reached base safely in 23 straight games.
* Kyle McCann has now reached base safely in 12 straight games.
* Wade Bailey has now reached base safely in 27 straight games, a new career high.
* Trevor Craport has posted a team-high 26 multi-hit games on the year.
* Trevor Craport has reached base safely in 16 straight games.
* Wade Bailey extended his hitting streak to 17 straight games, a career-high.
* Xzavion Curry recorded a career-high eight strikeouts for the game.
* With a 27-28 record, the Jackets finished the season under .500 for the first time since 1981.
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