March 5, 2017
THE FLATS – No. 17 Georgia Tech baseball team gave up seven runs in the first two innings of the contest on Sunday and couldn’t fight its way back, as the Yellow Jackets fell to the Belmont Bruins 11-5 in the final game of the three-game weekend series at Russ Chandler Stadium.
The loss drops Tech to 9-2 overall, while Belmont moves to 5-6 with the win.
Tech matched Belmont with 12 hits over the nine inning contest, yet couldn’t get that timely hit to put multiple runs across the plate.
Catcher Joey Bart continued his hot hand at the plate going 3-for-5 with a home run, two RBIs and two runs scored, while Kel Johnson was also 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI. Junior second baseman Wade Bailey went 2-for-5 with a double and two runs scored, while Trevor Craport (1-for-5, 2B, run), Chase Murray (1-for-4, RBI), Keenan Innis (1-for-2) and Brandt Stallings (1-for-2) all had a hit in the loss.
Sophomore starter Keyton Gibson (1-2) was handed the loss, as the righty struggled with his control from the first pitch allowing three runs on three hits and a walk in 0.2 innings.
For Belmont, the Bruins offensively were led by Nick Egli who was 2-for-4 with a home run, a triple, two walks, four RBIs and three runs scored and Chas Hadden who went 1-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
Picking up the win for the Bruins was lefty Brennan Washington (1-0) who came on to pitch in the fifth when starter Connor Etheridge was hit by a line drive to his pitching arm and back off the bat of Bailey.
For the second straight game, the Jackets found themselves down before their first at bat, as Belmont plated three runs in the top of the first on an RBI single from Hadden, an RBI triple by Egli and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Rafael Bournigal.
Down 3-0, Tech got one run back in the bottom half of the first on three straight singles from Bart, Johnson and Murray, with Murray’s scoring Bart from second, to put the score at 3-1 in favor of the visiting Bruins.
However, Belmont added to its lead in the next half inning, scoring four more runs in the top of the second to pull ahead by six at 7-1.
In the inning, the Bruins went single, hit by pitch and an RBI single to left for the first run of the inning. Following a strikeout, Egli hit a three-run home run to left field to give the Bruins the 7-1 lead
Georgia Tech threatened in the bottom of the third as Bailey led off the inning with a double, yet the next two batters flied out and grounded out, before Johnson ripped an RBI single to left to score Bailey from third.
Still behind at 7-2 in the fifth, the Jackets got a two-run home run from Bart, his seventh of the season, to close the gap and cut the Belmont lead to just three at 7-4.
But Belmont had other plans, as the Bruins took advantage of an infield error, a walk, an intentional walk, a hit batsman, and an RBI single by Tyler Walsh to get those two runs back and take a 9-4 lead into the bottom half of the sixth.
Tech scored another run in the seventh on a throwing error by the Belmont shortstop before the Bruins plated two more in the ninth on a Kyle Conger RBI double and a Hadden sacrifice fly to put the final score at 11-5.
The home team stranded just eight runners compared to the Bruins 11, however, the Jackets hit two Bruins’ batters and walked seven others in the loss.
The Jackets (9-2) hit the road for the first of four straight games on Tuesday night, March 7, at Kennesaw State at 5 p.m. ET.
Lead-off hitter Wade Bailey had two hits in Sunday in the loss to the Bruins. He and the Jackets will be back in action on Tuesday at KSU. pic.twitter.com/OJvPdUNraA
— GeorgiaTech Baseball (@GTBaseball) March 5, 2017
Tech Tidbits
* Tech falls to 9-2 overall on the season.
* The Yellow Jackets are now just 1-2 in Sunday afternoon contests on the year.
* Joey Bart hit is team-leading seventh home run of the season.
* On the weekend, Bart hit a total of four home runs over the three-game series.
* Tech is now 2-2 on the season when scoring less than 10 runs in the game.
* The Jackets are 1-2 on the year when scoring five runs or less on the year.
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