May 19, 2017
THE FLATS – The Jackets struggled from start to finish on Friday night, as the No. 8 Virginia Cavaliers scored six runs in the top of the first and never looked back to defeat Georgia Tech 16-3 in game two of the three-game ACC series at Russ Chandler Stadium.
After scoring 14 runs on 14 hits in a win on Thursday night, the Jackets’ bats fell silent on Friday night, as Tech pushed across just three runs on four hits for the game.
Tech’s Wade Bailey went 2-for-4 with a home run, two RBIs and a run scored, while Kyle McCann was 1-for-2 with a home run, two walks, an RBI and a run scored at the plate. The other two GT hits came off the bats of Trevor Craport (1-for-4) and Ryan Peurifoy (1-for-4).
The Yellow Jacket pitchers, which issued just two walks in the win last night over No. 8 Virginia, walked nine and hit two more batters on Friday night which aided the Cavaliers offense which had six different players record multiple hits on the night led by Jake McCarthy going 4-for-6 with a double and three runs scored. Cameron Simmons went 3-for-6 with a double, three RBIs and a run scored, while Pavin Smith was 2-for-5 with a home run, a walk, four RBIs and two runs scored.
Keyton Gibson (2-3) suffered the loss, as the sophomore couldn’t find his control as he gave up nine runs, eight of which were earned, on five hits, four walks and one hit batsman over 1.1 innings of work.
The win went to Virginia’s Derek Casey (4-1), as the starter held Tech to just three runs on three hits and three walks, while striking out eight Jacket batters over 7.0 innings.
The Jackets found themselves in a big hole early, as Virginia led off the game with back-to-back singles and then took advantage of three walks, an RBI single, a Tech fielding error and another RBI single to plate six runs in the top of the first to take an early 6-0 lead.
Virginia would add three more runs one inning later on an RBI single, an RBI ground out and a wild pitch to push its lead out to 9-0 midway through the second inning.
Tech got on the scoreboard in the bottom half of the inning, as McCann blasted a solo home run into the trees in right field to lead off the frame and put the home team down 9-1 after two complete innings.
Georgia Tech would use the long ball again in the bottom of the third, as Keenan Innis led off the inning with a walk and then stole second before Bailey hit a towering two-run home run to left field to put the score at 9-3 in favor of Virginia heading into the fourth.
While the Jackets kept UVA off the scoreboard in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, the White & Gold could not cut into the Cavaliers lead before the visitors in orange added four runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth to blow the game wide open.
The Cavaliers picked up a two-run double by Adam Haseley, an RBI single from Smith and an RBI single off the bat of Robbie Coman in the seventh and then pushed across three more runs in the eighth on a three-run home run by Smith to extend their lead en route to the win.
Along with their 16 runs, the Cavaliers also stranded 15 runners on base compared to the Jackets four for the contest.
Georgia Tech (27-25, 11-18 ACC) will host Senior Day versus No. 8 Virginia (40-13, 17-12 ACC) in the series rubber match tomorrow afternoon at 12:30 p.m. The senior recognition is set to start at 12:10 p.m. prior to the first pitch.
Tech Tidbits
* Tech is 2-13 on the season when giving up a big inning (four runs or more) in the game.
* Ryan Peurifoy has reached base safely in 20 straight games.
* Wade Bailey has now reached base safely in 24 straight games, a new career high.
* Wade Bailey extended his hitting streak to 14 straight games.
* Trevor Craport pushed his current hitting streak out to10 straight games.
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