One More Time: No. 22 Baseball Faces UGA

May 16, 2016

LEADING OFF: STORYLINES TO KNOW

1. Tuesday marks the final game of the three-game season series between Georgia Tech and Georgia – and the 367th edition of Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.
2. Sophomore 2B Wade Bailey’s career at bat-to-strikeout ratio of 11.6 ranks him eighth on Georgia Tech’s all-time list behind Jim Giuliani (11.87), who is in seventh. With his 400th career at-bat, Bailey passed Nomar Garciaparra (10.84) for eighth in school history.
3. Sophomore 3B Trevor Craport has been Georgia Tech’s hottest hitter over the last 20 games. Craport is batting a team-best .385 (25-of-65) with a team-best five home runs and 16 RBI.
4. 33 of Tech’s 51 games this season have been played in less than three hours. Georgia Tech is 26-7 (19-2 at home) in games played in less than three hours. In contract, the Jackets are 7-11 (3-6 at home) in games lasting more than three hours.
5. Georgia Tech’s 19 outfield assists are second-most nationally. Matt Gonzalez’s eight outfield assists are tied for fourth nationally. Six of Gonzalez’s eight assists have led to outs at home plate.
6. Georgia Tech leads the ACC in double plays (67), double plays per game (1.31), hits per game (11.24), doubles (119), home runs (56) and home runs per game (1.10).
7. While Georgia Tech leads the nation with 67 double plays, it’s been 2B Wade Bailey and SS Connor Justus involved in most of them. Bailey and Justus have combined to turn 37 of Tech’s 67 double plays. Either Bailey or Connor has been involved in 61 of Tech’s 67 double plays.
8. The month of May has brought a power surge to Georgia Tech’s offense. In the last six games, the Yellow Jackets have hit 15 home runs – a blistering 2.5 dingers per game.
9. Freshman Keyton Gibson has made 15 appearances this season, five as a starter and 10 as a reliever. Gibson might be best suited as a middle reliever as the rookie has allowed only one earned run in 18.1 innings with a 2-0 record and a microscopic 0.49 ERA.

NO LOOKING BACK
• With its 5-4 win Sunday at No. 12 Virginia, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets won their 92nd consecutive game when leading after eight innings. Tech is 29-0 this season – and 12-0 in ACC play – when taking a lead into the ninth inning.
• Georgia Tech has not lost a game when leading after eight inning since April 26, 2013, when the Jackets lost 4-3 at Clemson in 11 innings.

WHERE ARE YOU GOING?
• Georgia Tech outfielders have an ACC-best 19 assists this season. Tech’s 19 outfield assists are second-most nationally behind only Prairie View A&M (20).
• Senior LF Matt Gonzalez’s eight outfield assists are tied for fourth nationally. Six of Gonzalez’s eight assists have led to outs at home plate.
• Junior CF Ryan Peurifoy ranks second on the team with five outfield assists, including two huge throwouts at home against Virginia.

NO SOUP FOR YOU!
• Georgia Tech junior Matthew Gorst is among the best closers in college baseball. He proved it once against Sunday afternoon in Tech’s 5-4 road win at No. 12 Virginia.
• With two out in the bottom of the third, head coach Danny Hall called for the closer with the Jackets trailing 4-2. Gorst got the final out of the inning and Tech scored three runs in the fourth to take a 5-4 lead. From there, Gorst scattered three hits with four strikeouts in a career-best 6.1 scoreless innings to notch his first win of the season.
• Gorst is 1-1 with 10 saves and a microscopic 0.51 ERA in 35.0 innings.

HOLY CRA-PORT
• Sophomore 3B Trevor Craport has been Georgia Tech’s hottest hitter over the last 20 games. Craport is batting a team-best .385 (25-of-65) with a team-best five home runs and 16 RBI.
• During that stretch, Craport recorded a career-best four hits – not once, but twice. Craport went 4-for-4 with 3 RBI in Tech’s 9-8 loss to Mercer on April 19. Three games later, Craport went 4-for-6 with a home run and 3 RBI in the Jackets’ 16-1 rout at Clemson on April 23.
• Last week, Craport hit four home runs, including a two-homer performance in Tech’s 5-4 win Sunday at No. 12 Virginia. For his four-homer performance last week, Craport was named one of Louisville Slugger’s National Players of the Week.

GOING GONZO
• Senior OF Matt Gonzalez is the NCAA’s active leader in career hits (281) and sacrifice flies (20).
• Gonzalez is currently tied with Brandon Hensley (1992-95) for eighth on Tech’s career hits list. He is six hits shy of tying Jay Payton (1992-94) for fifth with 287 career hits. He needs 19 to become only the third Tech player in school history to amass 300 career hits.
• Gonzalez is one sac fly shy of tying the school record of 21 held by Jason Basil (1998-2001).
• He is currently seventh on Tech’s career doubles list and is one shy of tying former major leaguer Nomar Garciaparra (1992-94) for sixth.

LEADING THE WAY
• Georgia Tech is one of the nation’s top offenses as the Yellow Jackets rank second in the ACC and 13th nationally with a .313 batting average. Tech is 10 points behind ACC leader Louisville (.323).
• Tech leads the ACC in double plays (67), double plays per game (1.31), hits per game (11.24), doubles (119), doubles per game (2.33), home runs (56) and home runs per game (1.10).

A TOUGH ONE TO CRACK
• Sophomore Wade Bailey is one of the toughest Yellow Jackets to strike out in 2016 (once every 10.8 at bats). In 100 career games, Bailey has struck out only 35 times in 406 at bats.
• Bailey’s career at bat-to-strikeout ratio of 11.6 ranks him eighth on Georgia Tech’s all-time list behind Jim Giuliani (11.87), who is in seventh. With his 400th career at-bat, Bailey passed Nomar Garciaparra (10.84) for eighth in school history.

APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY HOME RUNS
• The month of May has brought a power surge to Georgia Tech’s offense. In the last six games, the Yellow Jackets have hit 15 home runs – a blistering 2.5 dingers per game.
• Eight different Yellow Jackets have a home run in the last six games. Sophomore 3B Trevor Craport leads Tech’s power surge with four home runs. Senior LF Matt Gonzalez has three, while sophomore OF Kel Johnson and junior OF Coleman Poje have two each.
• Before the six-game surge, Tech had 41 home runs through the first 45 games – an average of 0.91 home runs per game.

#DOUBLETROUBLE
• While Georgia Tech leads the nation with 67 double plays, it’s been 2B Wade Bailey and SS Connor Justus involved in most of them. Bailey and Justus have combined to turn 37 of Tech’s 67 double plays. Either Bailey or Connor has been involved in 61 of Tech’s 67 double plays.

ANOTHER KILLER G?
• Georgia Tech’s starter/reliever combo of Brandon Gold and Matthew Gorst have garnered most of the attention on the Yellow Jackets’ pitching staff. But, another ‘G’ has emerged as viable threat to opposing batters, freshman Keyton Gibson.
• Gibson has made 15 appearances this season, five as a starter and 10 as a reliever. Gibson might be best suited as a middle reliever as the rookie has allowed only one earned run in 18.1 innings with a 2-0 record and a microscopic 0.49 ERA. By comparison, he is 1-2 with a 6.75 ERA in 16.0 innings as a starter.

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