May 16, 2019

Tech Scores Nine Unanswered, Downs Pitt 12-7

No. 6 Yellow Jackets get high-powered offense from Radcliff, McCann and Hall

THE FLATS – No. 6 Georgia Tech faced an early six-run deficit in the second inning, but clawed its way back to a huge 12-7 victory over Pittsburgh on Thursday night at Russ Chandler Stadium.

After Tech cut the lead to three, the Panthers (20-33, 7-21 ACC) scored once more in the fifth to make it 7-3 before the Yellow Jackets (37-15, 18-10 ACC) rattled off nine-straight runs to close the game on top.

The bats caught fire and never looked back as the Jackets’ depth in the batting order was on full display. Colin Hall led the four multi-hit players with a 4-for-4 outing, while Baron Radcliff drove in the team’s first five runs off two monster home runs, including the second that went for 471 feet. Chase Murray and Luke Waddell both finished with two hits, with Murray hitting an RBI triple and Waddell hitting two doubles.

Junior Kyle McCann hit his sixth go-ahead home run of the season in the seventh to ignite another four-run inning for Tech and seal the win.

Relief pitcher freshman LHP Luke Bartnicki (2-1) received the win after throwing an impressive 2.2 innings of one-hit play, striking out three in the process. RHP Jonathan Hughes then closed the final 1.1 innings, striking out two while surrendering just two hits.

Leading Pitt offensively was Nico Papa, who finished 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBI, while David Yanni also went yard. On the mound to start for the Panthers was RHP Derek West, who went 4.2 innings, allowing seven runs on nine hits, while striking out eight. Receiving the loss was RHP Chris Gomez (0-2), who surrendered two runs on one hit in 1.1 innings of work.

The Yellow Jackets will look to carry forward momentum when it plays Pitt in Game 2 of the regular-season finale at Russ Chandler Stadium on Friday, May 17. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. and will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra.

Postgame Notes:

Georgia Tech is 8-2 in its last 10 games.
Tech’s 13 hits gave it nine games with double-digit hits in its last 10.
Tech’s 12 runs gave it seven games with double-digit runs in its last 10.
The Jackets are averaging 12.7 runs per game over their last 10 games.
After a tough-luck second inning for starter RHP Amos Willingham, he allowed just one run over the next three innings to make it five full innings of work on the day.
Colin Hall’s had four hits in a game for the third time in his career – all this season.
Kyle McCann has now hit 22 home runs on the season, tying him third all-time in GT history for most in a single season. McCann is tied with Jason Varitek (1993), J.J. Thomas (1996) and Andy Bruce (1991).
With a double in the fourth inning, Nick Wilhite extended his hit streak to a career-high 10 games.
With two doubles on the day, Luke Waddell extended his reached-base streak to 30 games.

Multimedia:

Head Coach Danny Hall Postgame Interview

Outfielder Baron Radcliff Postgame Interview

LHP Luke Bartnicki Postgame Interview

🔊 Luke Bartnicki got his second win of the season out of the bullpen, throwing 2.2 innings on one-hit play for 3️⃣ K's 💪 pic.twitter.com/rLoE8FX8XH
— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) May 17, 2019