June 3, 2013
Georgia Tech (37-26) vs. Vanderbilt(53-10) Game 64 (Away 23) Monday, June 3, 7 p.m. ET (TBA, GT vs. TBA, VU) Location Nashville, Tenn. |Hawkins Field | Weather Radio Monday – WREK 91.1 FM Live Stats Monday -Gametracker TV / Webcast ESPNU and ESPN3 Tournament Central GeorgiaTech Game Info GameNotes | 2013 MediaGuide | Facebook | Twitter
#BUZZWORTHY
>> Georgia Tech is set to face Vanderbilt Monday night in Game 7 of the Nashville Regional, a winner-take-all game for a spot in the Super Regional next week versus Louisville.
>> The Yellow Jackets have won three straight games since dropping the opener of the Nashville Regional to Illinois – its longest winning streak since three consecutive wins in late March.
>> Tech is playing a winner-take-all game in the Regional for the fifth time since the NCAA adopted the current Regional/Super Regional format in 1999, and the Jackets are 1-3 in the previous four – having beat South Carolina at home in 2005, losing at Georgia in 2008, falling at home to Southern Miss in 2009, and at home to Alabama in 2010.
>> The Jackets have advanced out of the Regional round six times, including five in the current Regional/Super Regional format. All-time, Tech has won just one regional on the road (at Wichita State in 1994), and has never advanced from the loser’s bracket to win a regional.
>> With the Vanderbilt win, the Jackets improved to 3-1 this year when playing a team ranked No. 1 in at least one poll (2-1 versus North Carolina) and improved to 7-5 versus national seeds (#1 North Carolina 2-1, #2 Vandy 1-0, #5 Virginia 2-2, #7 Florida State 2-2).
>> Tech has won the last three meetings versus Vanderbilt, which includes two wins over the Commodores in the 2006 Atlanta Regional – a 7-3 win over David Price in the winner’s bracket game and an 8-4 victory in the championship game. The Jackets went 3-0 in the 2006 Regional and 2-0 in the Super Regional en route to their last College World Series appearance.
>> As a team in Nashville, Tech is hitting .333 and averaging 11.8 hits per game. The Jackets are looking to recorded 10+ hits in each game of the Regional round for the fourth time in school history. Each of the three previous times are regionals when Tech went 3-0 – in 2000, 2004 and 2006.
>> Six Jackets carry hitting streaks of three games or more into Monday’s game – A.J. Murray (career-long seven games), Kyle Wren (six games), Sam Dove (four), Zane Evans (three), Daniel Palka (three) and Mott Hyde (three). Murray has at least one hit in all seven of Tech’s postseason games – three in the ACC Tournament and four in Nashville.
>> Sophomore 2B Thomas Smith, who went hitless (0-for-12) in four games of last year’s Gainesville Regional, is hitting .417 (5-for-12) with a home run and two runs this year in Nashville.
>> The last 10 games for junior SS Mott Hyde: .317 (13-for-41) with four doubles (three in Nashville), one triple, three homers, eight RBI and a .683 slugging percentage. Over that span, Hyde leads the team in doubles, homers, RBI and slugging. All six of Hyde’s homers this year have come over the last 27 games. He hit five of his seven last year over the final 23 games.
>> Sophomore RHP Josh Heddinger’s complete-game, two-hit shutout of Vanderbilt is Tech’s seventh complete-game shutout by a pitcher in NCAA postseason play all-time, and the first since Mark Pope’s 10-0 win over Mercer in the 2010 Atlanta Regional. Heddinger is only the third Tech pitcher in history to throw a one- or two-hitter in the NCAA tournament, joining Jace Wrigley (two-hitter in a 1997 win over S.W. Louisiana, 8-0) and Kris Wilson (one-hitter in a 1997 win over Tennessee Tech, 5-0).
>> Daniel Palka was held out of the Vanderbilt game with a foot injury, snapping a streak of 129 consecutive starts by the junior dating back to 2011. He had started the final three games of 2011, all 64 games in 2012 and the first 62 in 2013.
>> Including Sunday’s 6-3 win over Illinois, three of the Jackets’ last six wins have come when trailing after eight innings. Tech is 4-23 this year when trailing after eight innings and is 2-1 when tied after eight – the team’s six ninth-inning wins/comebacks are below:
1. Sunday, Illinois’ Jordan Parr hit an inside-the-park home run to take a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the eighth, before Tech scored four times in the ninth to rally for the 6-3 win – Matt Gonzalez’s RBI double gave Tech the lead at 4-3.
2. In the ACC Tournament on May 22 against Florida State, the Jackets trailed 3-2 in the ninth before A.J. Murray and Mott Hyde hit back-to-back homers with two outs for the lead.
3. On May 12th in the 9-8 win over No. 1 North Carolina, Tech trailed 7-1 in the sixth, 8-3 in the seventh and 8-5 going to the ninth. The Jackets scored three times in the ninth to force extra innings, and Zane Evans’ walk-off RBI single won it in the 11th.
4. On May 10th, Tech and UNC were tied 4-4 in the ninth when Mott Hyde smashed a walk-off solo home run with one out.
5. In the comeback win over The Citadel on March 26, Tech trailed 3-1 in the seventh and 4-1 in the eighth before a Daniel Palka two-run homer in the eighth and a walk-off two-run shot from Daniel Spingola.
6. On Feb. 23, Tech and St. John’s were tied 2-2 in the ninth and freshman Dylan Dore hit a walk-off single.
