Thomas Leads Jackets in 5-1 Complete Game Win

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. – Georgia Tech’s Connor Thomas recorded his third complete-game win of the season on Saturday, as the sophomore left-hander led the Yellow Jackets to a 5-1 ACC road win over the Virginia Cavaliers at Davenport Field in Charlottesvile, Va.

Thomas (6-3) allowed just one unearned run, on six hits, all of which were singles, seven strikeouts and did not walk a batter over 9.0-complete innings. With his seven strikeouts, Thomas recorded his team-high 100th strikeout of the season. It was also the sixth time this season that Thomas had pitched in a game and did not issue a base-on-balls.

It is the fourth complete-game win by a Jackets’ starter this year after having just one complete game from 2014-17.

Lead-off hitter Wade Bailey (2-for-4, 2B, RBI, run) has now hit safely in six-straight games and extended his on-base streak to 21-straight contests, while two-hole hitter Chase Murray (2-for-3, 2B, SF, 2 RBIs, run) drove in two runs in the win.

Catcher Joey Bart (1-for-3, RBI, IBB) and redshirt sophomore Tristin English (1-for-3, 2B, RBI) each had an RBI in the eighth inning, while freshmen Colin Hall (2-for-3, run) and Oscar Serratos (0-for-3, HBP, run) both scored a run in the contest.

Virginia’s Noah Murdock (1-2) suffered the loss, giving up two runs, one of which was earned, on two hits, a walk and four strikeouts in 4.0-complete innings of work.

Offensively, the Cavaliers’ had two players with two hits apiece in Nate Eikhoff (2-for-3) and Justin Novack (2-for-4), while all six of UVA’s base hits were singles.

After a slow start at the plate on Friday night, in which Tech didn’t record its first hit or run until the fifth inning, the Jackets got the bats going early on Saturday taking advantage of a hit batter, a single from Colin Hall and an RBI single off the bat of Bailey to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning.

The Jackets added a run on a Murray sacrifice fly in the same inning to double its lead at 2-0 midway through the third.

The White and Gold got a two-out double by Bailey followed by an RBI single to left center field by Murray in the top of the fifth inning to push its lead out to 3-0, before the Cavaliers registered their first hit of the game, a two-out single, in the bottom half of the inning.

After Thomas pitched around two singles in the sixth, the Cavaliers took advantage of a Tech fielding error to score an unearned run on a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to cut the Georgia Tech lead to two at 3-1.

GT got the run back in the top of the eighth on a Bart RBI single and then added to its lead with an RBI double from English two batters later to take a 5-1 lead into the bottom half of the eighth inning.

With the extra run support, Thomas overcame a single in the eighth and both a single and hit batsman in the ninth to strand all three runners over the final two innings of play to close out the 5-1 complete-game win.

UVA stranded 10 runners on base for the game, while Tech left just five on in the contest. The two teams combined to hit four batters on the night.

Tech is 20-8 this season when scoring first in the contest.

Georgia Tech (28-23, 12-14 ACC) and Virginia (26-21, 10-16 ACC) will conclude the three-game series on Monday night, May 14, at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

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