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Last weekend was less than perfect for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. They were about as good as expected finishing the tournament with a 1-2 record. They are looking to rebound, however, against Georgia Southern. Southern is coming off of a 2-1 series win against cross-state rival uga; a series completely in which the Eagles tormented the puppy dogs in the two wins. While it is always nice to celebrate uga losing, it is always way more exciting to celebrate Georgia Tech winning.
Pitching for the Yellow Jackets tonight will be freshman RHP Zac Ryan. Ryan debuted against Radford this past Saturday. In his one inning of work, Ryan gave up one run on two hits with two walks and two strikeouts. He was credited with the loss. While he was not overly impressive on Saturday, it should be interesting to see how he pitches in his first career start at Georgia Tech.
Offensively for the Yellow Jackets, four players really impressed me over the weekend: OF Matt Gonzalez, 1B AJ Murray, C Arden Pabst, and OF Keenan Innis. Gonzalez put together a very nice weekend finishing with four hits in 10 ABs. He also added two RBI and two stolen bases. Murray also put in a good weekend finishing with three hits in 12 ABs, including a triple to break up a no-hitter against Radford. Arden Pabst impressed me from the start, earning two starts this weekend over senior C Mitch Earnest. He and Innis both finished with two hits in eight ABs.
Pitching for the Eagles tonight will be JUCO transfer RHP Eric Alonzo. Alonzo transferred in this year from Middle Georgia State College. Against uga this past weekend, Alonzo got 1.2 innings of work, in which he struck out two batters and gave up one run on two hits.
Offensively, the Eagles absolutely tormented the puppy dogs this weekend. Junior C Chase Griffin led the way accumulating six hits in 11 ABs with three RBI. Also contributing to the offensive explosion from this past weekend were two outfielders: junior Aaron Mizell and senior Stryker Brown (which is a great name for an athlete). Mizell finished the weekend with six hits in 13 ABs with two homeruns, five RBI, and a stolen base. Brown finished with five hits in 12 ABs and one homerun and six RBI.
All in all, this is not going to be an easy game for the Yellow Jackets, who seemed to have some growing pains over the weekend. Unfortunately, I am not very optimistic about us winning this game. The only way I see us winning is if Zac Ryan puts on a pitching clinic and embraces his inner Greg Maddux. I think the Eagles win 7-3.
What say the rest of you? Am I crazy? Do we pull off the upset? How does Zac Ryan do in his debut as a starter?
