No. 23 Beesball Falls to Pitt 4-3 in 13 Innings

It's an interesting week for Georgia Tech baseball. With impending rain coming on Friday night and Saturday afternoon, the times of two games have changed. Friday's game started at 5:30 PM and pitted junior RHP Josh Heddinger for the Yellow Jackets against senior RHP Rhys Aldenhoven for the Panthers.

Pitt got the scoring started quickly in the bottom of the first inning. With a man on third and one out, junior LF Boo Vasquez came up to the plate. On the 1-1 pitch, Vasquez hit a deep fly ball to LF. While it was not deep enough to be a homerun, it was deep enough to score senior CF Stephen Vranka from third base.

The Yellow Jackets would stay quiet until the top of the third inning. With a runner on third and two outs, senior 2B Mott Hyde came up to the plate. He knocked 1-1 pitch into RF to bring home freshman 3B Elliott Barzilli. The Yellow Jackets would not stop there, however. Later in the inning, with Hyde on second and sophomore LF Matt Gonzalez on first, junior 1B Thomas Smith hit a single into CF to bring home Mott Hyde, to give the Yellow Jackets their only lead of the night.

Unfortunately for the Yellow Jackets, that lead would only last until the bottom of the third inning. With a runner on second and one out, Boo Vasquez came back up to the plate. On the first pitch, Vasquez crushed a ball to right field for a two-run homerun.

Luckily for the Yellow Jackets, Pitt's lead would only last until the top of the fourth inning. With freshman RF Keenan Innis on second and two outs, junior CF Daniel Spingola came up to the plate. On the 2-1 pitch, Spingola doubled down the line to bring Innis home to tie the game back up at three runs apiece.

The game would remain a stalemate until the bottom of the thirteenth inning. With runners on first and second and one out, redshirt senior DH Steven Shelinsky, Jr. came up to the plate. On the first pitch, Shelinsky, Jr. double into left-center, which was good enough to bring the runner from second, junior 2B Matt Johnson, home to end the game.

Starting the game for the Yellow Jackets was junior RHP Josh Heddinger. In his 5.2 innings of work, Heddinger gave up three runs on five hits, with six strikeouts and two walks. Coming on in his relief was sophomore LHP Sam Clay. In his 4.1 innings of work, Clay absolutely dominated. He gave up zero runs on two hits, while striking out six batters and only walking one. Finishing the game for the Yellow Jackets was Dusty Isaacs, who had a bit of a rough night. In his 2.1 innings of work, Isaacs gave up an unearned run on three hits, while striking out two, but walking three. Isaacs was credited with the loss.

Starting the game for the Pitt Panthers was senior RHP Rhys Aldenhoven. In his 5.1 innings of work, Aldenhoven allowed three runs on 10 hits, with two strikeouts and two walks. Coming on in his relief was junior RHP Hobie Harris. In his 6.2 innings of work, Harris allowed zero runs on one hit, with five strikeouts and three walks. Pitching the final inning for Pitt was redshirt senior RHP John Danielczyk. He pitched a nearly perfect inning with no strikeouts, no walks and a hit batsman. Danielczyk was credited with the win.

For the first time in a few weeks, Georgia Tech will not be playing a doubleheader on Saturday. Instead their game is going on as I am typing this article. If you want to listen to the game, it is available on 91.1 FM WREK.