To kick off the 2014 ACC Baseball Tournament, there were two games played on Tuesday to determine who would occupy the 7th and 8th seeds in the bracket. After the day's first game saw (7) North Carolina defeat (10) NC State to claim the #7 seed, (9) Georgia Tech took on (8) Wake Forest for the #8 seed.
The Jackets (33-24) scored all 5 runs in the top of the second, all with two outs, to take a lead they wouldn't give up. After two quick outs, Ryan Peurifoy and Brandon Gold singled to put runners at the corners, enabling Mitch Earnest to double, scoring Peurifoy. Daniel Spingola and Mott Hyde would then record back-to-back triples to push the score to 4-0 before Matt Gonzalez legged out an infield RBI single.
The Demon Deacons would add one in the third and two in the fifth to make the game 5-3, but an outstanding pitching performance from Matthew Grimes, Sam Clay, and "Trusty" Dusty Isaacs would be enough to hold off Wake Forest and give Tech the win. They were aided by some flashy defense late in the game in the form of a beautiful double play turn by Connor Justus off of a Mott Hyde glove flip, and then Matt Gonzalez recording the final two outs of the game on a diving catch and a running over-the-shoulder catch in left field.
With the win, Georgia Tech was named the #8 seed in the tournament and will take on #1 seed Miami in the first game of pool play on Wednesday at 3pm. From there, they take on Duke on Thursday and Clemson on Friday before the ACC Championship Game on Sunday, if they are to make it that far. All games will air on the RSN, which means chances are you'll see the game on Fox Sports South (in Atlanta), on another network (as applicable), or on ESPN3 if out-of-market. Stick around FTRS for more coverage of Georgia Tech at the 2014 ACC Baseball Tournament!
Did you watch today's game? Impressed by what you saw from the Jackets?