Georgia Tech Baseball: Previewing the Atlanta Challenge

It's been way too long since Beesball has been here. But it's finally Friday the 13th and Beesball is back! So enough of this intro, let's get straight into previewing who Tech will be playing this weekend.

Game 1: Georgia Tech vs. St. John's - Friday, February 13, 4 p.m.

Being that this is opening day, each team will be sending their best pitcher to the mound. Tech will be sending junior southpaw Jonathan King to the mound to face St. John's junior right-handed pitcher Ryan McCormick.

Prior to getting hurt last season, King was Tech's best pitcher. In just four appearances (all starts), King pitched to a 2-0 record with a 1.96 ERA. In his 18.1 innings, he limited opposing hitters to a .203 batting average. In layman's terms, he was dang good.

McCormick was a good pitcher in his own respects for St. John's. The Massapequa, NY native pitched to a 7-2 record in his 14 appearances (13 starts).

St. John's best pitcher, though, comes out of their bullpen in the form of their closer: senior right-handed pitcher Joe Kuzia. Kuzia tore it up last season in his 28 appearances. He finished with just 13 saves in 37.0 innings, but he had an ERA of 0.97 complemented by an opposing batting average of .179. So it'll probably be in Tech's best interests to avoid this guy.

All five players St. John's had that hit over .300 last year return for them this season. The most impressive across the board of those five was (now) sophomore outfielder Michael Donadio. In his 55 games last season, Donadio had a slash line (AVG/OBP/SLG) of .328/.434/.487. Added to that, he also hit five home runs and 45 RBI.

Tech holds the historical series lead over St. John's five games to four.

Game 2: Georgia Tech vs. Fordham - Saturday, February 14, 12 p.m.

In the second game, Tech will send sophomore left-handed pitcher Ben Parr to the mound to face Fordham's junior right-handed pitcher Jimmy Murphy.

Last season for the Jackets, Parr absolutely killed it. In his 18 appearances (10 starts), Parr pitched to a 5-4 record. But he also had a 2.62 ERA.

Murphy had one appearance for Fordham last season. He pitched 0.2 innings and faced three batters, giving up a hit to one of them. I don't really know a whole lot about this guy, but if Fordham trusts him enough to make him a weekend starter, he's got to have some talent.

Fordham has a major loss from last season and that is two-way player Tim Swatek who was their best hitter and one of their best pitchers.

As a hitter, he put up a slash line of .392/.491/.548 while hitting four triples, three home runs and 36 RBI. As a pitcher, he pitched to a 4-3 record in 11 starts.

One player they do have coming back is junior catcher Charles Galiano, who led the team in home runs last season with four.

Game 3: Georgia Tech vs. Fordham - Saturday, February 14, 45 minutes following end of Game 2

In Game 3, Tech will send two-time captain and senior southpaw Devin Stanton to the mound to face Fordham's junior right-handed pitcher Joseph Serrapica.

I don't really need to tell y'all how good Stanton was for us last season coming off of Tommy John surgery. But I will anyway. In his 18 appearances (12 starts), Stanton pitched to a 5-3 record with a 2.24 ERA. He also struck out 57 batters.

Serrapica is another pretty inexperienced pitcher. He appeared in 11 games last season (three starts) and pitched to a 0-3 record with a 4.62 ERA. He doesn't have much experience, so it's hard to tell much from his stats.

These two games will be the first time Georgia Tech and Fordham meet on the Diamond.

Thoughts about the weekend series? How do we finish the weekend?