Georgia Tech Baseball: Previewing Notre Dame

Georgia Tech is set to begin ACC play today at 4 p.m. as they take on Notre Dame at the Rusty C. This will be the first time the two teams have met on the diamond since Notre Dame joined the ACC last season.

Notre Dame is really good. Part of that is due to sophomore infielder Cavan Biggio (yes, that Biggio). He's been tearing it up so far this season with a ridiculous slash line of .525/.630/.950. He's also crushed two home runs and driven in 11 runs.

His older brother, Conor, is also on the team, but he doesn't receive as much playing time (only four games this season).

In addition to Cavan Biggio, the Irish have three more players all currently hitting above .300: Lane Richards (.342), Ryan Lidge (314) and Robert Youngdahl (.308).

Game 1: Friday, March 6 @ 4 p.m.

Game 1 will bring the matchup of junior left-handed pitcher Jonathan King for the Jackets and senior right-handed pitcher Scott Kerrigan for the Irish.

King has been the only Tech pitcher to stay in the rotation each of the weekends Tech has played so far. In his three starts, he is 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA and has struck out nine batters and walked five. King's held opposing batters to just a .161 batting average.

Kerrigan, who stands at 6'7", has been pretty solid for the Irish this season. In his three starts, Kerrigan is 1-1 with a 3.18 ERA. He's struck out and walked eight batters each and is holding opponents to a .303 ERA (the worst of this weekend's starters for ND).

Game 2: Saturday, March 7 @ 2 p.m.

Game 2 will see senior righty Cole Pitts go to the mound for Tech and freshman righty Brandon Bielak for the Irish.

After recovering from Tommy John surgery, Pitts made his first start of the season last week. He went 3.0 innings and gave up a run on a hit and struck out three batters.

Bielak, in his freshman season, has been pretty solid. In three starts, Bielak has gone 2-0 with a weekend rotation-worst ERA of 3.45, but has struck out nine batters and walked six. He's also held opposing batters to just a weekend rotation-best average of .183.

Game 3: Sunday, March 8 @ 1 p.m.

The final game of the series will see sophomore right-hander Brandon Gold go to the mound for Tech and junior right-hander Nick McCarty go to the mound for the Irish.

In his first season pitching with the Jackets, Gold has been pretty phenomenal. In three appearances including his first start last week, Gold is 1-0 with a 1.26 ERA and has struck out 11 batters and walked three. He's also held batters to a .178 batting average.

McCarty has been pretty good for the Irish this season. In his three starts, the junior is 2-0 with a 1.74 ERA and has struck out a team-high 12 batters and walked five. He's also held batters to a .203 batting average.

How does Tech do against Notre Dame this weekend? What do you think of the pitching matchups?