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#15 Virginia Cavaliers (20-12, 6-9) @ Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (22-11, 7-8)
Game 1 -- Friday, April 10, 7 p.m. (delayed until 8 p.m. for rain)
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #15 Virginia Cavaliers |
0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 15 | 0 |
| Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets |
0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 2 |
W: Nathan Kirby (5-2) | L: Jonathan King (2-2) | S: None
The Jackets opened up a crucial home series against conference foes and #15-ranked Virginia on Friday night in a bit of a dud. After two scoreless innings, Virginia struck for 7 runs in the third inning and two more in the fourth to take a 9-0 lead. Senior A.J. Murray cut into that lead with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth and added another RBI in the fifth. Brandon Gold delivered an RBI single in the sixth to close the gap to 9-4, but Georgia Tech would leave the bases loaded. Virginia added three more in the seventh inning and one each in the eighth and ninth innings to take the opening game 14-4. Georgia Tech drew 9 walks but only had 8 hits and left 13 men on base, along with committing two errors. With the loss, Jonathan King fell to 2-2 after giving up 9 hits and 9 runs (7 earned) in 5.2 innings, walking only 1 but striking out only 4. Patrick Wiseman gave up 3 more hits and 3 more runs (all earned) in the seventh, and only recorded one out to finish the sixth inning.
Georgia Tech fell to 22-12 (7-9 ACC) with the loss, while Virginia improved to 21-12 (7-9 ACC).
Game 2 -- Saturday, April 11, 4 p.m.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #15 Virginia Cavaliers |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 16 | 2 |
| Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets |
5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | X | 11 | 11 | 1 |
W: Matthew Gorst (3-2) | L: Connor Jones (4-2) | S: None
The Jackets were able to rebound from their Friday loss with a victorious effort on Saturday, evening the series at 1-game apiece. The Jackets jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, beginning with back-to-back infield RBI singles from Connor Justus and Wade Bailey. Arden Pabst then drew a bases-loaded walk before Ryan Peurifoy had a 2-run single. After a few scoreless innings, Virginia scored one in the fifth, but Georgia Tech answered with 4 runs in the bottom of the sixth to extend the lead to 9-1. Virginia would score 3 runs of its own in the top of the 7th before Georgia Tech added 2 more in the bottom of the frame, establishing an 11-4 lead they would take to the end of the game. Peurifoy finished 3-for-4 with 3 RBI and a run scored, while Daniel Spingola went 2-for-5 with a couple of RBIs and a run scored of his own. Arden Pabst also recorded two RBIs and Connor Justus scored 3 times. Cole Pitts threw 4 innings and gave up 6 hits and 5 walks but only 1 run (earned). Matthew Gorst came in for the fifth inning and threw 4 innings himself, giving up 8 hits and 3 runs (2 earned) but only 1 walk. Jared Datoc pitched a scoreless ninth, giving up 2 hits in the process.
Georgia Tech improved to 23-12 (8-9 ACC) while Virginia fell to 21-13 (7-10 ACC).
Game 3 -- Sunday, April 12, 1 p.m.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #15 Virginia Cavaliers |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets |
0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 4 | 8 | 0 |
W: Brandon Gold (5-1) | L: Brandon Waddell (2-3) | S: Zac Ryan (7)
The Yellow Jackets were able to complete the series win in Sunday's rubber game that saw a huge pitching effort from Brandon Gold, who went 7 innings and only gave up 3 hits, 2 walks, and 1 run (earned) with 7 strikeouts. Zac Ryan came on to pitch the eighth and ninth innings and recorded a six-out save, giving up 2 hits, 2 walks, and 2 runs in the process but striking out 3. After 3 scoreless innings, Georgia Tech got on the board with 3 runs in the fourth off of an AJ Murray RBI double, a Keenan Innis RBI ground-out, and a Connor Justus RBI single. Matt Gonzalez added a very important fourth run in the fifth inning with a two-out RBI single. With the win, Georgia Tech improved to 17-1 on the season when scoring first, 8-2 in one-run games, and 7-7 versus ranked teams. Ryan Peurifoy went 2-for-4 and finished the series a team-best 5-for-9 (.556) with a run and 3 RBIs.
With the win, Georgia Tech improved to 24-12 on the season and evened up their conference record at 9-9. Virginia fell to 21-14, with a conference record of 7-11.A couple of strong pitching performances on Saturday and Sunday enabled Georgia Tech to win a crucial home series against conference foes Virginia.
Up Next
Georgia Tech hosts in-state rivals georgia at 7pm on Tuesday night, where they will look to clinch the season series after winning 13-6 in Athens on March 31. Next weekend, they'll travel to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts to take on Boston College.