From The Rumble Seat - Beesball Opening WeekendDrinkin' whiskey clear since 2008.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/52811/From_The_Rumble_Seat_Minimal.0..png2013-02-19T09:00:07-05:00http://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/rss/stream/37633852013-02-19T09:00:07-05:002013-02-19T09:00:07-05:00Buck Farmer Wins Major Accolades
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<img alt="Buck Farmer's lights-out performance on Friday evening earned him a couple of major awards this week in college baseball." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/pBvLNG7S9Rh36t4dMtMnAH8OjWw=/0x77:823x626/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/8343511/d7vhsu0.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Buck Farmer's lights-out performance on Friday evening earned him a couple of major awards this week in college baseball. | Joey Weaver/SB Nation</figcaption>
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<p>Buck Farmer threw an absolute gem in Friday's season opener, striking out 14 Zips and walking none over the course of 8 scoreless innings. His performance won him a couple of major awards.</p> <p>In the wake of Friday's performance, Buck Farmer has been named this week's ACC Pitcher of the Week and Louisville Slugger's National Player of the Week. Find the official Georgia Tech press release below.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.ramblinwreck.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/021813aab.html"><i>Complete Release Found Here</i></a></p>
<p><b><i>February 18, 2013</i></b></p>
<p><b>Farmer Named ACC Pitcher of the Week, Earns National Honor</b></p>
<p><i>Buck Farmer fanned 14 in eight innings to highlight Tech's opening weekend sweep</i></p>
<p><b>THE FLATS</b> -- On the heels of a career-best 14 strikeouts on Friday, Georgia Tech senior RHP Buck Farmer has been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Pitcher of the Week. Farmer also garnered national recognition, earning Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week honors from Collegiate Baseball.</p>
<p>Farmer, a preseason All-America, made quick work of Akron on Opening Day as his 14 strikeouts in eight dominant innings led the No. 21 Yellow Jackets to a 3-0 shutout victory in front of 2,314 at Russ Chandler Stadium. The senior walked none and scattered four singles in improving his career record to 25-8. Just one batter advanced past first - that coming with two outs in the fifth inning - and there were never multiple runners on base in the game.</p>
<p>His 14 strikeouts moved him from 13th to eighth on the Jackets' all-time strikeouts list, now with 279, and he surpassed his previous career high of 13 punch outs versus Ohio State last season.</p>
<p>For the native of Conyers, Ga., the ACC weekly honor is the third of his career. He was the ACC co-Pitcher of the Week on May 16, 2011 and ACC Pitcher of the Week on April 2, 2012.</p>
<p>Tech (3-0) returns to action Tuesday, hosting Georgia State at 4 p.m. at Russ Chandler Stadium. Farmer is back on the mound Friday when the Jackets open a three-game home series versus St. John's, a Super Regional team in 2012.</p>
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<p><b><i>How nice would it be if we could get a performance like this to start every series this season?</i></b></p>
https://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/georgia-tech-baseball/2013/2/19/4003534/buck-farmer-named-acc-pitcher-of-the-week-and-louisville-sluggerJoey Weaver2013-02-18T18:50:33-05:002013-02-18T18:50:33-05:00Joltin' Jackets Sweep Behind Strong Pitching
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<p>The Diamond Jackets opened the 2012 season with a bang, and we take a look back at their performance.</p> <p>The Georgia Tech baseball team opened up the season with a weekend series against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/teams/akron-zips">Akron Zips</a>, and I think it was a good microcosm of the season. When Buck Farmer wowed, the offense was lackluster. Dusty Issacs showed some nice touch on Saturday and the bats finally came alive, and Cole Pitts showed some great improvement on Sunday but still looked to have endurance problems. The team looked good overall but you can still nitpick out some problems that are left over from last year. Hopefully Coach Hall and co. will have these all knitted up by the time the ACC season opens up when the real tests come.</p>
<h4>The Good</h4>
<p>This section this season will become synonymous with Buck Farmer. The senior had all his pitches on lock and his fastball even looked like it had more zip on it than it did last year. There was no sign of fatigue even late in the game; I think he was only pulled because he had a pitch count limit (he chucked 97 rawhides against 27 batters). The rest of the pitching staff performed quite well too. Dusty Issacs struck out six in five innings of work on Saturday, and Cole Pitts dealt six innings of two run ball and 7 strikeouts. Pitts had an endurance problem last year which he's clearly fixed, and only gave up three hits. New pitching coach Jason Howell has done a wonderful job pinpointing this pitching staff's weakness' and correcting them in a hurry. Look for pitching to become the storyline this season.</p>
<p>Two other things stood out to me this weekend: fielding and the young players. <a href="http://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/2012/10/26/3543426/beesball-fall-game-report" target="_blank">If you recall</a>, I was worried about the defense coming out of fall practice with all the errors in the fall game. Those errors were clearly the product of rust and the lackadaisical nature of the exhibition games, as Tech only put two E's on the board the entire weekend. It speaks to the quality of the lower classman that only one of these errors was committed by one of their own (Matt Gonzalez), even though a substantial number of them played. Notable performers include A.J. Murray (.444, 3BB, 2 RBI) and Matt Gonzalez (.556, 1BB, 4 RBI). "Gonzo" also had one stolen base and is as quick as lightning. <a href="http://www.twitter.com/gapanther" target="_blank">Rod McKenzie</a> of <a href="http://gojackets.com" target="_blank">gojackets.com</a> has dubbed him "Speedy," which I like more.</p>
<h4><span style="font-size: 1.25em;">What Needs to Improve</span></h4>
<p>Despite all the good, there were several areas needing improvement, one of which was Issacs' performance. He only lasted five innings and was really shaky in the fourth, throwing 2 wild pitches in a row and giving up 2 walks and a hit out of 6 batters faced. He was luck Akron's Alvarez made a bad swing and grounded into a fielder's choice, otherwise it could've been worse. Then there was the issue of the bats on Friday. The guys that were swinging at the ball were trying to kill it, and the rest of the team was very sheepish. This may have been first game jitters on Saturday as the Jackets brought in ten runs, but its something to keep in mind.</p>
<h4>Game by Game Breakdown</h4>
<h5>Game 1 - Akron 0, GT 3</h5>
<p>There wasn't much to this game besides strikeouts. Buck struck out 14 their guys and they struck out 15 of Tech's, but the Jackets small balled their way out of it anyways. Taking advantage of Kyle Wren's speed and insane on base percentage was the key here. Wren singled on twice and was batted in by Sam Dove both times, once going from first to home on a deep Dove ball to right. A.J. Murray was brought in off a Gonzalez double to center for the only other scoring action of the day.</p>
<h5>Game 2 - Akron 3, GT 10</h5>
<p>This is where things got interesting for fans of the Joltin' Jackets. Lead by Daniel "the Palmetto Pounder" Palka (3RBI, 4-4 on the game), the team hit in 10 runs with a five run fourth inning. The Jackets also showed patience at the plate, drawing six walks. Brandon Thomas drew three of these in an especially pervasive outing. As for the pitching, Issacs went five innings, throwing a three hit ballgame and doling out six strikeouts.</p>
<h5>Game 3 - Akron 3, GT 5</h5>
<p>Cole Pitts threw 6 strong innings on Sunday en route to scoring his first victory of this young season, throwing 52 strikes in 77 pitches, striking out 7 and only allowing 2 runs and 1 BB. Definitely a performance we'd like to see him give every Sunday.<span style="line-height: 9px;"> </span>Kyle Wren (.385) and Brandon Thomas (.375) each had good offensive outputs with 3 hits and a run scored. Daniel Palka added 2 hits to raise his batting average to .545, while Matt Gonzalez had only 1 hit in 3 ABs to drop his average to a still-team-leading .556.<span style="line-height: 9px;"> </span>Zane Evans and Mott Hyde have had a tough time getting their bats going this weekend, with Evans hitting .167 through 3 games and Hyde hitting .091. It's not time to worry yet though -- these Juniors will be off and hitting really soon. (Another note on Evans -- he gave up a run, but he's a good choice for a closer, in my opinion. That kid throws GAS.)<span style="line-height: 9px;"> </span>Loved the 2 good innings from Freshman LHP Jonathan King. He had a couple of freshman moments where he struggled with control, but given a little time he'll surely straighten that out.</p>
<h4>What's Next</h4>
<p>GT takes on Ga. State at the Rusty C Tomorrow at four. The game will be broadcast on WREK (91.1FM) or wrek.org/listen, so tune in and support your beesballers! If you want to come and watch the game live, its $2 Tuesdays!</p>
https://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/georgia-tech-baseball/2013/2/18/4000754/joltin-jackets-sweep-behind-strong-pitchingGTNate2013-02-17T21:18:50-05:002013-02-17T21:18:50-05:00Images from Georgia Tech's Sweep of Akron
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<figcaption>Joey Weaver/SB Nation</figcaption>
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<p>I had my camera at the ballpark with me this weekend, and thought I'd share what I came away with.</p> <p>Feel free to peruse these and use them at will -- all I ask is to be credited with "Joey Weaver/SB Nation"!</p>
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https://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/georgia-tech-baseball/2013/2/17/3999592/images-from-georgia-techs-sweep-of-akronJoey Weaver2013-02-17T15:49:09-05:002013-02-17T15:49:09-05:00Jackets Complete Sweep of Zips, Defeat Akron 5-3
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<figcaption>Cole Pitts gave the Jackets 6 strong innings on Sunday. | Joey Weaver/SB Nation</figcaption>
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<p>On a chilly Sunday in Atlanta, the Jackets completed a 3-game sweep of Akron to begin their 2013 season.</p> <p><i>Final Lines:</i></p>
<p><i>Georgia Tech: 5 Runs, 11 Hits, 0 Errors, 9 LOB, W: Pitts (1-0), H: King, S: Evans (1)</i></p>
<p><i>Akron: 3 Runs, 6 Hits, 1 Error, 5 LOB, L: Brubaker (0-1)</i></p>
<p><i>Time of Game: 2 hours, 15 minutes</i></p>
<p>Joey's Game Notes:</p>
<p>Cole Pitts threw 6 strong innings on Sunday en route to scoring his first victory of this young season, throwing 52 strikes in 77 pitches, striking out 7 and only allowing 2 runs and 1 BB. Definitely a performance we'd like to see him give every Sunday.</p>
<p>Kyle Wren (.385) and Brandon Thomas (.375) each had good offensive outputs with 3 hits and a run scored. Daniel Palka added 2 hits to raise his batting average to .545, while Matt Gonzalez had only 1 hit in 3 ABs to drop his average to a still-team-leading .556.</p>
<p>Zane Evans and Mott Hyde have had a tough time getting their bats going this weekend, with Evans hitting .167 through 3 games and Hyde hitting .091. It's not time to worry yet though -- these Juniors will be off and hitting really soon. (Another note on Evans -- he gave up a run, but he's a good choice for a closer, in my opinion. That kid throws GAS.)</p>
<p>Loved the 2 good innings from Freshman LHP Jonathan King. He had a couple of freshman moments where he struggled with control, but given a little time he'll surely straighten that out.</p>
<p>Overall a very confidence-inspiring series to begin the season. I look forward to seeing what these guys can do from here on out.</p>
https://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/georgia-tech-baseball/2013/2/17/3998774/jackets-complete-sweep-defeat-akron-5-3Joey Weaver2013-02-17T12:55:00-05:002013-02-17T12:55:00-05:00Georgia Tech-Akron Finale
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<figcaption>Joey Weaver/SB Nation</figcaption>
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<p>After a 3-0 Opening Day victory was followed up Saturday by a 10-3 victory, Cole Pitts takes the mound as the Yellow Jackets go for a sweep.</p> <p>Keep your computers tuned here, and your radios tuned to 91.1 FM (in Atlanta) for coverage of today's series finale against the Akron Zips! Gametracker can be found here: <a href="http://www.ramblinwreck.com/gametracker/launch/gt_mbasebl.html?event=1213770&school=geot&sport=mbasebl&camefrom=&startschool=&">Link</a></p>
<p>Starting for the Jackets:</p>
<p><b>LF Kyle Wren, Jr<br>3B Sam Dove, Sr<br>CF Brandon Thomas, Sr<br>RF Daniel Palka, Jr<br>C Zane Evans, Jr<br>1B A.J. Murray, So<br>SS Mott Hyde, Jr<br>2B Matt Gonzalez, Fr<br>DH Daniel Spingola, So<br><br>RHP Cole Pitts, So</b></p>
<p><i>First Pitch: 1:05PM, 43 degrees</i></p>
<p>Top 1: Groundout to second, walk, flyout to second, flyout to center. <b>Akron 0, Jackets Coming Up.</b></p>
<p>Bottom 1: Wren Reaches on Error by the Pitcher, Dove flies out to right, Wren caught stealing second, Thomas singles to right, Palka flies out to shortstop. <b>Akron 0, Jackets 0.</b></p>
<p>Top 2:Strikeout, Home Run to Right. <b>Akron 1, Jackets 0. </b>Strikeout, Strikeout. <b>Akron 1, Jackets 0.</b></p>
<p>Bottom 2: Evans grounds out to third, Murray walks, Hyde, flies out to deep left center, Gonzalez grounds out to second. <b>Akron 1, Jackets 0.</b></p>
<p>Top 3: Ground out to second, Single to left, strikeout, Runner steals second, Strikeout.<b> Akron 1, Jackets 0.</b></p>
<p>Bottom 3: Spingola flies out to center, Wren triples to left (ball was lost in the sun), Dove flies out to left center -- Wren scores from third. <b>Akron 1, Jackets 1.</b> Thomas strikes out. <b>Akron 1, Jackets 1.</b></p>
<p><b><i>Third Inning Stats: Akron has 1 Run, 2 hits, 1 error. Jackets have 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors.</i></b></p>
<p>Top 4: Strikeout, groundout to shortstop, groundout to pitcher. <b>Akron 1, Jackets 1.</b></p>
<p>Bottom 4: Palka doubles to left (ball was lost in the sun), Evans strikes out, Murray grounds out to short (Palka to third), Hyde hit by pitch, Gonzalez singles to left (Palka scores, Hyde to second). <b>Akron 1, Jackets 2. </b>Spingola walks (Hyde to third, Gonzalez to second), Wren flies out to left (3 LOB). <b>Akron 1, Jackets 2.</b></p>
<p>Top 5: Lineout to first, groundout to shortstop, groundout to shortstop. <b>Akron 1, Jackets 2.</b></p>
<p>Bottom 5: Dove grounds out to third, Thomas singles to first (pitcher covered and missed the base), Palka singles to right (Thomas to second), Thomas to third on a wild pitch, Evans singles to center (Thomas scores, Palka to second). <b>Akron 1, Jackets 3. </b>Murray doubles off the left field wall (Palka scores, Evans held at third).<b> Akron 1, Jackets 4. </b><i>Akron makes a pitching change -- Andrew Fanning in for JT Brubaker.</i> Hyde walks, Gonzalez flies to center (Evans scores). <b>Akron 1, Jackets 5.</b> Murray to third & Hyde to second on wild pitch, Spingola grounds out to second. <b>Akron 1, Jackets 5.</b></p>
<p><i>JT Brubaker Final Stats: 4.1 IP, 5 R (all earned) on 8 H, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 WP, 1 HBP, 24 Batters Faced, 89 Total Pitches. (And a partridge in a pear tree.)</i></p>
<p>Top 6: Double to left, groundout to shortstop (runner to third), flyout to center (runner scores). <b>Akron 2, Jackets 5.</b> Strikeout. <b>Akron 2, Jackets 5.</b></p>
<p>Bottom 6: Wren singles to center, Dove lines out to third base (Wren thrown out at first), Thomas doubles to right (ground-rule), Thomas to third on a wild pitch, Palka grounds out to shortstop. <b>Akron 2, Jackets 5.</b></p>
<p>Top 7: <i>Jackets bring in LHP Jonathan King, Fr in relief of Cole Pitts</i>. Single to middle of the infield (no play could be made), Akron pinch hits Washington for Havrilak, groundout to pitcher (runner to second), batter hit by pitch, <i>Georgia Tech makes a mound visit,</i> groundout to catcher (essentially a swinging bunt, runners to second and third), groundout to shortstop. <b>Akron 2, Jackets 5.</b></p>
<p><i>Cole Pitts Final Stats: 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R (both earned), 2 BB, 7 K, 22 Batters Faced, 77 Total Pitches.</i></p>
<p>Bottom 7: <i>Akron's Washington remains in the game to play RF, DH Matt LaRocca brought in to pitch for Fanning.</i> Evans flies out to second base, Murray strikes out, Hyde flies out to second base. <b>Akron 2, Jackets 5.</b></p>
<p><i>Andrew Fanning Final Stats: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 Wild Pitch, 7 Batters Faced, 24 Total Pitches.</i></p>
<p>Top 8: Walk, Lineout to second (runner out at first), flyout to left field. <b>Akron 2, Jackets 5.</b></p>
<p>Bottom 8: <i>Samuel Trecaso brought in to pitch for Akron (LaRocca remains at DH...rules are weird).</i> Gonzalez flies out to center, Spingola grounds out to shortstop, Wren singles up the middle, Dove strikes out looking. <b>Akron 2, Jackets 5.</b></p>
<p><i>Matt LaRocca Final Stats: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 3 Batters Faced, 7 Total Pitches.</i></p>
<p>Top 9: <i>Jackets bring in RHP Zane Evans, Jr in relief of Jonathan King, Mitch Earnest on to play catcher for Evans (Jackets do not retain the right to a DH...rules are still weird). </i>Single to shortstop, flyout to right field, flyout to right field, double to right center (runner scores from first).<b> Akron 3, Jackets 5</b>. Strikeout.</p>
<p><i>Jonathan King Final Stats: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 HBP, 8 Batters Faced, 35 Total Pitches. Unofficially credited with a Hold.</i></p>
<p><i>Zane Evans Final Stats: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R (earned), 0 BB, 1 K, 5 Batters Faced, 12 Total Pitches. Credited with the Save.</i></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><b>JACKETS WIN 5-3!</b></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>W: Cole Pitts (1-0) -- L: JT Brubaker (0-1) -- S: Zane Evans (1)</i></b></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Jackets (3-0) -- Akron (0-3)</b></i></p>
<p>Coach Hall speaks about his team's performance and Tuesday's game against Georgia State: <a href="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2181603/Memo__1_.m4a">Coach Hall Akron Postgame</a> <br id="1361133182477"></p>
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<p><i>Images from Friday and Today are here!</i></p>
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https://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/georgia-tech-baseball/2013/2/17/3998326/georgia-tech-goes-for-the-sweep-over-akronJoey Weaver2013-02-15T15:29:25-05:002013-02-15T15:29:25-05:00Beesball Opening Day Open Thread: Beat the Zips
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<figcaption>Danny Karnik/GT Athletics</figcaption>
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<p>The Jackets take on the Akron Zips in the first of a three game series. Talk about it here!</p> <p>Welcome to the 2013 beesball season! We'll be live-tweeting the game on my twitter, <a href="http://www.twitter.com/ftrsnate" target="_blank">@FTRSNate</a> and live-chatting here. Radio is 91.1FM in Atlanta or at the WREK FM <a href="http://www.wrek.org/listen">internet live stream</a>. You can find the season preview <a href="http://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/georgia-tech-baseball/2013/2/15/3984920/beesball-preview" target="_blank">here</a>, and a lot of other college baseball content in the <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-baseball" target="_blank">SBN NCAA College Baseball supergroup</a>! Let's go Tech!</p>
https://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/georgia-tech-baseball/2013/2/15/3993126/beesball-opening-day-open-thread-the-zips-from-the-sticksGTNate2013-02-15T05:34:13-05:002013-02-15T05:34:13-05:00Beesball Preview
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<figcaption>Danny Karnik - GT Athletics</figcaption>
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<p>We preview the Beesball season, which starts today at 4 vs. Akron at Russ Chandler Stadium. Come on in to discover which players to watch, team strategy, and more!</p> <p><i>A little housekeeping to begin: SBNation has started a college baseball supergroup, which you can find (and bookmark!) </i><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-baseball">here</a><i>. Therein you can find college baseball stories from all over the nation covering team performance, player's future prospects, conference reviews, and more! Subscribe today!</i></p>
<p>Welcome to the 2013 college baseball season! Its going to be a good 5 months (hopefully), as I will detail herein. Tech is going into its slate with high expectations as they come off an ACC championship in 2012 after they went 38-26 in the regular season. The pitching staff is back at full strength after being decimated by injury. We have two leftys available this year as opposed to <i>zero</i> last year. The lineup is also quite strong. The team returns 7 starting bats who hit a combined .300 last year and only loses one major contributor, Jake Davies. Coach Danny Hall returns for his 20th year as Yellow Jackets chieftain, and brings most of his staff back with him. The only new face, in fact, is pitching coach Jason Howell. Howell comes from UNC Wilmington and trained up the best pitching staff in their conference in 2012. He's hoping to have the same effect at Tech and here he's got plenty of young talent to work with. That said, let's take a closer look at the pitching staff.</p>
<p>Below you'll find the complete pitching staff for the 2013 season. Keep in mind that not all these guys will pitch or will only play pitcher, but I included everyone for completeness.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2171103/pitchingStaff13.png" target="_blank"><img alt="Pitchingstaff13_medium" class="photo" src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2171103/pitchingStaff13_medium.png"></a> <br id="1360915862529"></p>
<p>Of note: Junior Devin Stanton comes back after missing the lions share of last season with an injury. Stanton had Tommy John surgery, and is due back "the first part of March" according to Coach Hall. Also of note: Buck Farmer returns for his senior season. Farmer was the top man in the rotation last year, starting 16 games and going 8-4 in that span. Expect him to get the Friday slot in the rotation, followed by Dusty Issacs on Saturday and Cole Pitts on Sunday to round out the weekend. The midweek start gets a little murkier. Devin Stanton might get it once he's back at full strength, but there's a whole stable of guys in front of him that can pitch right now.<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;"><div class="non-primary" style="border: 1px solid #c2c2c2; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; padding: 5px; background-color: #dcdcdc; float: right; width: 175px; text-align: left;"></span></p>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;"><div><img src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2171071/DevinStantonSmall.jpg" /></div></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;"><div style="font-style: italic; font-size: 85%; line-height: 115%; font-weight: normal;">Devin Stanton will be back in the rotation this season. (Photo: GT Athletics)<br /></div></div>
<p></div></div>Josh Heddinger will get the start for the first midweek game next Tuesday against Georgia State, but Coach Hall made it clear that its open season on the slot. The Jonathans (Roberts and King) are the two guys he pegged to look out for Tuesday-Thursday. Jonathan King is a special kid and may end up getting the rawhide. Selected by ESPN Scouting as Tennessee player of the year last year, he posted a .65 ERA while going 11-1 and boasted a 5.4 SO/BB ratio. With the rotation mostly set one might wonder where 2012 freak-of-nature Alex Cruz fits (1.83/8-3) into the pitching picture. Coach says he's going to be a setup guy, someone he'd like to use "three times a week as opposed to just once a week." Seeing as Cruz could hit the dust off a pinhead, he could be invaluable in sticky situations. Coach also specified that he wants to see Zane Evans on the mound closing out games as often as he can. There's some fluidity there between Cruz, Evans, King, and Dalton. However, I think Evans is going to be this team's Medlen.</p>
<p>Next up we come to the lineup. This is where things get real confounding, but in a good way. We've got 5 starting infielders for four spots ("too much talent" seems to be the theme of this preseason) and a bunch of different ways to hit them. We're not covering all of them here, but the projected lineup is below.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a target="_blank" href="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2171847/Screen_Shot_2013-02-15_at_9.23.43_AM.png"><img src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2171847/Screen_Shot_2013-02-15_at_9.23.43_AM_medium.png" class="photo" alt="Screen_shot_2013-02-15_at_9"></a> <br id="1360938379957"></p>
<p>There's a lot of <i>positional</i> wiggle room here (Hyde can play SS or 2B, Dove can play 3B or LF, etc) but I think this is how the <i>lineup</i> will ultimately shake out. The DH is an easy split between Spingola and a few other guys, and Evans may be out occasionally so he can rest up for his closing duties. That's not problem though because Catcher is the Jacket's deepest position. Mitch Earnest, Connor Lynch, and A.J. Murray are ready to step in behind Evans to call the game. People are particularly excited about Murray, who owns many of his high school's batting records.<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;"><div class="non-primary" style="border: 1px solid #c2c2c2; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; padding: 5px; background-color: #dcdcdc; float: left; width: 240px; text-align: left;"></span></p>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;"><div><img src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2171263/Murray__AJ__9__small.jpg" /></div></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;"><div style="font-style: italic; font-size: 85%; line-height: 115%; font-weight: normal;">A.J. Murray is expected to have a barn-burning sophomore attempt (Photo: GT Athletics).<br /></div></div>
<p><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;"></div> </span>The Sophomore developed a lot in the offseason and is expected to become a dangerous hitter in the cleanup spot or 3-hole. There's a lot of power like Murray in this group which slugged nearly .440 last season and went on 53 trips around the world. I can't see those numbers going down this season with the team returning all but one starter and another offseason of strength training under their belts. If disaster should arise, however, these guys showed last season they can play small ball too, so you don't have to completely rely on the power game for success.</p>
<p>The schedule is its usual brutal ACC self. GT faces Florida State and Miami on the road, as well as an improved Duke team. NC State, UVA, and UNC mercifully come to the Rusty C but that doesn't make them any worse as teams. For what its worth, Aaron Fitt of Baseball America has us getting through this rough schedule and hosting an NCAA regional. I'll cover the other ACC teams more in depth in my ACC previews, which will start next week. All in all, this should be a well-put-together team barring injury and should win 45+ games.</p>
https://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/georgia-tech-baseball/2013/2/15/3984920/beesball-previewGTNate