At the start of each week throughout the regular season, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will take a closer look at the Georgia Tech baseball team.
Here’s a breakdown of the Yellow Jackets (19-11, 5-7 ACC) going into the eighth week of the campaign:
Record: 19-11, 5-7 ACC
Streak: Won one
Rank: N/A
RPI: 88
Last Week (3-1)
Tuesday: beat Presbyterian 9-8 (10 innings)
Friday: won at Pittsburgh 6-3
Saturday: lost at Pittsburgh 3-2
Sunday: won at Pittsburgh 7-4
This Week
Tuesday: vs. Georgia Southern, 6 p.m.
Friday: vs. Virginia Tech, 6 p.m.
Saturday: vs. Virginia Tech, 4 p.m.
Sunday: vs. Virginia Tech, 1 p.m.
Week in review
What was nearly a disastrous start to the week may turn out to be a turning point in Tech’s season.
The Jackets trailed Presbyterian 8-6 with two outs and nobody on base in the bottom of the ninth Tuesday at Russ Chandler Stadium. A walk, a hit batter and an RBI single made it a one-run game before Drew Burress worked a bases-loaded walk to tie the game. Parker Brosius put down a squeeze bunt in the bottom of the 10th to score Vahn Lackey and win the game.
Tech rode that momentum into the Steel City where they battled snow and the Pittsburgh Panthers in a 6-3 win Friday. On Saturday, the Jackets had runners on second and third and no one out in the top of the ninth but couldn’t score. Reliever Ben King gave up the winning run in the bottom half of a 3-2 defeat.
The Jackets won Sunday’s rubber match 7-4 thanks to Trey Yunger’s 4-for-5 day that included three RBIs and a home run. Tate McKee went five innings and allowed just a solo home run while punching out a career-high nine batters.
A series win in Pittsburgh moved Tech into fifth place in the ACC’s Coastal Division, 4 1/2 games back of first-place North Carolina.
Individually for Tech, Burress now has an ACC-leading 15 homes runs (seventh nationally). The freshman is slugging .842 and has 40 RBIs.
Week ahead
Another test with an in-state foe awaits the Jackets when Georgia Southern comes to town at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Tech and Southern met Feb. 20 in Statesboro and the Jackets pulled out a 7-4 win thanks to two runs in the seventh and four in the eighth.
The Eagles (18-14) come to Atlanta on a four-game winning streak that includes a victory at South Carolina and a sweep at home of Georgia State. Southern has an RPI of 50.
Tech’s weekend series opens at 6 p.m. Friday at Russ Chandler Stadium against Virginia Tech. The Hokies (21-8, 10-5 ACC) had risen as high as 11th in the national rankings before being swept at home over the weekend by Wake Forest.
Virginia Tech, with an RPI of 34, still sits in second place in the ACC’s Coastal Division, just a 1/2-game back of first-place North Carolina. The Hokies lead the ACC in home runs and slugging percentage.
