Georgia Tech baseball coach Danny Hall did his best on Saturday to try and describe what he and his team were feeling. On Friday, they learned that one of their own — pitcher Michael Hutts — was found dead in an apartment he shared near campus.

The team voted after hearing the news to get back on the field as soon as possible, so the Jackets played and lost a doubleheader to top-ranked Miami on Saturday at Russ Chandler Stadium.

Allen Sullivan/AJC (ENLARGE)

Michael Hutts' Georgia Tech teammates spend a moment of silence before Saturday's first game.

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But afterward, the talk wasn't about the game. It was about Hutts, and it was about the team.

"It is difficult and I really don't know how to describe it," Hall said. "I think for me, at least it took my mind off of it by playing the two games, but I know there's a lot of my players that are really struggling with it, and that's to be expected. There's a lot of tears still, and I know there was a lot of tears when we had the moment of silence before the first game. There's a lot of emotion involved in this; we got a chance to play two games today but there's still a lot of emotion riding on Michael's death."

There were several tributes to Hutts in and around the stadium. Georgia Tech handed out yellow-ribbon buttons at the gates; Hutts' jersey number 40 was painted along the third-base line, and the crowd of 2,608 for the opening game observed a moment of silence before the national anthem. Reserve infielder Ryan Tinkoff paid his own personal tribute, touching the painted "40" after the Yellow Jackets' batting practice, and several Yellow Jackets wore Hutts' number on their hats.

"I told the kids before the game ... every season there's going to be some adversity and I said you know, this adversity has really smacked all of us," said Hall. "We have to deal with it as individuals and we have to deal with it collectively as a team. I'm hoping that as the days go by, everybody maybe starts to feel a little better about it. We'll just pick each other up and be there for each other."

Some who knew Hutts showed up at the game to pay their respects.

"He was kind and bright; he had the most amazing parents," said Malia Bagdy, the fine arts manager and a teacher for more than 10 years at the Wesleyan School in Norcross, where Hutts graduated in 2005. "He was absolutely adored by his parents and his brother and well-loved by everyone."

On the field, freshman Chris Hernandez pitched six innings of three-run ball to lead the visiting Hurricanes to a 10-5 victory in game one. Led by Blake Tekotte's two home runs and seven RBIs, Miami (29-3) completed the doubleheader sweep with a 15-5 win in the second game.

"It wasn't an easy thing for us to have to deal with," said junior Luke Murton. "It was real emotional walking out here. The fans start clapping and it was rough for us, but I mean, we got through it and we got by today and it's just one day at a time, one step at a time."

The teams will play again at 1 p.m. today.