How Dogs, Jackets stack up against each other on diamond

Two baseball teams headed in different directions meet each other Tuesday night.

Georgia, losers of nine of the past 11, will face Georgia Tech, winners of five of the past six, at 7 p.m. at Turner Field. Georgia freshman Cecil Tanner (3-1, 4.15) will face Tech junior Zach Von Tersch (6-2, 5.47).

A look at two divergent seasons:

RECORDS

• Georgia: 34-17 overall, 15-12 SEC; No. 15 in USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll; unranked in Baseball America poll; No. 15 in Collegiate Baseball poll.

• Tech: 33-12-1 overall, 16-8-1, ACC; No. 8 in USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll; No. 7 in Baseball America poll; No. 8 in Collegiate Baseball poll.

PREVIOUS MEETING

This is their second meeting of the season. Tech built an 8-2 third-inning lead and won 11-6 on April 14 in Athens. A scheduled March 25 meeting at Tech was rained out and not rescheduled.

THE SEASON SO FAR

• Georgia: The Bulldogs have more losses in their past 11 games (nine) than they had in their first 40 games (eight). Through April 21, the Dogs were 32-8 and ranked No. 1 in the nation by the USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll. Since then, a teamwide meltdown has dropped them to No. 15 in the same poll.

“Bad baseball is contagious — just like good hitting is contagious,” coach David Perno said last week. His team broke an eight-game losing streak by beating Vanderbilt on Sunday.

• Tech: The Jackets are atop the ACC’s Coastal Division with a series remaining against Duke and come into tonight’s game having won five of the past six games with a barrage of 74 runs. The pitching has been steady, having yielded 27 runs during the same stretch.

“We have had a very good season,” coach Danny Hall said. “We’ve got ourselves in position to accomplish a lot of goals that we had prior to the season starting.”

WHAT’S AHEAD

• Georgia: The Bulldogs’ slump derailed their quest of a second consecutive SEC regular-season championship but on Sunday, they clinched one of the eight berths in the conference tournament, which will be held next week in Hoover, Ala. Although the Dogs no longer figure to host an NCAA Regional, they still hope to repeat last year’s run to the College World Series, where they finished as national runner-up.

“I think we can get where we ultimately want to be,” Perno said. “I think we’re … very capable of making some noise in the postseason, because of our starting pitching, our bullpen and our lineup.”

• Tech: The Jackets are within reach of three of their goals for this season, according to Hall: win the ACC’s regular season, put themselves in position to host a regional and take the season series against Georgia. Tech is percentage points ahead of UNC in the Coastal Division and if the Jackets sweep Duke, they will earn the top seed in the next week’s ACC tournament in Raleigh.

“All told, we are where we need to be and in position to hopefully finish strong this week,” Hall said.

WHO’S HOT

• Georgia: First baseman Rich Poythress has been about as productive as any hitter in the nation. His .392 batting average, 21 home runs and 75 RBIs have put him in striking distance of a SEC Triple Crown. Georgia has four other players with double-digit home runs: Bryce Massanari (18), Joey Lewis (16) and Colby May (11).

“I did not expect to hit [so many] home runs. That is the surprise,” Perno said. “Everyone thought we didn’t have any power.”

• Tech: Chase Burnette has had the hot metal for the Jackets lately. He’s raised his average 83 points over the past six games. For the season, he’s batting .387 with seven homers and 22 RBI. Tony Plagman has four homers in the past six games to bring his season total to 15 and Jeff Rowland has 11 hits and scored 11 runs. The Jackets are batting. 325 as a team.

“Chase had a phenomenal weekend last weekend [against Presbyterian],” Hall said. “He continued to swing the bat very well for us over the weekend [against FSU].”