A.J. Murray and Mott Hyde hit back-to-back homers in the top of the ninth inning to help reigning champion Georgia Tech defeat Florida State 4-3 on Wednesday in pool play at the ACC tournament.
The seventh-seeded Yellow Jackets (34-23) led off the ninth with a pair of ground outs before Murray drove a fastball to left for a solo homer against reliever Robby Coles that tied the score. Hyde followed two pitches later with another shot to left to stun the second-seeded Seminoles (44-13).
Giovanny Alfonzo flied out to left in the bottom of the ninth to end the game, with Coles (4-2) taking the loss.
Hyde had three hits and two RBIs, while reliever Daniel Palka (2-1) took the win with two scoreless innings of work. Tech is 14-2 in games when Hyde hits a home run.
The Seminoles appeared to be headed for victory when D.J. Stewart tripled in the bottom of the eighth, then raced home on a short pop that was caught a few feet off the infield. That broke a 2-2 tie and put the game in the hands of Coles, the Seminoles’ ace reliever who was 9-for-10 on save opportunities with a 1.16 ERA in the regular season — and did not allow a home run.
Much of the game looked like a pitcher’s duel between right-handers Buck Farmer of Tech and Scott Sitz of FSU.
The Jackets got to Sitz for a pair of runs in the fourth, sparked by a leadoff triple by Brandon Thomas and a two-out run-scoring single by Hyde. But the Seminoles answered with two runs off Farmer in the sixth. The key blow was a double by Stewart.
The freshman outfielder led off the eighth with a shot to right center that came within inches of clearing the railing. He scored anyway on catcher Stephen McGee’s short pop-up to second baseman Thomas Smith. Stewart said that he was poised to try for home when he saw Smith backpedaling as he made the catch.
“I was mad at our right fielder for not calling the second baseman off,” said Tech coach Danny Hall, who improved to 72-53 all-time in ACC postseason play. “It looked like we were going to lose on a defensive mistake.”
Tech will face No. 3 seed Virginia at 11 a.m. Thursday.
