For the second time in about three weeks, Georgia Tech gave Georgia a nine-inning demonstration of the might of its heralded freshman class.
From the Bulldogs' vantage point in the first-base dugout, it could not have been a very encouraging presentation. Tech freshman pitcher Matthew Grimes overpowered Georgia, and freshman designated hitter Daniel Palka delivered a decisive two-run homer in the Yellow Jackets' 5-3 win over Georgia on Tuesday night at Tech's Russ Chandler Stadium.
"He pitched a great game," Georgia coach David Perno said of Grimes.
Tech, ranked 12th in the country in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll, improved to 25-9 and has won the past five against the Bulldogs. Georgia is 18-16.
"They've all contributed, done a great job for us," Tech coach Danny Hall said of his freshmen. "We've needed them."
By winning the first two games of the season against Georgia, Tech has clinched the season series for the second year in a row, barring the teams meeting in the NCAA tournament. They'll play one more game, April 26 at Turner Field. The last time Tech won the season series in back-to-back years was 1998-99.
Hall's freshmen appear prepared to extend the run. Last year, in the wake of losing seven underclassman starters to the draft, including first-round pick pitcher Deck McGuire, Hall reeled in 17 players. Of the class, rated as high as sixth in the country, five started Tuesday night.
That would include Grimes, a 6-foot-6 right-hander from Mill Creek High who got a shaving-cream pie in the face for his efforts Tuesday. Against the soft-hitting Bulldogs, Grimes struck out a career-high 10 in 6 2/3 innings with no walks and gave up two runs to beat Georgia for the second time this year.
"He couldn't have pitched better and gave us a big lift by pitching the way he did," Hall said.
Grimes (5-1) stranded five Georgia base runners in the first four innings, giving Tech a chance to unravel Bulldogs pitcher Chase Hawkins (1-2).
They began to do so in the third, employing four singles and a groundout to score two runs, and again in the fourth, when Palka barely cleared the right-field fence for his team-high seventh home run of the season and a 4-1 lead.
Another freshman, pitcher Dusty Isaacs, did his bit later on. With two on and two out in the top of the seventh, Isaacs retired Kyle Farmer, Georgia's RBI leader, with a three-pitch strikeout. He struck out two more in the eighth in giving up one run. Farmer also made the last out of the game, another two-on, two-out situation.
"Maybe a couple things go a different direction, it could have been a whole different outcome," Perno said.
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