Georgia Tech won its second consecutive elimination game, making it to the championship of the Gainesville, Fla., regional by defeating Connecticut 7-5 Sunday afternoon. The Yellow Jackets put up five in the fourth – three on freshman Joey Bart’s first career home run – and then added two more in the top of the ninth to break a 5-5 tie.
The Jackets will play host Florida – the tournament’s top overall seed at 49-13 – Sunday at 6 p.m. at the Gators’ McKethan Stadium (SEC Network). To advance, Tech needs to defeat Florida Sunday and then again Monday. Florida need only beat Tech Sunday night to earn the regional title and advance to the super regionals. The Jackets are playing for their first regional championship since 2006, the last time they played in the College World Series. Tech, for better or worse, has been the regional runner-up six times in seven NCAA appearances since then.
Tech got its go-ahead runs in the top of the ninth after Ryan Peurifoy led off with a double. Connor Justus put down a sacrifice bunt but a throwing error by pitcher Patrick Ruotolo allowed Peurifoy to score for a 6-5 lead. Wade Bailey sacrificed Justus to third, and after Matt Gonzalez was intentionally walked, Tristin English singled to score Justus for a 7-5 advantage.
Relief ace Matthew Gorst set down Connecticut (38-25) in order in the bottom of the ninth to secure the win. Gorst pitched the final four innings, giving up one run and throwing 44 pitches for the win.
Ben Parr started for Tech, going five innings and giving up two runs.
The degree of difficulty rises considerably for the Jackets. Tech (38-24) will play its second game of the day against a team that is 31-4 at home, has one of the best pitching staffs in the country and last played Saturday night. Tech will reportedly face Alex Faedo, who is 12-1 with a 3.49 ERA and a .227 opposition batting average.
Of the eight Tech pitchers with the most innings thrown this season, the only one who has yet to pitch in Gainesville is Cole Pitts, a senior with a 3-3 record with a 6.63 ERA and a .301 opponent batting average. Pitts has had his moments – he held Georgia to one run in five innings April 12 – but pitched his out of the way out of the rotation in the second half of the season.
That said, Florida’s offense is not a great strength – the Gators were 113th in batting average (.280) through Saturday’s games and 63rd in slugging percentage (.424). Tech, by comparison, was 20th (.307) and 26th (.463) in the same categories.
Tech will look to Matt Gonzalez, who is 8-for-12 with six RBI in three games. Tristin English is 6-for-13 with seven RBI in Gainesville. Gonzalez became the third player in Tech history to reach 300 career hits with a single in the first inning.
Connecticut (38-25), which defeated Tech on Friday to send the Jackets to the loser’s bracket, was eliminated.
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