The Georgia Tech baseball team continued its mastery of rival Georgia Tuesday night with a 7-5 win in Athens. The Yellow Jackets have won three in a row over the Bulldogs and nine of 12.
Catcher Zane Evans drove in three runs and also earned his third save of the season with a 1-2-3 ninth inning. The win eased some of the bite of Tech’s 2-1 series loss to Duke in Durham, N.C., this past weekend. The No. 19 Jackets are 24-9. Georgia is 12-22.
“That was a nice win and a good bounce-back game for us,” coach Danny Hall said after the game. “We weren’t happy with the way we played this weekend and I liked where this game fell on the schedule because I knew it would get our guys focused and get their attention.”
Down 4-2 going into the top of the fifth, center fielder Kyle Wren opened the inning with a bunt single, which was followed by consecutive doubles from third baseman Sam Dove and designated hitter Brandon Thomas, making his first appearance after a nine-game absence due to mononucleosis. Evans finished the scoring for the inning by scoring Thomas with a single for a 5-4 lead. Tech didn’t trail after that.
Coach Danny Hall used five pitchers, starting with freshman Jonathan King, who threw 3.1 innings and gave up three runs, before using Josh Heddinger, Sam Clay, Alex Cruz and Evans. The four relievers limited the Bulldogs to two runs over the final 5.2 innings. Heddinger eanred the win to improve to 2-0. Georgia actually outhit the Jackets, 11 to 10, but committed three errors and allowed three unearned runs. Ross Ripple took the loss for Georgia. Tech, meanwhile, did not commit any errors and turned three double plays.
Thomas went 2-for-5 in his return, with an RBI and two runs scored.
Tech will be at home this weekend for a three-game series with No. 5 Virginia. The Cavaliers are 12-3 in the ACC, three games ahead of the Jackets (9-6).
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