Georgia Tech struck first, with frequency and to great effect. The Yellow Jackets used a five-run first inning to dump Florida State, ranked No. 1 in the country by three polls, by a 5-3 score Friday night at Russ Chandler Stadium.
The Jackets scored another win over a ranked opponent with the win over the Seminoles, whose late-inning replacements included Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston in left field. In March, Tech took back-to-back weekend series against Miami (then No. 22) and North Carolina (then No.13). The Jackets have also won five of their past seven games against teams with a No. 1 ranking, and have won seven games in a row.
“All these guys are here for a reason,” winning pitcher Josh Heddinger said of his teammates. “We were put here to play baseball against the top teams in the nation, I think, and we did just that tonight. We played very well.”
Tech (22-13 overall, 9-7 ACC) are 5-2 against ranked opponents and 17-14 against everyone else. FSU (26-7, 13-3) will need to win the final two games against the Jackets – the next game is Saturday at 2 p.m. – to avoid losing its first series of the season.
“We’re going to have to go out and play with the same intensity, go out and play with the same effort or else we’re going to find ourselves where we don’t want to be,” said closer Dusty Isaacs, who earned his third save with a pair of scoreless innings to close out the Seminoles.
The Jackets played in front of 2,681, their largest home crowd of the season, with the stands split in their loyalties. Tech gained its early advantage with ample help from FSU and not much clout. In the bottom of the first, the Jackets took their 5-0 lead with, in order, an infield hit, a fielding error, a bounced single through the hole, a hit batsman, a walk, another single and a fielder’s choice.
“(We) put a crooked number up there on a really good pitcher (Luke Weaver) early,” coach Danny Hall said. “I’d like to have seen us score a little more as the game went on, but he settled in as most good pitchers do and made it tough on us to score. We made it hold up.”
Freshman shortstop Connor Justus had a key at-bat. With the score 2-0, the bases loaded and none out, Justus meekly fell behind 0-2 to pitcher Luke Weaver.
“I was nervous,” Justus said. “Nervous is the right word.”
Talking himself through the at-bat – Justus said he told himself, “I can do it” – he worked the count to 3-2 before lining a two-run single to left for a 4-0 lead, runs that proved critical in the outcome.
Justus was in on another significant play later on. In the top of the seventh, the lead had shrunk to 5-3 after Sam Clay loaded the bases with two walks and a hit batsman and then walked Justin Gonzalez to force in a run. With one out, DJ Stewart, who came into the game leading the ACC in hitting at .384, came to the plate. Stewart lashed at a 1-2 pitch, sending a screaming line drive right at Justus at shortstop. Justus flipped to second baseman Mott Hyde to double up Casey Smit and end the inning. It was Tech's 43rd double play of the season, second most in the country.
“He can hit,” Justus said of Stewart. “It just happened to go right to me. Just lucky.”
He hit it pretty hard?
“Yes, sir,” Justus said. “He hit it really hard.”
Isaacs worked the final two innings, retiring Winston on a pop fly in the eighth and Stewart in the ninth on a grounder to end the game. Heddinger went five innings, retiring 10 batters in a row at one point and carrying a no-hitter into the sixth, for the win.
“I had fastball command I’ve been wanting since day one that I came out and started,” Heddinger said.
Weaver went seven innings in taking the loss, giving up just three more hits and no runs over his final six innings.
Winston’s presence lent a buzz to the game. He signed autographs for perhaps 30 minutes before the game and attention was heightened when he came to the plate. Winston was scheduled to return to Tallahassee, Fla., Saturday morning for the football team’s spring game and then return for the final game of the series, on Sunday.
“I love watching him play football, and he’s a really impressive athlete, but when you’re on the mound, you want to get him out just like anybody else,” Isaacs said.
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