Georgia Tech continued its first-inning magic Tuesday night, this time working its white-and-gold sorcery on rival Georgia.
With three first-inning runs, the Yellow Jackets evened the season series with the Bulldogs with a 4-1 win on a chilly evening at Tech’s Russ Chandler Stadium.
“I think anytime you can put a crooked number up there in the first inning, it makes it a lot harder on the other team to come back into the game,” Tech coach Danny Hall said. “So we’re fortunate we could get three right out of the gate.”
Tech scored 10 of its 21 runs in the first inning against Florida State in taking two of three this past weekend over the team that was ranked No. 1 in three polls. The Jackets have now won nine out of their past 10.
Georgia (21-15-1) gave Tech (24-14) ample help to make its early getaway. Daniel Spingola and Matt Gonzalez started the scoring with a single and double for a 1-0 lead, but from there, Georgia pitcher Patrick Boling contributed a wild pitch, hit batsman and three walks to gift the next two runs.
“It was a disappointing start and not what we were expecting out of Patrick Boling,” said Georgia coach Scott Stricklin. “He’s a senior, and we’re looking for more consistency. He was not the same pitcher that was so good last Tuesday in beating Clemson. Also, we struck out nine times and walked them eight times, and that’s not going to work out in your favor most nights.”
Tech pitcher Ben Parr and a leak-free defense did the rest. In six shutout innings, Parr only permitted one Bulldog to reach second base, Daniel Nichols on a one-out double in the second inning. Parr then struck out Jess Posey and Skyler Weber to end the threat.
“It wasn’t bad,” Parr said of the cold. “I kept my hands warm in the dugout, and then when I came out (to pitch), they were still warm. Once I got going on the mound, it wasn’t anything different than usual.”
In the fourth, Zack Bowers drove a 3-2 pitch into the right-center gap, but Spingola cut it off and then threw him out at second when Bowers slid into second and couldn’t maintain contact with the base.
Parr, who struck out seven, walked two and gave up four hits, is now 4-1 and has a 1.30 ERA since becoming a midweek starter four weeks ago.
“It’s just what I’ve been doing all my life, so it’s normal,” said Parr, a freshman, of starting. “And coming out of the pen was a little bit different for me, and then when I got the starting role, it was like going back to normal.”
Parr had an 11.57 ERA in five appearances totaling 2 1/3 innings (he didn’t retire anyone in two of the appearances) as a reliever.
“He just seems to be a lot more comfortable starting games and he knows exactly when he’s going to pitch and he’s in a routine,” Hall said. “He’s a very smart guy, throws a lot of strikes with three pitches and will throw all three of them at any count. His fastball has a lot of movement on it. He’s hard to hit. He’s been outstanding.”
Tech gained revenge for a 1-0 walk-off loss to Georgia in Athens March 4. The teams will decide the series May 13 in their annual game at Turner Field.
Georgia failed to produce offensively. The Bulldogs’ 3-4-5 hitters, Conor Welton, Nelson Ward and Bowers, were a combined 2-for-11. Georgia got its only run in the eighth when Mike Bell doubled off Ben Schniederjans, moved to third on Stephen Wrenn’s groundout and scored on another groundout by Hunter Cole.
Tuesday night’s game began under clear skies accompanied by unseasonable cold. Temperature at first pitch was 45 degrees with gusting winds. When the schools’ football teams met last November, game-time temperature was a comparatively balmy 55 degrees.
Winter coats and blankets were the rule for the evening, and only a small fraction of the 1,565 who attended the game remained at game’s end.
“At least we’ll make that game at Turner Field more interesting now,” Hall said. “It’s a shame we had a cold night because we had great crowds all weekend (for the Florida State series). They were playing well, we’re playing well, so I think we would have had a lot of fans here tonight, so that’s unfortunate. But if we’re both playing good in a month and we’re at Turner Field, maybe we can get 30-40,000 in there to watch the game. That’s what we hope for.”
Hall was speaking tongue in cheek; last year, the Turner Field game drew 18,240. But Hall’s team is 9-1 in April, already exceeding Tech’s April win total from the past two seasons. His team just took a series from the No. 1 team in the country and has exceeded outside expectations. Why not shoot high?
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