Georgia Tech showed off its stellar defense, exploited Georgia’s pitching lapses and claimed the season series from the Bulldogs.
The Yellow Jackets defeated Georgia 2-0 at Turner Field Tuesday night to claim the season series 2-1 and earn bragging rights for the fourth time in the past five years. A crowd of 21,310 watched in the annual benefit game for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
The difference between the two teams was minute. The game was decided between the bottom of the sixth and the top of the eighth, when Tech outfielders Matt Gonzalez and Ryan Peurifoy snuffed out Georgia threats with laser-guided throws to cut down runners and the Jackets snuck across single runs in the top of the seventh and eighth to claim the lead.
“They just made more plays than we did,” Georgia coach Scott Stricklin said.
Tech (30-23) picked up a win critical to its NCAA tournament chances at the expense of the Bulldogs (25-26-1), who likewise are trying to build their résumé for the selection committee in the final week of the regular season.
In the bottom of the sixth with the score 0-0, Gonzalez threw out Conor Welton at the plate on a single to left to end the inning.
“It totally takes the momentum away from them,” Tech coach Danny Hall said. “If they score a run, get the lead, it changes the momentum.”
“It’s not like we’re getting a bunch of base hits,” Stricklin said. “We didn’t have many opportunities. That was our best opportunity to score. In a 0-0 game, I’ll do that 100 times, where you’re going to try to score in that situation with two outs, to try to get on the board.”
In the top of the seventh, the Jackets got on the board when A.J. Murray reached first base when pitcher Heath Holder hit him with a pitch, advanced to second on a walk to Connor Justus and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Peurifoy. Brandon Gold walked to load the bases. Ross Ripple struck out Mitch Earnest swinging, but the wild pitch on strike three allowed Murray to score for a 1-0 lead.
“If you walk guys in a 0-0 game, you’re going to lose,” Stricklin said.
In the bottom of the seventh, second baseman Mott Hyde ranged far to his left to field Jess Posey’s grounder and throw him out, then centerfielder Daniel Spingola made a diving catch on Brandon Stephens’ low line drive for the second out. Skyler Weber drilled a hard shot down the right field line, but was thrown out at second when Peurifoy cleanly fielded the ball, turned and fired to Justus for the tag.
The outfield assists were Tech's 21st and 22nd of the year. Going into the game, Cal State-Bakersfield led the country in outfield assists with 22. Gonzalez has nine by himself.
Said Gonzalez, “That’s my favorite thing to do in baseball now that I’m an outfielder is to throw somebody out.”
In the top of the eighth, Gonzalez reached on an infield hit, stole second, moved to third on Ripple’s wild pitch and then scored on another wild pitch for a 2-0 lead.
“Not the way you want to score runs, but tonight it was good enough for us to get a win,” Hall said.
Both teams have struggled with scoring lately. Tech hit .184 and scored seven runs while getting swept this past weekend at No. 1 Virginia. The same weekend, Georgia was held to five runs in losing its series at No. 11 Ole Miss.
Only eight runs were scored in this season’s three games – a 1-0 win for Georgia in Athens, a 4-1 win for Tech at its campus and Tuesday’s game. In the previous 31 games between the two teams dating back to 2004, Tech and Georgia combined for eight or more runs in 29 of them.
Tech pitcher Matthew Grimes, who has come back from Tommy John surgery that sidelined him last season, shut out Georgia for seven innings and allowed just four hits to improve to 5-2. Holder (0-1) took the loss.
Grimes “threw as good as I’ve seen him throw in a long time,” Hall said.
Tech closes the regular season this weekend with a three-game home series with South Florida and needs some help to get into the ACC tournament. Georgia finishes its regular season with a three-game series at home against Kentucky. The Bulldogs will have to play their way into the SEC tournament, which they’ll likely need to do to have a chance to make the NCAA tournament.
“I’m not happy about tonight, the guys aren’t happy about losing to them,” Stricklin said. “It hurts. You never want to lose to your rival, but we’ve got to move on.”
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