With its bullpen authoring a dominant performance, Georgia Tech claimed a 15-2 win over Mercer on Tuesday night at Russ Chandler Stadium.
The Yellow Jackets gave up four hits (all singles) to the Bears, who were riding a 12-game win streak. The hit total tied a season low for Tech’s pitching staff. John Medich, Joseph Mannelly, Luke Bartnicki and Camron Hill covered the final seven innings with only three hits and no runs allowed. Medich entered the game in the third inning with the Jackets down 2-0 and threw three innings of hitless relief with six strikeouts and one walk. Tech (24-14) led 5-2 by the time he completed his outing. He was credited with the win.
“Very proud and pleased of all the pitching,” coach Danny Hall told media after the game. “I thought Medich really did a great job of just kind of settling the game for us, and everybody that threw behind him threw the ball really well. We got some timely hits and ended up with just a really good midweek win.”
The defeat of the Bears was not a standard midweek win. Mercer (31-6) entered the game No. 25 nationally in RPI. The Bears had defeated the Jackets 5-4 on March 8 in Macon, had also beaten Florida State and won a road series at Utah.
Tech was coming off a weekend series at North Carolina in which the Jackets emerged with two wins but also permitted the Tar Heels to hit .341 in the three games. Mercer ranked 24th in Division I in batting average (.303) before facing the Jackets on Tuesday.
“Obviously, my slider kind of has been my bread and butter this year,” Medich said. “On days like (Tuesday) where I have command of both fastball and slider, just letting them play off each other has been a lot of fun.”
The Jackets continued to pulverize opposing pitching, collecting 15 hits as right fielder Stephen Reid enjoyed a career day with two home runs and six RBIs and four runs scored. Tech plays Duke this weekend at Russ Chandler in a three-game series.
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