Georgia Tech salvaged one win from its weekend series with Florida State, defeating the Seminoles 9-8 on Sunday at Mac Nease Baseball Park. Florida State, ranked 17th by Baseball America, had won the first two games of the series, 9-0 and 13-10.
Sunday, Tech, ranked 20th, rallied from a 5-0 first-inning deficit with three runs in the bottom of the second and then six more in the bottom of the fifth. Luke Waddell, Jake DeLeo and Austin Wilhite all drove in two runs each.
After starter Sam Crawford gave up five in the first – all earned – Marquis Grissom Jr. threw three innings of scoreless, one-hit relief before giving way to Zach Maxwell. In the top of the ninth, FSU scored once on closer Luke Bartnicki to draw to within 9-8 and had runners on first and second with one out, but Bartnicki was able to close out the game with a 4-6-3 double play.
For Sunday’s win, coach Danny Hall credited the seven backups he subbed into the lineup of the second game of the series as the Jackets fell behind 11-1 Saturday night. In a game suspended by weather that night and resumed Sunday at noon, the reserves closed the game to 13-10 and had the game-tying run at the plate before falling. However, their productivity, Hall noted, taxed the FSU bullpen, which he said was a factor Sunday.
Sunday’s win was the 1,300th in the career for Hall, making him the 20th Division I coach of all-time and only the fourth active coach to reach that plateau.
Tech is now 1-3 in its ACC home series this season, with the lone series win coming against Louisville, a consensus top-10 team. The Jackets are 8-11 at home and 11-5 on the road this season, with four ACC series wins away from Tech out of five played.
“I’m baffled by (the home record), just to be quite honest,” Hall said Friday after the series-opening loss.
The Jackets are 19-16 overall and 15-12 in the ACC. They are tied for second in the Coastal with Virginia Tech, behind Pitt at 14-10. FSU (20-15, 15-12) is third in the Atlantic.
Tech plays archrival Georgia in Athens on Tuesday. The Jackets and Bulldogs will play twice in the regular season instead of their usual three-game arrangement, with the second game at Tech on May 18.
Daily Jackets: The AJC presents a daily look at the one thing you need to know about Georgia Tech athletics today.
About the Author
