In the biggest series of #3 Georgia Tech Baseball’s season (all games sold out), the Jackets more than rose to the occassion, sweeping the #5 Florida State Seminoles by a combined 29-9 score. Tech now is 30-5 (15-3 ACC), matching their best mark through 35 games in program history.
Both games one and two went very simiarly, with FSU taking early leads before Tech found critical runs in the final few innings mied with fantastic bullpen work to seal games one and two 4-3 and 8-3. Game one ended on a wild
double play were Mason Patel looked back Seminole’s left fielder, Chase Williams, at third, throwing out the batter at third, where then Tech first baseman Kent Schmidt threw home to Vahn Lackey to catch Williams many steps short of the plate and ending the game at 4-3.
Williams being the one caught out was a little extra special as he jawed with Tech’s student section earlier in the game, catching their ire for the rest of that game and the series.
Game two again was close in the early innings, Tech scoring four in the third inning to go up 4-1. FSU scored one in the 7th to cut the lead to 4-2 before another four spot by Tech in the 8th made it a comfortable 8-2 lead in the final inning. Dylan Loy allowed one run in the 9th but put FSU away to get the series win.
Game three felt as tight as any game all series, both teams scoring one run in the first and second innings. A Williams triple set up a sacrifice fly by Brayden Dowd in the 5th inning to give Florida State a 3-2 lead before Tech went full on rampage mode, scoring 15 unanswered between the 5th and 6th innings, going up 17-3 and getting a mercy rule win at the same score after 7 innings.
“I trust every single guy that goes out there,” said Carson Kerce after game 3 about the pitching staff. Tech’s pitching has allowed 3 or fewer runs in seven straight ACC games.
Of course the hitting has been of the best in the country, and a lot of that has come from just how well Tech head coach James Ramsay has kept Tech centered and in a good mental space to hit.
“Coach Ramsay’s done a really good job challenging us throughout the fall and spring to put us in these situations. I think these are the situations that we strive in, and we want to be in,” said Kerce.
This weekend was the first true test if Tech had enough to beat the kind of teams they would face in Omaha (should we be so lucky), and they passed it with flying colors winning close when every pitcher was available and taking advantage of that later in the series when they mercilessly pounded Seminole pitching in game three.
“These guys embody everything you want to talk about as a coach, so it’s really easy for us to keep putting them in the best positions, but trusting that they know how to play the game,” said Ramsay after game three.
Tech will be back at Russ Chandler on Tuesday to finish their home and home series against Georgia Southern at 6pm before heading to Chapel Hill over the weekend to play #6 North Carolina.
