Georgia Tech Baseball Keeps Season Alive, Defeats Army 4-2 in Athens Regional Elimination Game

Georgia Tech will play tomorrow after defeating Army today

After a disappointing performance in their opener against UNC Wilmington last night, Georgia Tech Baseball came into today's matchup with Army needing a win to keep their season alive. The Black Knights gave the Georgia Bulldogs all they could handle in the opening game yesterday and Georgia Tech knew they were going to have their hands full today.

They got a solid performance from Aeden Finateri today and the offense struck early to get the win. Drew Burress and John Giesler got a pair of home runs today, but the rest of the offense still struggled. That is going to be something to monitor going into tomorrow's game vs either Georgia or UNC Wilmington.

It was a good performance for Georgia Tech today, but there is still plenty of work that has to be done for this team to advance out of the regional.

Let's recap today's elimination game in Athens.

Here was the lineup for the Yellow Jackets today vs the Black Knights:

1. 1B Cam Jones

2. CF Drew Burress

3. DH Matthew Ellis

4. 3B John Giesler

5. RF Bobby Zmarzlak

6. SS Payton Gree

7. 2B Mike Becchetti

8. LF Trey Yunger

9. C Vahn Lackey

Finateri got off to a strong start in the top of the 1st, getting a strikeout and only allowing a single. It remained 0-0 going to the bottom of the 1st. Georgia Tech's offense wasted no time in getting going in the bottom of the 1st.

After Cam Jones flew out, Drew Burress came up to the plate and blasted his 24th home run of the season. After Ellis flew out, John Giesler came up to the plate and hit a solo home run of his own. Those two guys gave Georgia Tech a 2-0 lead going to the 2nd inning.

DREW BURRESS GET US GOING!! 24th home run of the year!@drew_burress08 | @accnetwork pic.twitter.com/N6h1u9Jd7p

— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) June 1, 2024

Finateri gave up a leadoff single and a walk in the 2nd, but a double play ended the inning. The Yellow Jackets led 2-0 going to the bottom of the 2nd.

Georgia Tech's offense could not produce any runs, despite the leadoff walk from Payton Green. Becchetti grounded into a double play and then Yunger grounded out to end the inning. Georiga Tech led 2-0 going to the 3rd.

After getting the first batter out, Finateri hit a batter and then a single gave Army runners on the corners with one out. They were unable to take advantage of the opportunity and Finateri held them scoreless going to the bottom of the 3rd. The Yellow Jackets offense could not get anything going and it remained 2-0 heading to the 4th inning.

Finateri had an easy inning in the top of the 4th, getting the Army batters out 1-2-3 and giving the Yellow Jackets offense a chance to add to the lead.

Georgia Tech was able to add a run to the board in the bottom of the 4th. After Giesler struck out to start the inning Zmarzlak walked and then Green advanced him to second with a bunt. Becchetti came through with a two-out RBI single to bring in Zmarzlak and stretch the lead to 3-0. It was the only run of the inning and the game went to the 5th. Finateri worked a 1-2-3 5th inning, bringing him up to five scoreless innings for the day.

After a 1-2-3 bottom of the 5th, Army got their first runs of the day.

A leadoff single and the a two-run home run to start the 6th inning cut Georgia Tech's lead to 3-2. Finateri was able to get out of the innning, but Army only trailed by a single run heading to the bottom of the 6th. It felt like Georgia Tech was going to need more runs to be able to pull this win off and keep their season alive.

It was another 1-2-3 inning for the Georgia Tech offense though and Finateri came back out to start the 7th. Army hit a leadoff single and then Danny Hall pulled Finateri and put Riley Stanford in the game. Stanford did walk a batter, but pitched around it and did not allow a run in the top of the 7th. Georgia Tech stayed in front 3-2 going to the bottom of the 7th.

The Yellow Jackets offense struck early in this game, but the offense was struggling to produce. They had another 1-2-3 inning to send it to the 8th. Georgia Tech needed six more outs to keep their season alive.

After a fly out and strike out to start the top of the 8th, Stanford did find himself in a bit of trouble. He hit a batter and allowed a single to put runners on the corners with two outs. He got a ground out to end the inning and the Yellow Jackets only needed three more outs to win the game. First, they were going to try and add some insurance runs to put some distance between them and Army.

Lackey grounded out to start the bottom of the 8th, but back-to-back walks put Jones and Burress on first and second with one out and Ellis coming up to the plate.

Georgia Tech was able to score and extend the lead thanks to another pair of walks. Jones scored on a bases loaded walk to give Georgia Tech a 4-2 lead. That was the only run of the inning and it did feel like a missed opportunity to possibly put the game away. The game went to the 9th inning and Tate McKee came in to try and keep Georgia Tech's season alive.

McKee walked the first batter and the tying run came to the plate for Army. McKee got two straight fly outs and the Yellow Jackets were one out away from keeping their season alive. McKee got the final out and Georgia Tech won. The pitching was solid and the offense did just enough for Georgia Tech to grab the win.

They will now face the loser of Georgia vs UNC Wilmington, which will be played later tonight. The first game tomorrow will begin at 12:00 p.m. EST.