All Yellow Jackets

Georgia Tech Loses Series to Virginia Tech, Defeated 9-2

The Yellow Jackets got swept by Virginia Tech in an ACC showdown.

Rohan Raman

After yesterday's 13-1 drubbing that clinched the series for the Hokies, the Yellow Jackets were just looking to cap the series off on a good note.

In an attempt to inject some juice into the pitching, coach Danny Hall made a interesting decision in the starting lineup. 

Putting pitcher Terry "Scary Terry" Busse in the starting spot and removing him from his usual closer spot is a curious choice. Giving him run over multiple innings could cause his performance to drop, due to the fact that he's not usually pitching for multiple innings. Still, given the struggles of the pitching staff this year, it seems to be worth trying. 

The Jackets got the first inning started with two straight groundouts from Kristian Campbell and Jake DeLeo. Stephen Reid was able to draw a walk in a great AB against Hokies pitcher Drue Hackenberg. However, Angelo Dispigna grounded out to end the inning and all eyes turned to Busse on the mound. 

The experiment didn't start well - on his first pitch, Busse yielded a double. However, he got a strikeout and the defense was able to cover him on two flyouts. 

The Yellow Jackets' usually dangerous hitting core looked pretty tame in the second inning as well. Jackson Finley and Jack Rubenstein both struck out swinging. While John Giesler was able to record Tech's first hit of the day on a nice single, Jadyn Jackson struck out to close the second. 

Busse's performance was a lot more shaky in his second appearance. He gave up two quick singles to put runners at the corners - Virginia Tech was then able to get the sac fly to score their first run of the afternoon. He was able to collect himself and get a quick strikeout, but then immediately gave up a 2-RBI homer. Busse deserves credit for closing out the inning on a strikeout, but the decision to start him really did not look like a prescient one. 

The third inning was almost a carbon copy of the first - the Jackets quickly found themselves in a 0-2 hole. Although DeLeo was able to get a single and Stephen Reid had another walk, the inning ended with Dispigna grounding out and runners left on base - a very common story for GT's offense this year. From a pitching perspective, it was also more of the same, but without the clean inning from Busse. He gave up another homer and triple as he continued to have his struggles in the starting spot. The contact VT made with a lot of his pitches proved to be a worrying theme in this one and gave them an early lead that they never relinquished. 

GT's offense did start to come alive in the fourth - Jackson Finley delivered a nice single to start and even stole second on a ball that got away from VT starter Hackenburg. Jadyn Jackson then scored him in Tech's only run of the afternoon. 

However, Tech still left two runners on base. Not getting innings of multi-run production by advancing runners is a death sentence when playing catch-up and it really showed today. 

Atop the mound, Hall relented in the fourth and put in Jackson Vaughan for Busse. Busse did get shelled in this one, but it is unfair to put the blame squarely on him given the change from his usual spot. A bad performance as a starter shouldn't damper the excitement that he generates as a closer - he has been electric in that role all year. 

Unfortunately, Vaughan didn't fare much better. He immediately gave up a double and also surrendered a homer on a backbreaking sequence. At the end of the fourth, the Hokies were up 6-1 in a sight that looked frustratingly similar to last game's. 

The Jackets continued to make some solid contact in the fifth, but couldn't convert it into any runs. The highlight of the inning was a nice Reid-Dispigna sequence that put Reid in scoring position at third following Dispigna. Unfortunately, both Finley and Rubenstein got out, extending GT's streak of leaving multiple batters on base to three innings. Fortunately, the Hokies also blanked in the fifth as Vaughan only threw four pitches to force three quick outs.

If the third inning mirrored the first, the sixth inning was essentially a copy-and-paste of the second; bats went cold, pitching struggled and the deficit widened. John Giesler continued to have a solid day, singling at the top and stealing second, but Jackson, Tyler Minnick and Campbell all got out. The Jackets not being able to touch Drue Hackenberg really stood out in this one - he did not give up anything in succession and won the challenge of limiting a talented hitting core like GT's. 

After Vaughan gave up two straight homers to make it 8-1, Hall pulled him for Josiah Siegel. Siegel gave up a run to widen the Hokies' lead, but at that point, it was rather inconsequential. Barring a miraculous comeback by Tech, the game looked out of hand. 

The seventh inning did little to change that. Even though the Hokies had a pitching change, it didn't look much different. Dispigna and Reid had yet another nice sequence, ending with Reid on third. However, they couldn't score him in this one either as Finley and Rubenstein both struck out. On the mound, Siegel gave up another double but didn't give up any more runs. He even had a nice strikeout to close out the inning. 

At the top of the eight, Tyler Minnick had a really nice homer for GT. Even if it didn't affect the outcome, it was his first career HR and served as a positive moment in an otherwise disappointing afternoon. Unfortunately, no one else could really do much. 

Siegel continued to keep the deficit from worsening in the bottom of the eighth, recording two strikeouts. This was definitely one of his more positive outings on the season. 

GT's offense didn't score again in the top of the ninth and the game ended on a Jackson Finley strikeout. 

Although the Jackets weren't crushed 13-1 like they were yesterday, they still put up only two runs in another dispiriting performance. Coming out flat in back-to-back games against a comparable ACC performance does not bode well for their postseason hopes. 

Here's hoping their Tuesday matchup at home (first pitch at 8 pm) against Georgia State looks a bit better. 

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Rohan Raman
ROHAN RAMAN

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