Georgia Tech Shutout in Game 1 vs UNC-Wilmington Seahawks in Athens Regional, 9-0
Heading into the first game of the Athens Regional against the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks, the Yellow Jackets had a chance to shatter an eighteen-year streak.
Georgia Tech has not won a Regional series since 2006. Even though UNC-Wilmington was one of the best teams in the CAA this year, Georgia Tech was still favored. They had an excellent opportunity to carry momentum into their next game. Since the Army Black Knights already lost to the Georgia Bulldogs, 8-7, earlier in the afternoon, a Yellow Jackets win would have set them up to play Georgia in their next game. Instead, they'll be facing off against Army after getting shutout by the Seahawks, 9-0.
The team announced that senior Brett Thomas would be getting the start on the bump. Thomas is somewhat of a surprising choice considering that he has mostly worked out of the bullpen. This is his first start of the season. In his appearances this year, he pitched to a 5.14 ERA across 28 innings, allowing a .271 average.
Tonight's lineup!
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🕖 7 PM
🆚 UNC Wilmington
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For the Seahawks, RJ Sales took the mound. Sales is the best arm in the Seahawks' rotation and it came as no surprise that he was named the starter. He pitched to a 3.70 ERA and 87 strikeouts in his appearances.
Frankly, he looked even better than those numbers across his seven innings of work. The top three bats in Tech's order - Burress, Ellis and Giesler - all put the ball in play, but could not get it past the Seahawks' defense. Fortunately, UNC-Wilmington's top three all grounded out to end a scoreless first inning. The second inning looked largely the same for Georgia Tech, but the Seahawks found life. After Thomas dismissed star center fielder Trevor Marsh on his first strikeout, his command started to slip and he put the next three batters on base. Disaster struck in one swing of catcher Bryan Arendt's bat as he launched a grand slam that made it a 4-0 ballgame. Hall then made the decision to pull Thomas for Camryn Hill.
From there, the Yellow Jackets' bats went silent. At the top of the third, second baseman Mike Becchetti reached third after being walked due to a pitch getting away from Sales. Unfortunately, catcher Mike Ellis could not come up with the hit to score him after a five-pitch battle with Sales that ultimately ended in the K.
Hill was able to keep the lead from growing after striking out first baseman Tanner Thach, the Seahawks' best bat. While he wasn't able to repeat the feat against Marsh, giving up a double, the deficit stayed at 4-0 after a easy pop-out.
Right fielder Bobby Zmarzlark got Georgia Tech's first hit of the game on a double, but a groundout in immediate succession meant the Yellow Jackets were not able to do much with the opportunity. The Seahawks did not score any more runs in the bottom of the fourth, but they ran up Hill's pitch count.
Three quick groundouts at the top of the fifth sealed another hapless inning for Georgia Tech's offense, which looked unrecognizable from its production throughout most of the season. Through five innings, Zmarzlark's hit remained the only one of the evening. Conversely, another double from Thach induced Hall to make another change on the mound as he brought in senior Ben King at the bottom of the fifth. He got the inning-saving strikeout, but it was clear that the Jackets needed a big hit in a bad way if they had any chance of staying in this game. Outside of the grand slam, Georgia Tech's rotation did an admirable job of keeping a bad situation from getting worse.
It began to look like things were going their way after sensational freshman outfielder Drew Burress opened the sixth with a double. He made it to third on the following groundout, but the Jackets could not push the runner on third over home plate for the second time in the game. Still, King turned in a 1-2-3 inning to preserve the deficit at four runs.
A single from shortshop Payton Greene was immediately squandered by grounding into a double play as the 4-0 lead started to look insurmountable. With only two innings left to get something going, King and the defense gave Georgia Tech a chance. He let up a single to outfielder Aiden Evans after a nice four-pitch strikeout of leadoff hitter Jac Croom , but the defense got the out needed to turn the game over to the bats in the eighth.
While the game looked over long before the eighth inning, the Yellow Jackets sealed their fate with their performance in this inning. At first, things looked positive after Sales walked both Vahn Lackey and Drew Burress. UNC-Wilimington turned the game over to reliable reliever Luke Craig, but the Yellow Jackets still had a chance to tag Craig for runs and get back into the game. He dashed those hopes with back-to-back strikeouts that loomed even larger after the Jackets' pitching finally collapsed. In a five-run inning where Seahawks batters practically moved at will, the only question that remained was whether or not a shutout was incoming as the game moved into the ninth.
Craig sealed the shutout of a previously potent Georgia Tech lineup in just three batters as the Yellow Jackets took their first loss of the tournament. This game was an abject dissapointment, but Georgia Tech needs to regroup and re-focus before playing Army tomorrow. If they lose tomorrow, they will be eliminated from the tournament entirely.
ROHAN ROMAN