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Georgia Tech Clinches Series Against Miami (OH), 5-4

The Jackets edged out the Redhawks for a second time, clinching the series on a huge double play.

Rohan Raman

In yesterday's season opener, the Jackets needed a final stand to close out a game that should have never been close. They decided to repeat that again today on a thrilling final double play to win a close game on the Flats. 

The pitching looked a lot better today - the Redhawks barely advanced runners outside of the ninth inning. Just like yesterday, the offense really kicked into overdrive in the early innings to get the Jackets a big lead. However, the big story of this game was the defense - for better or worse. They got to their spots and provided some excellent run support for the pitching rotation for most of the day, but the ninth inning was a frustrating mixture of defensive masterclass and mistake. 

Starting Lineup 

Starter Logan McGuire opened up the game with an efficient inning, courtesy of his defense. Miami (OH) was able to get contact from the get-go, but the Jacket's defense covered three relatively easy outs to set up Jake DeLeo in the leadoff spot. While DeLeo, Compton, and Reid were all able to get in contact, they couldn't advance anything. 

Fittingly, Miami (OH) infielder Brian Zapp homered on McGuire's first pitch of the second inning. McGuire was able to shrug it off and after a groundout, sat Drew Novak down for his first strikeout of the game. 

He then lost a battle with Evan Appelwick, who was able to get the double on a full count. Thankfully, McGuire was able to escape courtesy of a quick flyout and the Redhawks lead was limited to one. The Jackets were able to get a bit deeper into the batting rotation, as Angelo Dispigna made it to third with bases loaded before a Jadyn Jackson lineout - on a really impressive catch - ended a promising offensive inning. 

McGuire had a really nice third inning battle with Zach MacDonald. Macdonald led the Redhawks last year with 10 home runs, so it was encouraging to see that McGuire went toe-to-toe with him and delivered the clinching strikeout. On the offensive end, they responded in kind, with their top three batters waking up in a big way. DeLeo hit a deep left leadoff homer to even the game at 1-1, Compton walked and Reid sent him home on a 2 RBI blast to right field to take the lead. 

The Jackets then hit three consecutive doubles to make it 5-1 before Redhawks pitcher Zach Maxey was pulled for Hudson Leach. Leach was able to get a strikeout on Tyler Minnick and close the inning, but this was still an explosive half of baseball for GT. 

Of course, Ryland Zaborowski hit a leadoff homer yet again for the Redhawks but nothing more of consequence happened in another strong appearance from McGuire. He did hit Drew Novak with a pitch and got into a full-count situation against Applewick, but was redeemed by an easy flyout catch. 

Drew Compton
Georgia Tech is now 2-0 after clinching the series against Miami (OH) / Georgia Tech Athletics

GT's batting order returned back to its top three, but they were decidedly less dominant than they were in the previous inning. DeLeo almost forced a walk but ended up lining out. Compton and Reid were also shut down, so the Jackets couldn't build on their lead. 

The fifth inning was easily McGuire's best of the whole game. He didn't throw a single ball and retired Brokemond and MacDonald, both integral parts of the Redhawks offense. 

Unfortunately, the Jacket's offense continued to stagnate and a John Giesler walk where he worked deep into the count ultimately ended up delivering nothing. 

After an impressive performance, McGuire's day ended and Ben King came on the mound for GT. He had a really nice strikeout on a great pitch that had Zaborowski guessing and the defense made up the other two outs. 

For the third straight inning, the offense did nothing of consequence. Hudson Leach was lethal against the GT offense and despite the Jackets making good contact, the Redhawk's defense was all over it. 

The Jacket's defense continued to be excellent as King received great run support to go 1-2-3 outs at the top of the 7th. Yet again, the Jackets didn't record a single hit. After hitting two big triples yesterday, it was surprising to see Drew Compton so limited in this one. 

Camron Hill came in for King and it began to look a little questionable for GT. Benji Brokemond hit a single and then stole second for the Redhawks, with Zach MacDonald coming up to bat. However, it proved not to matter, thanks to an excellent double play from Camron Hill and Nicholas Romano. 

The ninth inning was a chaotic - yet ultimately clutch - defensive performance. The Redhawks finally started moving batters as they got the bases loaded against Jackson Vaughan, who came in for Hill. Vaughan retired Novak, but then Applewick reached on a fielder's choice to send Zaborowski home. Cristian Tejada then followed it up by also reaching on fielder's choice while the Redhawks made it 5-4 on a Brian Zapp score. Luckily, Stephen Krause grounded out into yet another beautiful double play to clinch the game for GT.

It was encouraging to see McGuire and King's excellent performances on the mound after the pitching struggles yesterday. Outside of an incredibly mixed ninth inning, the defense was also largely rock-solid all game long. Unfortunately, the Tech bats went cold for most of the game outside of a big third inning. That might come back to haunt them because it's not sustainable to have these 5 to 9-run single innings but get practically nothing from the other eight innings. There needs to be more balance - hopefully, they can find it tomorrow as the Jackets go for the series sweep at 1:00 pm tomorrow on the Flats. 

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Rohan Raman
ROHAN RAMAN

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