Jackets Suffer First Loss of 2020 Against St. John's

13 strikeouts and 3 errors contributed to Georgia Tech's first loss of 2020 on the diamond, falling 11-1 to St. John's.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
St. John's	0	2	3	1	0	0	4	0	1	11	13	0
#19 GT	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	5	3

Wrapping up the Atlanta Challenge to kick off the 2020 college baseball season, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets ran into their first speed bump of the season, as they were blown out 11-1 by the St. John's Red Storm.

The game featured a combination of subpar at-bats & defensive miscues. Tech's 2 wild pitches and 3 errors contributed to 4 of the Johnnies' 11 runs, and the 13 Yellow Jackets struck out ay the plate.

Making his first start in the 2020 season, junior RHP Cort Roedig had a fast start to today's game as he struck out the side in the first inning. But the Johnnies caught on to him quickly and loaded the bases with zero outs in their next time out to the plate.

With that, St. John's utilized on Georgia Tech mistakes to crack the scoreboard. A wild pitch would bring home the first runner, then a throwing error by Roedig would bring home another to round out the second inning scoring.

St. John's would follow up their second inning two-spot with a three-spot in the third. An RBI double down the right field line and 2 RBI single that dropped into no man's line along the right field line would give Cort Roedig his first earned runs of the game. 

While he did retire 6 batters via the strikeout, Roedig would later get yanked in the fourth inning with two outs remaining, getting replaced by freshman RHP Jackson Arnold. Once again, GT mistakes would lead to St. John's offense. A passed ball then a throwing error by catcher Jake Holland trying to gun down the runner advancing to second would sail past the bag and allow the runner to scamper all the way home for their 6th run.

If the game had not already been blown open for the Johnnies, they certainly made sure it was before the 7th Inning Stretch. In the top of the inning, a solo home run, 2 RBI singles and a GT throwing error gave the Red Storm 4 more runs for a double digit lead. They'd also add an 11th run in the top of the ninth for good measure.

Meanwhile, the Jackets themselves were fooled at the plate for a majority of the game. It took St. John's starter sophomore Ian Murphy 5.0 innings pitched to throw 97 total pitches, but in his time on the mound he allowed just Jackets 5 baserunners and struck out 9. Tech would not find success against RHP Dominic Coombe during his 2.0 IP, but would finally find pay dirt against LHP Chris Stefl in the 8th with a sacrifice fly from junior center fielder Colin Hall and avoid the shutout.

Next up for the Jackets, they'll head on the road for their first midweek game of the season and face the Georgia Southern Eagles on Tuesday at 6:00pm. It will be televised on ESPN3 and broadcast on WREK 91.1 FM.

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