Mason Patel Strikes Out Nine As Georgia Tech Goes on the Road to Defeat Georgia Southern and Move to 4-0

Patel and the rest of the bullpen were able to bring home the victory for Georgia Tech and a 4-0 star

Georgia Tech went on the road to defeat Georgia Southern 5-3 / Georgia Tech Athletic

After an opening weekend sweep against Old Dominion, Georgia Tech went on the road tonight to face Georgia Southern in the first game of their annual home-and-home series. The Eagles were 3-0 as well after this first weekend and are always looking to beat their in-state rival.

After a bumpy start, the Yellow Jackets settled in and got the win tonight in Statesboro. The bullpen continued to be strong, particularly Mason Patel, who pitched 5.1 innings tonight and striking out nine batters. The bats came alive in the third inning to give Georgia Tech the lead and they never lost it after that. It was not a dominating win, but the pitchig has looked strong through four games and the offense has shown flashes. This team is going to look to continue to build on this start when they face Marshall this weekend.

Let's recap the night.

Georgia Tech's Lineup today:

1. SS Kyle Lodise

2. CF Drew Burress

3. 1B Kent Schmidt

4. DH Nathan Waugh

5. LF Alex Hernandez

6. 3B Vahn Lackey

7. RF Parker Brosius

8. C Drew Rogers

9. 2B Carson Kerce

Connor Chicoli was the starting pitcher for the Yellow Jackets.

After the Yellow Jackets went down in order to start the 1st inning, it did not take Georgia Southern long to get on the board. After a leadoff double, the Eagles launched a two-run homer to get the lead to 2-0. It would be the only runs of the inning, but the Yellow Jackets put themselves in an early hole.

That hole would not last forever though. Georgia Tech would load the bases and get a run thanks to an RBI single from Drew Rogers, but Kerce grounded into a double play to end the inning, leaving three on base.

Chicoli continued to struggle in the 2nd inning. He gave up another leadoff double and two at-bats later, a sac fly extended the Eagles lead to 3-1.

The Yellow Jackets offense would finally get clicking in the third inning. Lodise led things off with a home run and Burress followed up with another to tie the game. Schmidt doubled and then stole third, giving way to Hernandez to give Georgia Tech a 4-3 lead going to the bottom of the third.

Mason Patel would come to replace Chicoli and he would have a phenomenal game. He pitched 5.1 innings and struck out nine of the 17 batters he faced, giving up only one hit. After some shaky pitching to start the game, Patel steadied things for Georgia Tech and had a great outing.

Georgia Tech would add one more run in the top of the 9th. Lodise was walked and then stole second to put him into scoring position. Schmidt brought him across the plate with an RBI double to extend the lead to 5-3.

Caden Gaudette came in to replace Patel in the bottom of the 8th and got two quick outs. After the Yellow Jackets offense was unable to score any more runs in the 9th, Jayden Paden came in to finish the game. He struck out the first batter, but then gave up a single and then a walk to put two runners on. With the game-winning run at the plate, Paden finished the game striking out the final two batters and giving Georgia Tech the win. Over the final six innings, Georgia Tech only gave up two hits and one walk. Patel, Gaudette, and Paden closed the game out. The Yellow Jackets will have two days off and will start a four-game series with Marshall on Friday.

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