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Georgia Tech Baseball: Jackets pick up huge series win from FSU, jump in RPI

By Dylan Callaghan-Croley

ATLANTA, GA - APRIL 08: A general view of baseball gloves ahead of the Philadephia Phillies versus Atlanta Braves during their opening day game at Turner Field on April 8, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - APRIL 08: A general view of baseball gloves ahead of the Philadephia Phillies versus Atlanta Braves during their opening day game at Turner Field on April 8, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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The Georgia Tech baseball team picked up a huge series win over Florida State this past weekend.

It’s been no secret that the last few seasons that the Georgia Tech baseball team has struggled in ACC play especially against top tier opponents. This past weekend, the Yellow Jackets took on one of the best teams in the nation in the Florida State Seminoles.

The Seminoles came to Atlanta with a 23-7 record and left with a 24-9 record after dropping the last two games of the series against the Yellow Jackets.

The Yellow Jackets pitching was on display in Saturday and Sunday’s affairs after surrendering 10-runs in Friday night’s series opener. The Jackets ended up losing 10-2 on Friday night as Xzavion Curry suffered his first loss of the season.

On Saturday, left hander Connor Thomas threw a complete game, allowing just one run on six hits. He finished the game with nine strikeouts in what was his best start of the season. The Jackets didn’t have much success on Saturday scoring just two runs. Those two runs however were plenty for the Jackets with Thomas’s stellar performance.

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For Sunday’s rubber match, the Jackets sent Tristin English to the mound and like Thomas he kept the Seminoles bats silent for most of the day. English allowed just one run over six innings and picking up his second win of the season. Offensively, the Jackets put up 16 runs with shortstop Austin Wilhite driving in a career-high five RBI.

Taking two of three games against the Seminoles is huge for the Yellow Jackets for a multitude of reasons. The first being is that the Jackets currently sit third in the ACC Coastal standings and sit three games behind leader Duke who owns a 10-4 record in ACC play after this weekend. At 8-7, the Yellow Jackets could move into second place this upcoming weekend when they take on the Pittsburgh Panthers who are 17-11 overall and 6-9 in conference play.

Another huge reason that winning the series against Florida State was important is that the Yellow Jackets are now a top 25 team according to the RPI. The Yellow Jackets sit at 25th in the latest RPI rankings according to Warren Nolan. The 25th spot is good enough for fourth best in the ACC and puts the Yellow Jackets two spots ahead of Duke.

Next: Football Preview: A-Backs

The 25th ranking is the Jackets best ranking this season since being ranked ninth four weeks ago. Since then they have gone from jumped 23 spots over the course of 23 weeks.

The Jackets will see the field five times this upcoming weekend taking on Mercer (away), Georgia State, and Pittsburgh (away).