Georgia Tech Baseball: Jackets start week off with big win over Mercer

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 started their important week off with a big win over Mercer.

As we previewed on Monday, the Georgia Tech baseball team is stating an important four-game week and on Tuesday they got started with a big win over Mercer. The Jackets entering the week with a 13-7 record needed to start the week off right against the Bears and they did just that on Tuesday night.

The Jackets offense exploded on Tuesday night with their fourth 10+ run game of the season. The Jackets put together 18 hits on the evening to go along with 9 walks en route to the Jackets scoring a season-high 14 runs.

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The Jackets saw half of their offensive success come through in the fifth inning, putting up 7 runs in the process. That fifth inning also saw the only home run for the Jackets on the day as Austin Wilhite hit a three-run shot.

On the mound, Amos Willingham picked up his third victory of the season after allowing four runs but just one run over the course of six innings. Willingham allowed six hits in the process while not allowing any free bases. He dropped his season ERA to 3.03 on the season and pushed his record to 3-0.

The Jackets bullpen put together a similar performance to Willingham, allowing four hits on the evening while allowing an additional four runs, all of them earned. They picked up three additional strikeouts in the process.

For the Jackets, their win on Tuesday night amongst helped propel them up the RPI rankings. After sitting outside of the top-50 up to this point of the season, the Jackets moved up 16 spots into the top-50. That being said, their still the seventh highest ranked ACC team at this juncture of the season, showing the depth of the conference this season. There’s a total of ACC eight teams in the top-50 with two teams just outside the top-50 as well.

The Jackets could look to move even higher in the RPI this weekend when they begin a three-game series against Louisville. The Cardinals are 17-4 on the season and are ranked 13th in the RPI rankings.