Georgia Tech Baseball: Jackets take rubber match against Notre Dame

The Georgia Tech baseball team on Sunday took the rubber match of their three-game series against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, giving them their third-straight series win.

Georgia Tech had to sweat a bit on Sunday to pick up their 19th victory of the season but they were able to get the job done. The Jackets took down Notre Dame 8-7 in the third and decisive game of their weekend series. The victory gives the Jackets their third-straight ACC series victory after dropping their first series of the season to Miami. The Jackets are now 19-9 overall and are 7-5 in conference play.

The Jackets got off to a hot start on Sunday, getting out to an early 5-0 lead in the first inning. The Jackets took advantage of two walks by Notre Dame starting pitcher Cameron Junker and made him pay with three hits. Junker lasted just two-thirds of the first inning before being relieved of his duties for the game.  Baron Radcliffe, Oscar Serratos, Nick Wilhite, and Austin Wilhite all picked up RBI in the inning with Radcliffe opening the scoring with a two-RBI single. Serratos and the Wilhite brothers drove in their runs via RBI singles.

It looked like the Yellow Jackets would cruise to a victory after the big opening inning but that it was not.

Notre Dame would slowly claw back, grabbing a run in the third inning and two in the fifth off starter Brant Hurter. Hurter was solid in his outing on Sunday, going six innings and allowing the three earned runs over three hits and three walks. Sophomore Hugh Chapman pitched the seventh for the Jackets and wasn’t his best self, allowing two runs on a Notre Dame home run. The home run tied the game at 5-5.

In the top of the eighth, utility man Tristin English took the mound. English walked the first man he saw in the game before quickly picking up two strikeouts. However, another walk almost doomed the Jackets in the game as the very next batter was able to single to left, scoring one run but an error by Austin Wilhite allowed a second run to score, giving the Irish a 7-5 lead. English would get the next Irish batter to pop up, ending the bleeding.

After finding themselves down 7-5 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the Jackets bats made one last rally. The Jackets like in the first inning found themselves the recipient of two walks and were able to load the bases with one out for sophomore Oscar Serratos. The sophomore then provided his biggest hit of the afternoon, a bases-clearing, three-RBI double, allowing the Jackets to recapture the lead and make it an 8-7 game. Serratos went 2-for-3 on the afternoon with a walk and 4 RBI.

In the ninth, English had a much smoother inning, the only blemish coming on his third walk of the game. Either way, English was able to close the door and pick up his second win of the season giving him a 2-0 record on the season.

The Jackets will now turn their attention to a midweek showdown against a top-25 Auburn Tigers squad on Tuesday afternoon. The Jackets will look to stay pefect in their midweek games but this will be their toughest challenge yet.