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Georgia Tech Baseball: Jackets Rally in Ninth for Win Over Georgia Southern

By Dylan Callaghan-Croley

OMAHA, NE - JUNE 26: A general view of a baseball on the field during batting practice before game one of the College World Series Championship Series between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Oregon State Beavers on June 26, 2018 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images)
OMAHA, NE - JUNE 26: A general view of a baseball on the field during batting practice before game one of the College World Series Championship Series between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Oregon State Beavers on June 26, 2018 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images) /
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The Georgia Tech baseball team needed a ninth inning rally on Tuesday night to take down the Georgia Southern Eagles on Tuesday night, winning 4-3.

The Georgia Southern Eagles (3-1) gave Georgia Tech (3-1) all they could handle on Tuesday night before the Yellow Jackets found a way to capture the victory thanks to a ninth inning rally.

The Georgia Tech baseball team got back into the win column on Tuesday night with a 4-3 victory over the Georgia Southern Eagles. The Yellow Jackets were routed by St. John’s on Sunday afternoon 11-1 and with a big early season, non-conference series against Ohio State looming on the horizon, a victory on Tuesday was highly important.

Tuesday night’s game got off to a good start for the Yellow Jackets as they took a 1-0 lead in the first inning thanks to a Luke Waddell single and Georgia Southern error that put the senior in scoring position. Waddell would score two batters later on a Michael Guldberg sacrifice fly to put the Jackets up 1-0 early. That, however, would be the Jackets only run of the game until the top of the ninth inning.

Luke Bartinicki got the start for the Yellow Jackets on Tuesday night and gave the Jackets a quality performance on the mound. The sophomore lefty pitched four innings against the Eagles and allowed just one earned run (three total runs). He did struggle a bit with control at times, walking three and hitting one but still threw strikes about 65% of the time.

The Eagles would take the lead in the game in the third inning when a Mason McWhorter single to right field would score two Eagles base runners. They would add an insurance run onto their 2-1 lead in the fifth inning on a Tech throwing error, extending their lead to 3-1.

The Yellow Jackets would look to begin to scratch back in the sixth inning, cutting the Eagles lead to one when a Stephen Reid singled home first baseman Drew Compton. After not getting anything on the board in the seventh and eighth inning, the Jackets and Eagles went to the ninth.

In baseball, there is a common idea that if you walk the first batter of an inning, you’re asking for trouble. That was the case for Georgia Southern on Tuesday night against the Eagles. To start the ninth inning, Southern pitcher Jay Thompson walked third baseman Jackson Web.

Two batters later, Austin Wilhite would move Webb to second on a single before a Luke Waddell walk would load the bases. Outfielder Tres Gonzalez would pick up his first career RBI just a few pitches later when he scored Jackson Webb on a fielders choice to tie the game at 3-3.

Then in a what could be described as a full circle for the game, junior Michael Guldberg would hit a floater into center field that dropped, scoring Austin Wilhite to give the Yellow Jackets a 4-3 lead. Redshirt sophomore Sam Crawford would pitch the bottom of the ninth after finishing off the bottom of the eighth. Crawford would make easy work of the Eagles, setting them down in order including two strikeouts.

Give credit to the Yellow Jackets bullpen for their performance on Tuesday night. Following Bartinicki’s departure after four innings of work, the Jackets bullpen allowed only one run (unearned) while only allowing three hits and striking out seven.

Need to clean up defensively:

The Yellow Jackets on Tuesday night had two errors, meaning that only one of Georgia Southern’s three runs were earned. After not having a single error in their season opener against Saint Peter’s, the Yellow Jackets have recorded seven errors in their last three games including the two errors on Tuesday night. The Jackets have been able to get by with two victories in those three games but they’ll have to clean it up or they’re going to take their going to feel the repercussions.

Player of the Game:

The logical choice for the player of the game is junior left fielder Michael Guldberg. Guldberg picked up both, the Yellow Jackets first run and game winning run against the Eagles on Tuesday night. Overall, Guldberg went 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBI.

The Yellow Jackets will look to get a win streak going starting Friday evening when they take on the Ohio State Buckeyes for the first game of a three-game series in Atlanta. Tech fans can watch Friday’s game on ACC Network Extra or listen to it via WRECK 91.1 FM.