The Georgia Tech baseball was unable to build momentum on Sunday’s win over Notre Dame as they fell to the Auburn Tigers on Tuesday night by a final score of 7-3.
Former top high school prospect Marquis Grissom Jr, made his Georgia Tech debut in the game, getitng the start for the Jackets. In two innings, he allowed three runs, all earned on three hits and a pair of walks. He also struck out three in his two innings of work. It was a solid first start for Grissom who showed flashes of the potential he has but still has plenty of development in his future, but that was to be expected.
The Jackets bullpen wasn’t terrible in relief but had their struggles. Dalton Smith, Dawson Brown, and Chance Huff all allowed runs in their outings, combing for five runs across two hits and four walks.
Those five runs would prove however to be fatal as the Jackets struggled at the plate with just four hits in the game. While they struck out seven times in the game, they also struggled to make hard contact including grounding out 10 times in the game. Auburn pitching stifled them throughout the night, especially the Tigers bullpen. After the Jackets were able to get two runs on the board in the first four innings on starter Trace Bright, the Jackets managed just one hit off Auburn’s relievers over the remaining five innings. The only notable offensive doing for the Jackets on Tuesday was Drew Compton hitting his sixth home run of the season in the fourth inning.
Overall, it’s another tough loss for the Jackets against a team that on paper they probably should’ve beat. Even despite the recent struggles, Auburn entered Tuesday’s game below .500 at 12-16 which includes a 1-11 record in SEC play. It’s quite shocking to see where the Jackets are now when just little less than three weeks ago they were sitting in the top 10 of rankings and were looking like they were in for an overall promising season. Now, it’s a question if the Jackets can even finish above .500 on the season.
With Tuesday night’s loss the Jackets fall to 15-13 on the season and 3-4 in non-conference play. They have now lost seven of their last eight games dating back to the end of last month. With a weekend matchup against ACC Coastal leaders Virginia Tech set for this weekend, it doesn’t look too good for Danny Hall’s struggling team in terms of turning around their struggles.