Georgia Tech beats Pitt to win sixth series of the season

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Tech pitching held the Panthers scoreless, with only two hits allowed, through the first six innings as the Jacket offense scored 12 unanswered runs to lift No. 3 Georgia Tech (19-5, 6-3 ACC) to a 12-4 (7) victory against Pitt (15-6, 3-3 ACC) at Charles L. Cost Field. The Panthers broke up the shutout in the bottom of the seventh, but lightning brought the game to a halt, resulting in the Jackets’ third ACC series victory of the year.

The Jackets used five doubles and some errors from Pitt to score multiple runs in the second, fourth, sixth and seventh innings, headlined by a six-run sixth inning. Nine different Jackets recorded base hits, led by three apiece from Jarren Advincula and Carson Kerce. Jackson Blakely delivered an incredibly strong start, pitching 4.0 innings of shutout baseball, allowing only two hits and striking out five. He was followed by 1.1 scoreless courtesy of Brett Barfield before the Panthers eventually got four across prior to the lightning stoppage.

QUICK HITS: TEAM

• Georgia Tech has won its first six series of the season for the first time since 2011.
• Tech has won each of their first three ACC series in back-to-back years for the first time since 2010-11.
• Tech has scored 288 runs through their first 24 games. It’s the most runs Georgia Tech has recorded after 24 games in the program’s 131-year history and the most runs any Power 4 team has scored through 24 games in the BBCOR era (since 2011).
• The Jackets scoring average now stands at 12.0 runs/game this season. The program record is 10.3, set back in 1984.
• GT is outscoring its opponents 288-119 through 22 games, that +169 margin is the highest through 24 games in program history.
• The Jackets have recorded 317 hits, a new Power 4 record for the BBCOR era (since 2011) through 24 games.
• The Jackets drew four walks today, bringing their season total to an NCAA best 177.
• Tech hit five doubles, one shy of its season high. GT has now hit 68 doubles this season, the most in the ACC.
• The pitching struck out 10 batters today, the ninth time this season the staff has struck out double-digits and the third time in ACC play.
• This marked the fifth time this season that Tech pitching has held the opponent scoreless through six innings. The Jackets are unsurprisingly, 5-0 when that has occurred.

  QUICK HITS: THE BATS

• Junior Carson Kerce led the team with three hits, going 3-for-4 with a double. He has hit 16 doubles this season, the most in the NCAA.
• He is hitting doubles at a .67/game pace, which would give him 36 by the end of the season. The program record is 27, set by Jay Payton in 1994.
• He finished with two RBI, bringing his season total to 22. It was his sixth multi-RBI game of the season and his second straight, marking the first time this season he has recorded multiple RBI in consecutive games.
• Junior Jarren Advincula recorded his team-leading 14^th multi-hit game of the season, going 3-for-5 with a double, and RBI and a run scored.
• He finishes the series with two doubles after entering the weekend zero to his name.
• Those three hits extended his team-leading hitting streak to eight games.
• Junior Ryan Zuckerman came around to score three times, his ninth multi-run game of the season.
• Zuckerman led the team with five runs scored this series, in his return to Pittsburgh.
• Junior Kent Schmidt also came around to score three times, matching his season high. This was his seventh multi-run performance of the season over 16 games played.

QUICK HITS: THE ARMS

• Sophomore Jackson Blakely was nearly flawless in his 4.0 innings of work as the starter. He allowed only two hits and two walks while striking out five.
• This was his third start of the season and his second scoreless start – he went 5.0 innings with nine strikeouts in his first-career start earlier this season against Georgia State.
• He would get credit for the win after the weather called the game to a halt, improving his record to 2-1 this season.
• Senior Brett Barfield pitched a scoreless 1.1 innings in relief. It was his eighth appearance of the season and the sixth in which he has not allowed a run.
• R-sophomore Justin Shadek came out of the bullpen to record the final two outs of the seventh, after Pitt broke up the shutout. He would strike out both batters he faced, ending the seventh inning before the weather ended the game.
• Shadek has now recorded 14 strikeouts over 10.2 innings this season and lowers his ERA to 3.38.

Up Next

The Jackets get the midweek off before welcoming in No. 10 NC State for a weekend series at Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium. The series will begin on Friday, March 27^th at 7 pm and will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra.