Georgia Tech outlasts Georgia in another college baseball thriller between the rivals

Tuesday night’s Georgia-Georgia Tech baseball game was just one of a long line of terrific games in the series between these in-state rivals.

With enormous postseason implications, Tuesday’s game went well into the night, lasting a Georgia Tech baseball record five hours and 37 minutes. The bullpens for both clubs were hard at work all night, as 17 pitchers were used in total.

Now let’s get to the highlights.

The Bulldogs raced out to a 3-1 lead after a pinch-hit RBI single by freshman Parks Harber. Georgia looked to be in control for most of the game, but Tech roared back to tie the game in the seventh on the strength of two-RBI single from first baseman Andrew Jenkins. In the eighth, a little Gwinnett flair was added to the game when Mountain View grad Garrett Spikes came up with an RBI single to give the Bulldogs a 4-3 lead.

Georgia then added two insurance runs in the eighth inning for a 6-3 lead. Amazingly, Georgia Tech battled back once more. With help coming from a two-RBI single from Jacket right fielder Stephen Reid, coupled with a Georgia throwing error, Tech tied the game 6-6.

Moving to the 13th inning, the Bulldogs had their best chance to score the winning run. After Georgia third baseman Garrett Blalock worked a 14-pitch walk to lead off the inning, catcher Shane Marshall came up to the plate for the Bulldogs with one out and a runner on second base. Marshall, lashed a double into left field. Thanks to the arm of Georgia Tech’s Luke Waddell, Blalock was thrown out at the plate in an incredible 6-7-2 putout.

In the bottom of the 14th, Buford‘s Austin Wilhite started the inning for Georgia Tech by reaching on an error. Then Waddell was able to beat the shift to put runners on first and third with nobody out. The Jackets were later able to get one of their hottest hitters, Vanderbilt transfer Justyn Henry-Malloy, to the plate with the bases-loaded and one out. Malloy came up big with a sacrifice fly to win it 7-6 for the Yellow Jackets.

After the long 14 inning affair, Malloy told reporters his mindset going into the game winning at bat saying “Once I got it in the air, I knew Luke was going to score, touch home plate, and we finally could get out of here.”

The walk off win gives Georgia Tech its first series sweep over Georgia since 2011. As we move into the final regular season weekend, Georgia Tech is comfortably in the NCAA tournament, while Georgia is hanging onto its NCAA tournament hopes by a thread. At 12-15 in conference play, Georgia is currently in the last five out category of Division I baseball’s field of 64 projection for the NCAA tournament. The Bulldogs will have their work cut out for them as Georgia will likely need a series win over a red hot Ole Miss team in their regular season finale, at Foley Field In Athens, to secure a spot in the NCAA tournament.