ATHENS — Georgia and Georgia Tech will play three baseball games in one weekend early in the year next season. Their game last night in Atlanta demonstrated why that’s a very good idea.
The Bulldogs and Yellow Jackets met for the second time this season. This one was at Tech’s Russ Chandler Stadium. The teams played April 27 in Athens.
Last night’s game started at 6:02 p.m. It ended at 11:39 p.m. The Yellow Jackets won 7-6 in 14 inning, but that was really immaterial.
As a midweek game at the end of each team’s respective conference schedules, it was a “staff night” pitching for both teams. That means both squads were reserving their primary pitchers for play, which resumes Thursday with the last three games of the regular both teams.
So, here’s the numbers you really need to know:
- 17 different pitchers played, 10 from Georgia Tech;
- 531 pitches were thrown, 244 by Georgia;
- 24 walks were issued, 15 by Georgia pitchers;
- 3 batters were hit by pitches.
This was exactly the kind of night both teams were hoping to avoid heading into their conference finales later this week. The Bulldogs (29-21, 12-15 SEC) play host to Ole Miss Thursday through Saturday in Athens. Tech also plays three against North Carolina starting on Thursday. The Yellow Jackets (26-20, 19-14 ACC) are in position to win their division.
At this point late in the season, conference considerations are much more important. That said, Georgia really needed to win. Never mind the pride factor and wanting to defeat your archrival. The Bulldogs entered the game at No. 38 in RPI and firmly on the NCAA bubble. Tech was at 43.
The way it went down made it that much worse. Twice Georgia blew late leads through sloppy play. The Bulldogs issued six walks and two errors in last the seventh and eighth innings to wipe out 3-1 and 6-3 leads, respectively. They also had a baserunner thrown out at home in extra innings.
“This was a tough one to lose,” Georgia coach Scott Stricklin said. “We had some opportunities. We were able to take a late lead and then let it get away. We had too many walks and made some mistakes out there, too, and that can get you in position to lose. It was just too many free passes, and the mistakes we made on some plays, it’s tough to win when you put it all together.”
The loss puts further pressure on the Bulldogs to at least win the series against Ole Miss -- if not sweep it – to assure themselves of a third consecutive NCAA Tournament berth. The Rebels (36-16, 16-11 SEC) will represent the third conference team Georgia has played this season that has at one time was ranked No. 1 in the nation. They’re currently 15th.
As for the Tech series, it was originally scheduled to play in three games over one weekend this season, too. But the ACC decided to play a front-loaded, conference-heavy schedule as a safety measure against COVID-19. So 33 of the Jackets’ 46 games have been in the league.
Dates are still being considered, but next year Tech and Georgia will exchange home games on Friday and Saturday and play a third game at either Coolray Field or Truist Park. That way both teams will be able to throw their best pitchers and avoid the type of non-sense that occurred Tuesday night on The Flats.
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