Bubble team vs. bubble team matchup will have tournament implications
Coming into Tuesday’s game against Auburn, we had Georgia Tech Baseball sitting in a precarious spot when it came to the NCAA Tournament. According to our Universal Selection Index developed by Jake Grant, Tech sat as the first team out:
After @GTBaseball got a win in Clemson, that moved Tech up to the first team out of the NCAA Tournament according to our Universal Selection Index. They moved up from the last team in next four out. With Auburn right there, gotta win tonight. pic.twitter.com/vO3eAK8i5F
— From the Rumble Seat (@FTRSBlog) May 7, 2024
Wirth Auburn right there in the next four out, this made the midweek matchup all too important for Tech’s potential future in the NCAA Tournament.
Head Coach Danny Hall put Camron Hill out to start on the mound, his 5th start of the year but only his second since March. He was great until the fourth inning when Auburn put up some runs.
The legend of Drew Burress’ 2024 season continued, hitting his 21st homer of the season that gave Tech a 1-0 1st inning lead. That homer extended his program freshman record and put him T-8th in Tech single season history. J.J. Thomas (1996) and Tony Plagman (2010) are the others that finished with 21 homers. Tech’s single season record was recently set by Kevin Parada with 26 in 2022.
DREW BURRESS IS INHUMAN!!
Home run No. 21 for @drew_burress08#WreckHavoc x @accnetwork pic.twitter.com/hkoBmm4RT9
— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) May 7, 2024
In the 2nd, Mike Becchetti nearly joined the homer party by mere inches, but a pristine catch by Chris Stanfield in center field robbed Becchetti of his 9th homer of the season.
With Burress at second base in the third inning, Giesler poked a single to center where Burress was tagged out at home by not sliding. Carter Wright, Auburn’s catcher, played a deke on him as if he was wondering what was happening, but easily had a tag on Burress to end the inning.
In the 4th, Auburn chased out Hill with Back-to-back homers, coming from Eric Guevara (who came in hitting .184) and Cooper Weiss at the bottom of the Tiger order. Michal Kovala relieved Hill but didn’t even finish his second batter after hitting Chris Stanfield and going down 2-0 to Ike Irish before Danny Hall replaced him with Brett Barfield.
Barfield had the final out on a grounder to him, but he couldn’t collect the ball, allowing the 4th Auburn run to score. It was Tech’s second fielding error of the game.
Over the next five innings, Tech left five hitters on base, failing to get another run. Auburn again robbed Tech of a homer in the bottom of the 9th, this time Cade Belyeu taking away a 2-run Vahn Lackey homer. A three-run homer in the 9th by Auburn provided more than enough of a gap to finish off Tech 7-2.
There’s a couple ways to think about this game. For one, it’s two bubble teams scrapping for a few spots in the NCAA Tournament, so you have to win these games because it’s effectively a division game. Tech lost at Auburn, so getting a revenge win would’ve looked very good. On the other hand, Tech still has games left against very good teams in Duke and Florida State, so there’s games to still boost the resume if they can get past them in some games. But, they have to win some of those games, and especially the midweek game next week against Mercer.
The pitching though of course remains the key in all of this. Last night, Tech should’ve had 5 runs if it weren’t for some phenomenal defensive work by Auburn’s outfield pulling in multiple homers. Danny was aggressive in keeping new arms in the game after he pulled Hill, as evidenced by Kovala not even finishing two batters. Holding a team to seven runs isn’t a disaster for Tech with how well they can hit, tonight was a ball bounce funny kind of night.
In useless data, the two losses to Auburn this season mean Danny Hall is now under .500 in games against the Tigers as Georgia Tech’s head coach, falling to a 14-15 record.
#9 Duke comes to Atlanta this weekend for three games, the final ACC home series of the season for Tech.