So I have personally declared that this past week for GT baseball should be called ‘Rivalry Week’. From Wednesday, May 7 to Tuesday, May 13, we play five games against our two biggest rivals, UGA and Clemson. How have we done so far?
Game One: @ Georgia, May 7-Won 11-1
Deck McGuire continued his ‘I should be starting on weekends’ campaign by holding UGA hitters to one run on four hits in seven innings, including a career-high nine strikeouts. He is now 2-0 this season against UGA (8-0 overall) with pretty good stats: 12.2 ip, 8 hits, 4ER, 16k’s.
Tech hitters were paced by homers from Blackmon, Murton, and Feltes.
Game Two: Clemson, May 9- Won 5-1
Here Tech won a game which was poorly played by both teams. Clemson looked VERY rusty and made a lot of mental mistakes, and a Tech player was picked off third with the bases loaded (what?!). David Duncan pitched a strong outing, giving up one run on six hits in eight innings. The offense did not hit any home runs, which ended their consecutive games streak at 16.
Leggett actually acted like a man this game, except for his stupid involvement in the Clemson team’s pregame tickle pile, and making every player touch second base on a fly-out. Seriously, if they rounded first base, they had to keep running until they touched second and then jog back to the dugout. Great coaching.
Game Three: Clemson, May 10th- Won 7-1
Again Clemson just looked lost and poorly coached as it seemed that their players were very unsure about what to do in certain situations. Burns pitched one of his best outings of the year and Murton and Rowland paced Tech’s hitting with two RBI’s each.
Game Four: Clemson, May 11th- Lost 6-16
Well the game itself wasn’t very pretty, as Clemson had very clutch hitting and seemed to do everything right while Tech played pretty poorly. There were many non-game highlights, though.
Yours truly was selected to attempt the tire toss, and failed…miserably. My excuses are legit, though:I had to throw it into the wind, there was dirt in my eye, the tire hit an imaginary speed bump which made it go off course and into the wall, and a busted knee and ankle. Ok, so maybe one of them is true, and even that is no excuse for the poor performance. But here’s the proof:
Note the wipeout onto concrete at the end which resulted in a compressed ankle and a one-inch gash into my knee. Genious.
Coach Leggett, who was expected to make a fool of himself all weekend, finally didn’t disappoint as he turned to a group of eight year olds (who may have been standing next to an unruly fan) and shouted “F you, F you, you’re an A-hole”. Words his mother would have been very, very unhappy with, especially on Mother’s Day. After cussing out the fan, he proceeded to go back to the dugout and whined to event staff, who came over and said that ‘he wants to apologize’. I’m sorry but a paid professional should act a little better. I know he received a lot of ‘treatment’, but it is his responsibility to either not react, or to react in a mature, professional way, not cussing out a fan in front of a bunch of kids.
So that leaves us with one last game….
Tonight, Tech faces ‘SEC Champion’ UGA at 7pm in the ‘Spring Baseball Classic for Kids’ at Turner Field. All tickets are $10 and proceeds benefit Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (this game raises over 200,000 annually for the children’s hospital!). A lot of pride, statements, and prestige is up for grabs in this game:
- With a win, Tech can sweep the ‘8th-ranked’, ‘SEC Champion’ Georgia Bulldogs.
- Earlier this season, one of the team’s goals was to sweep the in-state games. Currently Tech is 11-0 this year against in-state teams, with this final game to play.
- Georgia leads the Turner Field series, 4-1, and has won the last three ‘classics’
- Deck McGuire has the chance to go 3-0 against the rival team
- Georgia leads the all-time series at 192-149-2…baby steps
What to look for in tonights game:
Pitching matchup- Deck McGuire (8-0, 3.41 ERA) vs. Nick Montgomery (1-1, 5.08)-
Advantage: Tech- There isn’t a better mid-week starter in the nation currently, and Deck has shown his ability to shut down UGA hitters, while UGA is approaching the game as a ’staff outing’
Fielding- Tech (.972 fielding %, 31 DP’s, .676 Stolen bases against %) vs UGA (.971, 37, .703)
Advantage: Even- Each team has the potential to play solid defensive baseball, while also showing some defensive lapses.
Hitting- Each of the stats (other than batting average and OPS) are averages per game
Tech (.308, 7.47 runs, 1.66 HR, 1.43 SB (77.6%), 5.14 W+HBP, 7.63 k, .923 OPS)
UGA (.297, 6.78 runs, 1.29 HR, 1.20 SB (75.3%), 4.98 W+HBP, 6.69 k, .844 OPS)
Advantage-Tech- Tech has much more depth in its lineup, with seven players hitting over .280 compared to five for UGA. UGA has the best offensive player, with National Player of the Year Candidate, Gordon “David” Beckham, who leads the nation in home runs (22), total bases (164), and slugging percentage (.824), but has been limited by Tech to hitting three for seven with no RBI’s.
Academics- Tech (top five engineering, #1 Industrial Engineering) vs UGA (Cesspool of the South)
Advantage-Tech (duh!)- Look for UGA’s fans to be filled with a lot of wife-beater wearing, toothless people who actually think barking in public is cool.
Overall, these teams are very similar if they were to be played on weekends, but because Deck is such an advantage over UGA’s bullpen, you have to give the overall edge to Tech. This is college baseball, though, and who knows what could happen. Show your support for the baseball team, Tech in general, and anti-UGA sentiments by coming out to the game tonight. Oh, and it supports kids in hospitals, too, so you might even feel good about it (especially if Tech wins).
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