Georgia Tech

The Georgia Tech baseball team is in the ACC championship game for the first time since 2005 after a 5-1 defeat of Clemson in the Jackets’ final pool-play game Saturday in Greensboro, N.C. Entering the tournament as the No. 8 (lowest seed) with a 12-18 league record, the Jackets won all three of their pool-play games, riding the superior play of first baseman/pitcher Jake Davies.

Saturday, Davies hit a two-run home run in the first inning – his fourth in three tournament games – that gave Tech a 2-0 lead that it did not relinquish. Davies also gave the Jackets six innings, holding the Tigers to one run, before Alex Cruz finished with three scoreless innings to seal the win.

Tech will play the Pool B winner at noon in Greensboro, N.C., for the league championship, which would be the Jackets’ eighth overall and coach Danny Hall’s fourth. Freshman Josh Heddinger is expected to pitch for the Jackets.

Tech’s opponent has yet to be determined. North Carolina’s 7 p.m. game against …

Continue reading Tech into ACC baseball finals »

Greetings-

Just wanted to give you a space to comment on the game, scheduled for 11 a.m. (ESPN3 and regional sports networks, Fox Sports South in Atlanta) Jake Davies (0-3, 6.17 ERA) will pitch for Georgia Tech. The Clemson win Friday night, I’m guessing, changes things a lot for Tech. Conceivably, Danny Hall could have rested Davies Saturday, since the game would have been inconsequential, and saved him for the championship game. Instead, he’ll pitch Saturday and we’ll see what happens if Tech wins today. The likely choice would be Josh Heddinger (3-4, 5.09 ERA), a freshman perhaps notable for two strong starts against Georgia.

Clemson will pitch Kevin Pohle (6-3, 3.25 ERA, .268 opponent batting average). Tech faced him in the third game of the regular-season series and got into him, chasing him after 3 2/3 innings with three earned runs and six hits. Clemson won the game 11-8. Daniel Gossett got the win in relief for the Tigers.

I don’t think I’ll be able to be on much today …

Continue reading Live blog: Georgia Tech-Clemson »

UPDATE: Georgia Tech will need to beat Clemson Saturday at 11 a.m. (ESPN3, regional sports networks, including Fox Sports South in Atlanta) after the Tigers beat Florida State 9-7 on a three-run walk-off home run. Jon McGibbon’s blast completed a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth. Prior to Friday, the Tigers were 0-21 when trailing going into the ninth inning while the Seminoles were 38-0 when leading going into the ninth.

Georgia Tech pounded a 17-5 lump into Virginia at the ACC baseball tournament in Greensboro, N.C., Friday afternoon. Jake Davies’ three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh ended the game by the 10-run mercy rule. As a result of the Clemson win, Tech can win the four-team pool by beating the Tigers Saturday. A Clemson win would eliminate the Jackets; the winner would either be Clemson or Virginia, pending its Saturday game against Florida State.

Tech’s last appearance in the championship game was 2005, when the Jackets beat Virginia for their …

Continue reading Georgia Tech drills Virginia at ACC baseball tournament »

The Georgia Tech baseball team can clinch a spot in the ACC championship final and play for its first ACC title since 2005 with a win and Clemson loss Friday.

As a result of upsetting top-seeded Florida State Wednesday, a 5-4 win fueled by a pair of two-run home runs by Jake Davies, the eighth-seeded Jackets can gain the final by beating Virginia Friday at 11 a.m. and then having Florida State beat Clemson in the 3 p.m. game.

Tech will start freshman Cole Pitts, who has a 4.41 ERA but delivered in the most important game of the regular season. With the Jackets needing either a win or a Virginia Tech loss on the final day of the season, Pitts held No. 21 Miami to one run and two hits in seven innings to give the Jackets room for a 2-1 win last Saturday. That win clinched Tech’s spot in the eight-team ACC tournament. Without a league tournament berth, the Jackets’ chances of making the NCAA tournament would have been narrow at best.

However, with the win over Florida State alone …

Continue reading Tech baseball can gain ACC final Friday »

Greetings

As advertised, some notes from Paul Johnson (and Brian Gregory and MaChelle Joseph) from the Georgia Tech Caravan Tuesday night.

Each coach gave a lengthy overview of his or her team’s past season and what lies ahead. If you read the blog fairly regularly, you’ve heard most of what Johnson said. A few things that I don’t think I’ve heard or found interesting:

1. For summer 7-on-7 passing sessions, Tech players have organized games with players from Georgia State (knew that) and even as far as Furman (didn’t know that).

2. The team had nine scholarship seniors last year and will have 10 this year, but the classes are more balanced in terms of position and class than when Johnson arrived.

“Coach (Chan) Gailey had left some outstanding student-athletes here when he left, but the numbers were kind of skewed,” he said.

3. Incoming freshman quarterback Justin Thomas won the 100-meter dash in the Class 4A-6A state championship in Alabama. His time was 10.79 seconds.

4. …

Continue reading More from Johnson, Gregory, Joseph »

Greetings-

Hopefully you read the story that was posted after the Georgia Tech Caravan event Tuesday night at the Georgia Tech Hotel & Conference Center. Pretty good information that came out of it. I’ll post some more notes from what Dan Radakovich had to say, including some stuff he told Kelly Quinlan of Rivals and me afterwards, and then get to Paul Johnson, Brian Gregory and MaChelle Joseph Thursday.

1. He said it has been a “good, not great” year for Tech athletics. He said that after the superior 2009-10 year, it’s hard to repeat that level of success. He noted the growth of a number of programs, men’s basketball in particular.

“Certainly, women’s basketball, they were part of the solution, but when you look at the totality – two ACC championships, women’s basketball going to the Sweet 16, I think all in all, it was a good year,” he said.

2. Radakovich took part in the BCS meetings in April. He said that each answer to each question only presented more questions and …

Continue reading Radakovich on playoffs, scheduling, realignment »

Georgia Tech baseball coach Danny Hall is taking nothing for granted.

Asked if he felt the Jackets had done enough to make a case for an NCAA tournament bid, Hall replied, “I’ll never say that until I hear our name picked on Monday” on the tournament selection show.

The Jackets are in a different boat at the ACC tournament than they typically are. Their 32-24 record is one loss better than Hall’s worst season, record-wise, at Tech (32-25 in 2007). Tech’s 12-18 ACC record is Hall’s first season under .500 in ACC play. Tech needed a win or a Virginia Tech loss on the final day of the regular season to avoid missing the ACC tournament for the first time in school history. (The Jackets got both.)

Injuries on a scale unprecedented to Hall have taken a sizable bite out of the Jackets.

Tech will be the No. 8 seed and is in a pool with Florida State, the top-ranked team in the country, Virginia (No. 17 in Baseball America) and Clemson (No. 24 in RPI). So, certainly, if the Jackets can …

Continue reading Tech scrambling for NCAA bid »

Greetings-

A good bit going on with Georgia Tech spring sports over the weekend. A quick roundup:

Baseball

The Yellow Jackets awoke Saturday morning not knowing if it would be the last day of the season. Tech needed either to beat Miami or Virginia Tech to lose to North Carolina to secure the final spot in the eight-team ACC tournament. It turns out they got both. Cole Pitts shut down the Hurricanes, holding Miami to one run in seven innings on two hits, leading the Jackets to a 2-1 win.

Pitts, a freshman, was named ACC pitcher of the week for his efforts.

Tech earned the No. 8 seed in the ACC tournament, starting Wednesday in Greensboro, and has been placed in a four-team pool with No. 1 Florida State, No. 4 Clemson and No. 5 Virginia.

The Jackets will play FSU Wednesday at 11 a.m., Virginia Friday at 11 a.m. and Clemson Saturday at 11 a.m. The team with the best record in the pool plays for the league title Sunday.

Tech is ranked 28th in RPI, which would seem to be pretty …

Continue reading Tech spring sports update »

Georgia Tech men’s basketball director of player development Amir Abdur-Rahim has taken an assistant coaching job at the College of Charleston. Abdur-Rahim, a former Wheeler High star, was hired by Tech coach Brian Gregory last May.

“Georgia Tech was a special place that was very near and dear to me,” Abdur-Rahim said in a statement. “The program has made great strides in just one year under the leadership of Coach Gregory. He is someone I know I can always call and go to for advice. He does a great job of building relationships and kids have a lot of respect for him. They are in great hands.”

Abdur-Rahim will be an assistant to Doug Wojcik, who was hired in April as former Tech coach Bobby Cremins’ replacement. Cremins retired in March after taking a leave of absence during the season due to physical exhaustion. Wojcik was fired after  seven seasons at Tulsa.

Yet another tie between the two programs is that Wojcik interviewed for the Tech job eventually filled by Gregory. …

Continue reading Abdur-Rahim leaves Tech for Charleston »

Georgia Tech fans, your dream scenario is one September Saturday away from being realized.

That would be, of course, the first month of the football season without any noon kickoffs. The ACC released its early-season schedule Thursday, confirming the school’s request for a 7 p.m. kickoff against Presbyterian Sept. 8 and also deciding on a 3:30 p.m. start time for the Sept. 15 Virginia home game. With the Sept. 29 home game against Middle Tennessee State also penciled in for 7 p.m., that only leaves the Sept. 22 home game against Miami as undetermined.

You may remember Tech played noon kickoffs at Bobby Dodd Stadium against Kansas, North Carolina and Maryland in the first half of the season, causing cries of torment and anguish.

The Presbyterian-Tech game will be broadcast on ESPN3 and the UVA-Tech game will be broadcast on ESPNU.

The league also determined a start time for the ACC championship game Dec. 1 in Charlotte – 7:45 p.m. if on ESPN and 8 p.m. if ABC carries the …

Continue reading ACC sets early-season kickoffs »