Murray, McCann Smash Dartmouth as Yellowjackets Sweep Double Header

Atlanta, GA- On a hot sunny day in midtown, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets completed the sweep in a doubleheader against the Dartmouth Big Green after handing out a 10-0 drubbing of the Green on Friday.

It all started during the bottom of the first inning, Chase Murray’s first at bat was a laser shot home run to right center. Dartmouth would get out of the inning without anymore hiccups and came right back in the top of the second. With two outs Trevor Johnson smacked a two run double off Brant Hurter to give the Big Green the lead at 2-1.

Dartmouth starting pitcher Michael Parsons ran into trouble in the bottom of the second. He gave up back to back homers, one to Kel Johnson and the other to shortstop Austin Wilhite. He worked his way to two outs in the inning when Chase Murray came up for his second at bat. Murray sent a high home run to left field to extend the lead to 6-2. Parsons gave up five runs off five hits in the second, but surprisingly stayed in the game.

Hurter looked shaky for Tech and was pulled in the third. It seemed coach Danny Hall went to the bullpen a little early after two men got into scoring position. He opted to bring in Jake Lee, who finished the inning with a strike out and the lead stayed at 4 for the Jackets.

Lee surrendered a total of four hits in the fourth inning, including Justin Fowler’ lead off homer, as Big Green inched a little closer at 6-4.

Murray came up again and laced a singled up the right feild line to start the rally. A few batters later Tristin English legged out a triple, scoring two runs in the process to extend the lead to 8-4.

It was starting to look like a blowout in the sixth when the Big Green made their biggest rally of the game. After two runs scored off a pair a singles, Dartmouth shortstop Nate Ostmo came up with two on and two out. He sent a moon shot to right center to wrap up a five run inning as Dartmouth took the lead 9-8.

Bottom of the seventh, can you guess who started yet another Georgia Tech rally? Murray led off the inning with another single up the right field line. It was his fourth hit of the day as he finished 4-5 with two home runs, four RBIs, and four runs scored. Three batters later, Colin Hall sent a pitch to center field for a two run single to put the Jackets back up 10-6.

The Jackets would tack on two runs in the Bottom of the eighth to put the game out of  reach at 12-9. Jared Datoc pitched a 1,2,3, ninth inning for his first save of the season.

The wind blowing out of the outfield might have helped but the home runs hit in this game were all no doubters. Both pitching coaches should’ve been livid with these performances as players for both teams racked up clean hits left and right.

Game 1 Notes:

The last time the Jackets hit 3 home runs in an inning was last March vs Marshall.

The back to back home runs hit by Kel Johnson and Austin Wilhite marked the first homers of the season for both players.

 

Game Two

Sunday’s game vs Dartmouth was rescheduled so a day game became a day-night double header.

Dartmouth jumped  out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Matt Fienstein scored on Trevor Johnson’s RBI ground out. An RBI ground out and two singles put Dartmouth  ahead 4-0 after two innings of play.

The Jackets would come roaring back in the third. They scored three runs off three hits, including Kyle McCann’s solo home run to make it 4-3.

The Yellow Jackets and the Big green traded runs in the next couple of innings. Tech squeezed in a run on Wade Bailey’s single in the bottom of the fourth. Dartmouth scored on a throwing error by Luke Waddel in the top of the fifth to put them back ahead 5-4.

The Georgia Tech pitchers pretty much shut down the Green after the first two innings. Andy Archer,  Jonathan Hughes and Oscar Serratos combined to go 7.1 innings only giving up one run on two hits. The scoring would stop for Dartmouth and start coming in bunches for the Yellow Jackets.

Kyle McCann and Tristin English hit back to back homers in the bottom of the fifth as Tech snatched the lead to make it 6-5. More festivities came in the bottom of the sixth. McCann hit another home run, this time a two run shot to cap a four-run inning. He finished the game going 3-3 with 3 home runs and four RBIs.

Tech would add another run in the bottom of  the eighth, but the game was out of reach at that point. The Yellow Jackets completed the sweep, beating Dartmouth in the second game 11-5.

Game 2 Notes:

Chase Murray continued his scorching hot day going 3-4 in game two.

The three home runs hit by Kyle McCann were his first three homers of the season.

By completing the sweep, Coach Danny Hall recorded his 1,200 win as a head coach.

Georgia Tech’s next game is at Arkansas-Pine-Bluff on Tuesday,  February 27th.