Georgia Tech ties the weekend series against North Carolina on Friday night with a walk off homerun to win 10-9. After a tough 3-2 loss in Thursday’s evening game, the Yellow Jackets offense propels them to a tough bounce back win.
At the bottom of the ninth, the Yellow Jackets called Drew Compton in to pinch hit and he delivered big. Compton homered to right center for a walk off homerun and to lift the Yellow Jackets to a much-needed victory.
The Yellow Jackets got off to an early 5-0 lead in the second inning and look like they were going to win this game easily. But the Tar Heels battled back twice in this game.
The Tar Heels cut their 5-0 deficit down to 5-4 at the top of the fourth inning. They got down again quickly at the hands of the Yellow Jackets’ hot offense and faced a deficit 8-4 at the top of the fifth. Then the Tar Heels got three quick runs of their own in the fifth inning and finished the game scoring two runs at the top of the ninth.
That wasn’t enough to hold the resilient Yellow Jackets back. As they have done so many times before this season, (ask Clemson and Georgia), they dug in and walked off to break another team’s heart in Atlanta. The win was critical as they were in a four-team tug of war coming into the series for a top seed in the ACC-Coastal side of the bracket.
. Georgia Tech, Virginia, North Carolina, and Miami have been going back and forth the last few weeks of the regular season fighting for a top seed in the ACC Tournament. The Yellow Jackets needed a critical series win to avoid falling down to fourth place in the ACC-Coastal.
Thursday’s game was a tough pitcher’s duel between North Carolina’s RHP Austin Love and Georgia Tech’s LHP Brant Hurter. Love pitched a complete game in a 3-2 win by the Tar Heels. He allowed just two runs on eight hits. Hurter went seven innings and allowed just two runs on six hits.
Neither team’s bullpen could duplicate those performances. Friday night the two teams combined for 19 runs and 25 hits with each team hitting two home runs apiece. The weekend series is tied 1-1 and Georgia Tech is in the driver’s seat for the top seed in the ACC-Coastal side of things. This sets up for a great game in the final matchup on Saturday at 1 pm Eastern Standard time back at Russ Chandler Stadium on the campus of Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
