GT bats stay red hot in 22-5 regional-opening win over UIC

The postseason Georgia Tech offense looked a lot like its regular-season offense on Friday.

The Jackets’ bats were unstoppable once again on the way to a 22-5 victory over UIC to open the Atlanta Regional emphatically.

Georgia Tech (49-9) scored 17 runs over the first four innings, hitting six homers in that span, to set the tone for the dominant showing. Among the long balls was a grand slam and a two-run shot by Alex Hernandez, a three-run shot by Carson Kerce, a two-run shot by Vahn Lackey, a two-run shot by Jarren Advincula and a solo shot by Parker Brosius.

“Obviously any time you get to play in front of your home crowd in the postseason, don’t take it for granted. I thought our players did an unbelievable job of just kind of staying within the moment, playing within themselves,” said Georgia Tech head coach James Ramsey after the win. “I thought it was good for us to, obviously hindsight is 20-20, but it’s good for us to go down in a game in the tournament because you just never know the way guys are going to act and feel. It was the very same it’s been all year. The other team scores, not a lot of panic in the dugout. Guys came in in that second inning, put a couple really good swings on balls. We’ve talked about just what it’s like to hit in this lineup, and there’s no doubt. There’s days where you’re going to be hitting in the four hole, and there’s days you’re going to be in the seven spot, and these guys just don’t flinch. They treat every at-bat extremely professionally. But just really, really proud of the guys’ complete effort, and this is exactly what we work for.”

Tech’s bats had one final exclamation point to put on the lead with a five-run sixth that included Hernandez’s third homer of the day, a three-run shot. Hernandez finished with four hits, including three homers and a double to go with a program-record tying nine RBIs. Hernandez said it’s been good to get back to feeling like himself the past few weeks and it’s starting to show with his hot hitting of late.

“For me, it’s been just a health thing. I’m finally feeling good on the field again, playing fully healthy and like doing what I know I can do,” said Hernandez. “Started off the year really well and kind of battled some like soft tissue injuries early on, or middle throughout the season, and just getting back on the field, feeling good and being able to play my own game again feels really good. Just saw the ball well (today) and, I mean, stuck to the game plan, our game plan for their starter, and we just got it. We’ve got a lot of guys coming in the game. We were spot on. We knew what we needed to do and just passing it back to the next guy, not trying to do too much.”

Several other Jackets had big days at the plate, including Will Baker who was 3-for-4 with a double, four RBIs and two walks. Brosius added a double to go with his solo homer and scored four runs, and Advincula had three total hits, including his homer, to go with two doubles and three runs scored.

Lackey finished with a pair of hits, including his homer, to go with two RBIs and two runs scored in about half a game before he was subbed out for Drew Rogers at catcher who ended up with two hits of his own, including a double. Ryan Zuckerman contributed two hits and scored two runs, Kent Schmidt had a hit and an RBI and Caleb Daniel came into the game and had a hit and scored a run.

Carson Ballard got the start for Tech and went four innings while allowing two runs on two hits with six strikeouts and one walk in a no decision. Jake Lankie (1-1) then came on to pitch two innings as he earned the win after allowing one run on four hits with one strikeout and one walk.

Tech used three pitchers after that with Charlie Willcox tossing a scoreless, hitless inning, Jamie Vicens allowing two runs on two hits with two strikeouts in one inning and Adam McKelvey pitching a 1-2-3 ninth.

UIC (27-28-1) had some early momentum thanks to a two-run homer in the top of the second by Will Flanigan but couldn’t sustain it after Tech’s offense got rolling the following half inning. Flanigan added a solo homer in the fifth as one of the few offensive bright spots for the Flames.

Jake Busson also had a two-run homer for UIC while Thomas Curry and Alexander Wright both had a hit and scored a run.

UIC starter Mason Lei (8-5) took the loss after allowing 13 runs on 11 hits with one strikeout and one walk over 3 1/3 innings. The Flames used five other pitchers after that with Aidan Terronez, Michael Vitellaro and Payton Barton each having scoreless, one-inning outings.

Ramsey said his team has continued to play well in the past few weeks despite the stakes getting higher each week.

“I think we won the ACC regular season last year because we had a young group that maybe didn’t know what it took and just answered the bell,” said Ramsey. “And if you ask us of when the speeches are the heaviest and the most pressing, it’s like Tuesdays. It’s game three of a non-conference early in the season. And I think if you can do that, and preach that, and get on guys, whether it’s in the dugout energy or it’s just you build up that stamina. I think the biggest thing is just the competitive stamina side as we get going. And so these guys really now, it’s just about doing what we do. But I think when we’ve had championships run, we talked about having four championship weeks leading to Omaha. It was ACC regular season. Our guys played unbelievably crisp. Talked about ACC tournament was the second week of that. We played really good baseball for three games. This is the third week. And so to start off like this, this sends a great message. These guys are focused on what they need to be focused on.”

Scoring Recap…

UIC got on the board first with a two-out, two-run homer by Will Flanigan in the top of the second to make it 2-0.

Georgia Tech wasted no time responding emphatically with a pair of long balls in the bottom of the second, the first coming on a two-run shot by Alex Hernandez followed by a solo jack from Parker Brosius to take a 3-2 lead.

Tech kept the offensive momentum rolling in the third as Vahn Lackey crushed a two-run homer onto Rose Bowl Field to make it 5-2. The Jackets then added three two-out runs on an RBI single by Kent Schmidt followed by a two-run double by Will Baker. After the five-run third, Tech led UIC 8-2.

Hernandez continued his scorching-hot hitting of late with a grand slam in the fourth off the light pole in right center to make it 12-2. Later in the inning another long ball, this one a three-run shot by Carson Kerce made it 15-2.

Tech wasn’t quite done yet in the fourth as Jarren Advincula launched a two-run homer to right field to make it 17-2 and a nine-run inning.

Flanigan connected for his second homer of the day, a solo shot, in the top of the fifth to cut Tech’s lead to 17-3, but the Flames were unable to take advantage of a bases-loaded, one-out opportunity as Jake Lankie got a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat with no further damage.

Hernandez stayed on fire in the sixth with a three-run homer to right center, and Baker followed a few batters later with a two-out, two-run single to push Tech’s lead to 22-3.

Jake Busson launched a two-run homer to left for UIC in the eighth to cut Tech’s lead to 22-5.

Up Next…

Georgia Tech will battle the winner of Saturday morning’s Oklahoma vs. The Citadel matchup in the winner’s bracket game on Saturday at 6 p.m. The two teams were scheduled to play Friday night before the game was postponed to Saturday at 10 a.m. due to weather.

“To be in a position where you’re playing at home, you get to play in the 1-0, 1-0 game in a regional, and I expect the same level of focus from our guys tomorrow night,” said Ramsey. “And I just can’t wait to see the crowd come out.”

Ramsey didn’t commit to which of his pitchers would get the start in Saturday’s game but said things are set up well for them after Friday’s contest, including possibly having Ballard come back if needed this weekend on Sunday or Monday. He mentioned both Tate McKee and Jackson Blakely as the possible starters for Saturday.

UIC will take on the loser of the Oklahoma vs. The Citadel game in an elimination contest at 2 p.m. on Saturday.