Not Bad for a First Time

This rivalry throws up some crazy situations and Tuesday night was no different. Everything was pointing toward an unlikely Bulldog win, one that could have put their season back on the right track. The opportunity to knock off the number 3 team in the nation disappeared as soon as Georgia needed clutch pitching, something they haven’t had at any point in this young season. Despite the lingering disappointment for the Dogs we learnt an awful lot more about them than we did Georgia Tech. For one Coach Dave Perno of the Dogs is willing to be brave at important moments and giving Freshman Blake Dietrich his first collegiate start qualified as brave. While the gamble didn’t pay off the way Perno had hoped it showed the belief that he has in this young team that seems to get younger every game it plays. This game also showed that this Georgia team has the kind of grit and guts that I certainly didn’t think they had, rallying back from the 4-0 deficit that Tech opened early to take the lead in the seventh before their poor pitching threw the game away. For all the youth that dragged Georgia back into the game it was one of the few seniors (Alex McCree) that gave up the winning run, pitching a disastrous eighth that he started by hitting Derek Dietrich with a pitch and walking Chase Burnette and Jay Dantzler. With the bases loaded McCree proceeded to strike out the next two hitters before walking Jacob Esch and giving Tech the 6-5 lead that would hold through the ninth. Despite the disappointment there is a lot for the Diamond Dogs to take out of this game and, despite being below .500 on the season, they should feel a whole lot better about SEC play that begins with a home series against Auburn at the weekend.

As far as the Yellow Jackets go we learned nothing about this team. This is the third game in a row they needed a late rally to win and didn’t really win this one, Georgia lost it. The middle of the line-up that’s been so dangerous this year, Matt Skole, Derek Dietrich and Chase Burnette, cooled off in a hurry going a combined 0-9. The sluggish team that appeared in Gold and White Tuesday is not the team who has been ranked number 3 in the nation, they seemed fatigued both mentally and physically apparently feeling the effects of their first ACC series. The best thing to come out of Tuesday for the Jackets was the performance of Mark Pope who hadn’t seen any action for two weeks. “If I had to do it over again I would have taken him out” admitted Tech coach Danny Hall after letting Pope begin the seventh which yielded all of the Dogs 5 runs. Whilst the Jackets will have a lingering feeling of relief and disappointment about this game it keeps them rolling and moves them to 14-1 on the season, a record bettered or equalled by only 4 teams.

Clearly this win keeps momentum with Tech for the continuation of ACC play Friday against Maryland but it also gets Georgia playing somewhere near the level they need to. Whether they can keep it up through the rest of the year only time will tell but David Perno finally has seen some positives from his team. Regardless of who won or lost this game proved why college baseball is so great.