Following a disappointing series against the Marshall Thundering Herd where the Jackets split their four games series, Tech needed to bounce back and gain some momentum heading into conference play. The Jackets began their week taking on the University of West Georgia Wolves from Carrollton, Ga. West Georgia, a new team to division one athletics, brought many excited fans to the game at Russ Chandler, but, ultimately, the Jackets’ bats overpowered the Wolves. In the weekend series, Tech squared off against the Western Michigan Broncos from the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The Jackets continued their sizzling offensive performance and beat the Broncos by ten or more runs in each of the contests.
Beginning on Wednesday, head coach Danny Hall started freshman pitcher Connor Chicoli for the second straight midweek matchup. While Chicoli got banged up, giving up six hits in only four innings, he only allowed three Wolves runners to cross the plate. Tech led the game 6-3 heading into the top of the sixth but freshman pitcher Cole Royer allowed multiple runs in the top of the sixth and the Wolves took the lead 7-6. Needing to get out of a jam, Hall turned to ACC pitcher of the week graduate Mason Patel to navigate out of the jam. Patel showed his pedigree by allowing no runs in one and a third innings of work. Even with the Jackets down runs, an opening in the game felt eminent.
Sophomore first baseman Kent Schmidt crushed a two run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning and then the Jackets filled the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh, scoring six runs. The Jackets closed the game out 16-7 and Tech garnered momentum heading into the series against the Broncos.
On Friday, it took little to no time for the Jackets to pick up from where they left off in the mid week contest. Junior shortstop Kyle Lodise drew an opening walk and then sophomore Drew Burress hit a tank to field to give the Jackets a quick lead, his fourth of the season. The lead would never be relinquished as Tech continued to pour on more runs later in the game. On the mound, sophomore Tate McKee shut down Western Michigan’s bats and struck out ten batters, a new career high. When the Broncos got within four runs after the top of the sixth, freshman catcher Drew Rogers proved why he was a top 25 recruit in the nation when he hit a moonshot home run to deep left center. Rogers’ home run began another rally and the Jackets destroyed the Broncos 16-4.
In the Saturday contest, the Jackets started junior pitcher Brady Jones to shut down the Broncos and he repaid the faith in spades. Jones allowed only one unearned run, three hits and struck out nine batters. With this outing, Jones shrunk his earned run average (ERA) to just 2.40 to complement a 3.15 from McKee, an improvement over the starting woes from a year ago. Unlike the opening game against the Broncos, the Jackets bats started slow, only scoring five runs in the opening five innings. The floodgates opened in the bottom of the sixth, and the Jackets batted around and eclipsed nine runs in the inning. Tech scored these nine runs on seven hits which culminated in a home run by Lodise. Schmidt also carded two singles in the same inning. Following a scoreless top of the seventh by graduate pitcher Jaylen Paden, the game was called due to the Jackets being up ten runs after the seventh inning. This marked the second mercy rule victory of the season.
Tech’s success carried over into the final game of the series when the Jackets mercy ruled the Broncos in seven innings 13-3. Redshirt sophomore Riley Stanford threw an erratic four innings, striking out six, walking five and allowing seven hits. Despite the up-and-down performance, he only let across three Broncos. In the final game of the series, Tech received lots of help from the bottom part of their batting order: sophomore third baseman Carson Kerce reached three times, freshman second baseman Caleb Daniel reached four times and junior right fielder Parker Brosius reached three times. This production will be extremely important once the Jackets get to ACC play this upcoming weekend. Following Stanford, freshman Cooper McMullen silenced the Broncos’ bats and freshman utility player Alex Hernandez hit his fifth home run of the season to walk off the Jackets (for a mercy rule) and clinch a Tech sweep.
With these four wins, the Jackets improved to 10-2 on the season. This weekend, the Jackets travel up to Blacksburg, Va., to begin conference play against the Virginia Tech Hokies. The Hokies are 8-3 on this year’s campaign and had one of the more lopsided wins in college baseball when they beat Bucknell University 27-1 in seven innings. After playing Virginia Tech, the Jackets will host their opening ACC series of the year against the University of Pittsburgh Panthers on the Flats.
The post Jackets cruise past Western Michigan, West Georgia appeared first on Technique.