ACC & NCAA Tourney Chances

GTNavyNuke

GTNavyNuke

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We are very likely going to play into the ACC tourney. All of the following have to happen for us to miss the tourney (From LaGrangeJacket http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=140&f=2938&t=12876177 - and it's all correct that I can see). We are 14-16.

UNC: 14-13 (Must win 1 of 3 vs. Miami)
Clemson: 13-13 (Must win 1 of 3 vs. BC)
Wake: 13-14 (Must win 1 of 3 vs UVa)
NC State: 11-15 (Must sweep @ VT)
Pitt: 11-16 (must sweep @ND)

With a .467 average (14-16) you would think we would be in the top 10 of 14 (.714) teams ..........

Also, we are still ok in NCAA projection (I know there are others), where we were 3 seed before we beat UGAg. http://www.collegebaseballdaily.com/2014/05/13/2014-ncaa-regional-projections-may-13th/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed: CollegeBaseballDaily (College Baseball Daily)

And Boyds World has us with an RPI of 33 after fixing the dwags. Win this weekend and play well in ACC tourney and we're in. http://www.boydsworld.com/baseball/rpi/currentrpi.html

Optimism slowly returning here.
 
Stinger90

Stinger90

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I'm not knocking our young ball club. But I HATE when you have to depend on other teams in order for you to get into a tournament. You will most of the time have your feeling crushed. Winning takes care of everything.

Anyway, we'll see how things pan out for the ACC and where we will play in the NCAA. Go Jackets!
 
crl85

crl85

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We really aren't bad. Our hitting is down, but still ok. We could be a dangerous team if we make it to the NCAA tournament. IMO, the two main reasons that we are on the fence are youth and forgetting to play against Pitt.
 
GTNavyNuke

GTNavyNuke

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jeffgt14 said:
I haven’t followed us much in baseball this year but what the hell happened to make us so bad this year?
Click to expand...

We are very young and were very bad to start the year. Here is the trending of the RPI:
week 5 112
week 8 88
week 9 57
week 10 35
week 11 27
week 12 32
week 13 33

So we are getting better, not worse. To add to the excuses/valid reasons, we lost three primary starting pitchers. Cruz, Pitts and King. But our pitching has come around and our defense has been great.

Our glaring weakness is timely hitting and we don't have any real home run hitters like Palka or Evans. We are doing ok at getting people into scoring position - we did it like 5 or 6 innings last night. But never got the damn hit to drive in a couple. That happened most of the weekend against UVa too. I hope it is more coincidence than mental. When we were playing our best we were getting the timely hits. If we can get timely hits 30-50% of the time, we can beat any team we play.
 
jeffgt14

jeffgt14

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GTNavyNuke said:
We are very young and were very bad to start the year. Here is the trending of the RPI:
week 5 112
week 8 88
week 9 57
week 10 35
week 11 27
week 12 32
week 13 33

So we are getting better, not worse. To add to the excuses/valid reasons, we lost three primary starting pitchers. Cruz, Pitts and King. But our pitching has come around and our defense has been great.

Our glaring weakness is timely hitting and we don't have any real home run hitters like Palka or Evans. We are doing ok at getting people into scoring position - we did it like 5 or 6 innings last night. But never got the damn hit to drive in a couple. That happened most of the weekend against UVa too. I hope it is more coincidence than mental. When we were playing our best we were getting the timely hits. If we can get timely hits 30-50% of the time, we can beat any team we play.
Click to expand...
Cool. As long as we make the NCAA tournament anything can happen. Hell most years we look like a top team in the country and lose in the damn regionals.
 
GTNavyNuke

GTNavyNuke

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Nice stats, but I still think that the fielding % leaves out a lot of plays we make which other teams wouldn't make. Spingola's and Gonzalez have thown out several trying to go home. Spignola's throw against the dwags was awesome ...... and remember that the 3.26 ERA has been done without our best early season pitchers. The D has bailed out the pitchers a lot, but the pitchers can go up and throw strikes without worrying that the ball will be hit. Pitching and defense are what has won the CWS the last few years ..... UVa is set up for that even better than we are.

"Heroes and Zeroes: The 2014 Yellow Jackets have had a tremendous season when it comes to pitching and defense. Defensively, the Yellow Jackets have been amongst the best in the nation at turning the double play, as their 62 twin-killings are tied for the most in the nation. Meanwhile, their .972 fielding percentage is fourth in the ACC, and their .975 fielding in conference play is tied for third. Tech also has excelled on the mound, as its 3.26 ERA is the third-lowest single-season total in the last 40 years. Only the 2.76 in 2011 and the 3.13 in 1993 are lower. The 206 total runs allowed are the fewest allowed by a Yellow Jackets pitching staff since giving up 193 in 1978.

No SB For You: Georgia Tech has been one of the toughest teams to steal against in the ACC, catching 22 potential base-stealers, tied with North Carolina, and only three off Boston College's ACC lead. Their catching tandem of freshman Arden Pabst and senior Mitch Earnest is a big reason why. Both are ranked in the top 10 in the ACC for catching runners, with Pabst sixth -- he is second among ACC freshmen -- having thrown out 41 percent of potential base thieves (12-of-29), while Earnest is tied for ninth, nailing 35 percent (nine-of-27)."

http://www.ramblinwreck.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/051414aab.html
 
MGTfan

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I follow baseball pretty closely and will give a quick rundown off why this hasn't been the best season. Nothing too in depth, but just a little something before the ACC Tournament.

1) We lost a ton of talent from last year's team. All three outfielders (Kyle Wren, Brandon Thomas, and Daniel Palka), and also lost catcher Zane Evans and Friday Starter Buck Farmer. Palka, Wren and Evans were the three most productive hitters on the team last season, so replacing them with freshman was going to be difficult.

2) As Eric mentioned, Tech starts quite a few freshman. Connor Justus has been starting at SS and has done fairy well. Brandon Gold replaced Sam Dove at 3B, Either Ryan Puerifoy or Keenan Innis starts in RF, and then Arden Pabst gets about half the starts behind the plate, splitting time with senior Mitch Earnest. Freshman SS Ellitot Barzilli is another promising freshman, who I actually think has the most potential of anyone freshman on the team, but just not really a spot for him to play right now with Tech having so many infielders. Whenever you have this many freshman, there are going to be times where they just struggle to produce. Although none of them have played terrible IMO, they just aren't going to be able to come in and put up the same numbers as MLB Draft picks like Wren, Evans and Palka.

3) Injuries really hit the pitching staff. Both Jonathan King and Cole Pitts (Friday and Saturday starter), got injured and have been out for the most of the season. Pitts had Tommy John and will not be returning. Even with so many injuries, pitching has been a strength. Josh Heddinger has done well on Fridays, Devin Stanton has been starting on Saturday, and then freshman Ben Parr has moved to the third weekend starter in place of Matt Grimes. Parr was really doing well in the midweek role, wining five straight decisions, and should be a good pitcher for Tech in the future.

Even with the injuries to the staff, I feel like our pitching staff is somewhat deep in the fact that there isn't a huge drop off from our 1 to our 4. If the bats heat up, I wouldn't be shocked to see Tech make a run in regionals. The team has struggled at times (Swept by Pitt and losing the series at Maryland Maryland) but have shown they can compete against the top teams, winning sereis against UNC, Miami, FSu and UGA.
 
GTNavyNuke

GTNavyNuke

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Out here in hotter that hell San Diego. Running is like running in a dry sauna - the wind is coming off the desert.

Anyway, looks like we are 9th if NC State loses today and 10th if they win. Either way we play in to the ACC. I really don't care who we face.

Win yesterday over USF (3-0) was nice. I think we are in the tourney regardless based on RPI projections today of 41 and in the 32-45 range regardless if the outcome. http://www.boydsworld.com/baseball/rpi/rpineeds.html#G

But a win today and going deep into the ACC could help for the NCAAs (I thought I read somewhere that the conference tourney results aren't used to seed except if you win).
 
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