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https://d1baseball.com/columns/weekend-insider-georgia-tech-thrilled-to-restore-order/
It’s late April and long-time Georgia Tech head coach Danny Hall is as chipper as ever.
Sure, he has a few choice words to say about last week’s third coach proposal failing. Every coach, no matter their team’s status, has a few words to say about that during any phone conversation these days. But Hall says his piece and moves on to talking about his Yellow Jackets. He perks up. You can hear it in his voice, and like a dad talking about his successful sons or daughters, he goes down the list of players who have taken big steps forward this season.
Hall is happy as can be right now. The Yellow Jackets are 28-13 overall, ranked 11th nationally and have an RPI of 10 with a strong standing in the Atlantic Coast Conference. In essence, they’re already a Top 16 team. Now they’re aiming for one of those coveted top eight national seeds.
Georgia Tech has plenty of work to do before it can cement itself as a top eight seed, but this season has been a fun ride thus far. And that wasn’t the case the last two seasons. Tech got away from its successful ways and had two straight campaigns to forget. Two seasons ago, the Jackets went 27-28 overall with an ugly 11-19 league record. They missed the postseason. The same situation occurred last season, though the Jackets had a much improved 31-27 mark with an RPI of 55. But again, they missed the postseason and had an incredibly difficult time closing out weekend series.
Suddenly, everything has changed. The Jackets are building a robust resume with outstanding midweek wins over Georgia and Auburn, and they’re also doing a much better job on the weekends, losing just one weekend series in conference play thus far — an early March road series against Miami.
There’s no complex formula to explain Georgia Tech’s surge this season. It’s more about an improved culture and mentality, and of course, doing a much better job at the end of games.
“I think two years ago, our struggles had a lot to do with injuries more than anything else. We had injuries to some key guys, including Tristin English and others,” Hall said. “Last year, for whatever reason, we had chances to win series and we just found a way to lose games. I felt like we were close last year, but we certainly weren’t there.
It’s late April and long-time Georgia Tech head coach Danny Hall is as chipper as ever.
Sure, he has a few choice words to say about last week’s third coach proposal failing. Every coach, no matter their team’s status, has a few words to say about that during any phone conversation these days. But Hall says his piece and moves on to talking about his Yellow Jackets. He perks up. You can hear it in his voice, and like a dad talking about his successful sons or daughters, he goes down the list of players who have taken big steps forward this season.
Hall is happy as can be right now. The Yellow Jackets are 28-13 overall, ranked 11th nationally and have an RPI of 10 with a strong standing in the Atlantic Coast Conference. In essence, they’re already a Top 16 team. Now they’re aiming for one of those coveted top eight national seeds.
Georgia Tech has plenty of work to do before it can cement itself as a top eight seed, but this season has been a fun ride thus far. And that wasn’t the case the last two seasons. Tech got away from its successful ways and had two straight campaigns to forget. Two seasons ago, the Jackets went 27-28 overall with an ugly 11-19 league record. They missed the postseason. The same situation occurred last season, though the Jackets had a much improved 31-27 mark with an RPI of 55. But again, they missed the postseason and had an incredibly difficult time closing out weekend series.
Suddenly, everything has changed. The Jackets are building a robust resume with outstanding midweek wins over Georgia and Auburn, and they’re also doing a much better job on the weekends, losing just one weekend series in conference play thus far — an early March road series against Miami.
There’s no complex formula to explain Georgia Tech’s surge this season. It’s more about an improved culture and mentality, and of course, doing a much better job at the end of games.
“I think two years ago, our struggles had a lot to do with injuries more than anything else. We had injuries to some key guys, including Tristin English and others,” Hall said. “Last year, for whatever reason, we had chances to win series and we just found a way to lose games. I felt like we were close last year, but we certainly weren’t there.