GT @ VT (Castrated Turkeys)

[GTNavyNuke]

I am very hopeful we can win this series against VPI&SU. I know the have shown they can compete with, and beat, anyone...as their earlier series sweep against UVa demonstrated. But goodness, I hope we can start playing as well in league as we do out of conference.

I hope we do well and think we should win the series. Against Louisville, we were the ones to fall apart. And Louisville's soid pitching from top to bottom; I think Louisville could make the CWS. And we beat UGAg partially due to their falling apart (3 errors) and fabulous D play on our part. Same thing with Ga State. We just played better.

Tied for 9th in the ACC, we need to get back on track. Some highlights ........ http://www.ramblinwreck.com/sports/m-basebl/geot-m-basebl-body.html

We're 13th in rpi and VT is 71st. ....... outside of the UVa series this year, VT has been erratic...... http://warrennolan.com/baseball/2015/schedule/Virginia-Tech

 

[MWBATL]

The thing about Virginia Tech is just don't know which Hokie team will show up (a bit like GT actually). Will it be the team that swept The Cavaliers? Or will it be the team that has gone 13-14 (3-6 in Conference) against everybody else? Personally, I will be disappointed if we don't take two of three, but that's just me.

 

[SwarmArmy]

The key will be today's game. If we win today, we'll sweep them. They have their ace starting today too. I predict we go 2-1 and win the series, but I will change it to 3-0 if we win tonight.. Go Jackets!

 

[GTNavyNuke]

2-0 GT after 1 1/2. Good thing is that their ace already has 45 pitches. We are being very very patient at the plate. Knock him out by the 5th or 6th and things look a lot better today and for the rest of the weekend. He hasn't gone less than 7 innings this year and and usually pitches over 100 pitches. Gotta tire the big boy out......

And GT gets a DP. King had to put someone on so the D could shine. D will win games if we play the way we can.

Drinking Red "Ya Mon" Stripe beer for the first time during a Beesball game. We win tonight and it'll be a staple.

 

[awbuzz]

Good start. Let's get the W!

 

[GTNavyNuke]

2-5 in 5th after giving up a 3 run HR. Time to watch Mad Men ........ but check up on GameTracker.

Good news is that their stud pitcher has 89 pitches going to the 6th so we should get a reliever for a while.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Lead off double in the 7th by Spingola........ maybe there is magic in the night. Still 2-5, but we've beaten better.

Gonzo double, now 3-5. Beer is tasting better ........ hopefully we chase the VT pitcher ..... we've done better than UVa, FSU or Clemson against him.

 

[SwarmArmy]

...and we're tied! Justus doubles to tie it up..

 

[SwarmArmy]

GT leads 6-5 now. B8.

 

[SwarmArmy]

7-5 good guys T9! Justus singles to bring Smitty home after he himself singled, stole 2nd and went to 3rd on a wild pitch. Go Jackets!

Pabst doubles and it's now 8-5 Tech!

Spingy triples to bring in two more. 10-5 (real) Tech.

 

[SwarmArmy]

11-5 Tech on an AJ Murry single, Spingy comes home. 3 outs to go.

I'm going to move my vote from 2-1 to 3-0. Get out all your brooms, because the Jackets are gonna sweep!

 

[New Old Guy]

That's it. Great comeback against VT ace!

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Red Strip for a while it looks like. I'll write up the 8th and 9th inning tomorrow where CT basically gave us the game and we took it. Kicked them between the legs and hopefully messed with their minds for the next two.

Great way to get back on track in the ACC.

 

[MWBATL]

Didn't get to follow tonight's game. Checked the Gameday app on my phone once midway through the game and saw we were down 5-2...thought it might have been all over. So VERY glad we were able to come back and get the win. Boy did we need this.

But you simply can't give up on this team. How many 8th or 9th inning wins is that now?

 

[GTNavyNuke]

I'm beginning to think there is a large confidence factor which affects baseball. Teams that aren't as good as us seem to have more than usual unforced defensive errors / pitcher wildness against us. And we made a lot of unforced defensive errors / pitcher wildness it seems against Louisville. It's not really karma or swagger but just some sort of subliminal intimidation. (Yes I'm sober now.)

Look at what CT did in the 8th and 9th innings - We had bounced the starter (Keselica) in the 7th with his worst performance of the season - not because he pitched bad (111-70 strikes 63%; 3 walks 4 SO) but because we were very patient at the plate. VT used 4 pitchers tonight which should help us.

First the 8th

• Jackson, B walked (3-0 BBBB). (A gift here since you just want to get the out. Can't even throw a strike? We give this gift too much.)
• Pabst, A reached on a throwing error by 1B, SAC, bunt (0-0); Jackson, B advanced to second. (Remember the score was tied 5-5 and this was a total gift out where we were willing to trade a base for an out.)
• Spingola, D struck out looking (0-2 KFK).
• SUBSTITUTION: Scherzer, L. to P for Kennedy, S..
• SUBSTITUTION: Innis, K pinch hit for Peurifoy, R.
• Innis, K hit by pitch (1-0); Pabst, A advanced to second; Jackson, B advanced to third. (Gotta hurt when your reliever does this to you. Hall loves to substitute hitters after the other team substitutes pitchers.)
• Gonzalez, M grounded out to 2B, RBI (0-0); Innis, K advanced to second; Pabst, A advanced to third; Jackson, B scored, unearned. (This should have ended the inning but we took the lead on an unearned run.)
• Murray, A flied out to CF (3-1 FBBB).

Then the ninth is where the wheels fall off for VT - and we exposed their weakness in relief pitching.

• Smith, T singled to right field (0-2 KF). (Thank you for a hittable 0-2 pitch. At least it wasn't a 4 pitch walk or hit the batter.)
  
• Smith, T stole second. (We make our luck sometimes. Takes away the DP.)
  
• Smith, T advanced to third on a passed ball. (This is equivalent to an error except not how baseball is scored.)
  
• Justus, C singled to center field, RBI (2-1 BSB); Smith, T scored.
  
• Bailey, W out at first P to 2B, SAC, bunt (1-0 B); Justus, C advanced to second.
  
• Jackson, B walked (3-1 BKBBB).
  
• Pabst, A doubled to left field, RBI (2-1 BBK); Jackson, B advanced to third; Justus, C scored.
  
• SUBSTITUTION: Coward, C. to P for Scherzer, L..
  
• Spingola, D tripled down the RF line, 2 RBI (0-1 S); Pabst, A scored; Jackson, B scored.
  
• Innis, K struck out swinging, out at first C to 1B (0-2 KFS).
  
• Gonzalez, M singled through the left side, RBI (1-0 B); Spingola, D scored.
  
• Murray, A flied out to CF (0-0).

You have to play good baseball to win most ACC games; we did overall and VT didn't.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

..... But you simply can't give up on this team. How many 8th or 9th inning wins is that now?

At least 4 games. From page 3 of the media guide (pdf). There is also a graph which shows our best two innings are the 8th/9th with 50 total runs...... which is really impressive since we don't bat in the ninth when at home with the lead.

#CARDIACJACKETS

>> The Jackets have had a knack for late-game heroics this season, having already claimed three walk-off
wins and a 5-1 record in games decided by one run. Tech beat Albany, 9-8, with a three-run walk-off homer
by Arden Pabst... Brandon Gold scored on a error in the bottom of the ninth to beat Ohio, 7-6... Thomas Smith
belted a walk-off single in a 6-5 win over North Carolina.

>> Tech is out-scoring the opposition 50-12 over the final two innings, plus extra innings this season. The
Yellow Jackets have trailed at some point in 10 of their 19 wins this season. {I really should recognize that we must be getting good relief pitching.}

>> Tech is 4-6 when trailing entering the eighth inning and 3-5 when trailing entering the ninth. {This stat doesn't seem right - it would imply we have lost 5 games where we were behind in the ninth and lost 5 games in the ninth where we were ahead since we have lost a total of 10 games} Over the three previous season, the Jackets are a combined 5-65 when trailing entering the eighth and a combined 5-70
when trailing entering the ninth.

>> The Jackets have also been strong with a late-game lead, having won 52 straight games (dating back to
2013) when taking a lead to the ninth inning.


TECH’S COMEBACK WINS
Game Tech deficits Final
1. 2/13 vs. St. John’s Trailed 1-0 in 1st 17-3
2. 2/14 vs. Fordham Trailed 3-0 in 1st, Trailed 4-3 in 5th 7-5
3. 2/17 at Ga. Southern Trailed 4-1 in 7th 7-4
4. 2/21 vs. FIU Trailed 9-8 in 9th 16-9
5. 2/22 vs. Albany Trailed 6-3 in 2nd, Trailed 8-6 in 9th 9-8
6. 3/10 vs. Ga. Southern Trailed 1-0 in 1st 22-6
7. 3/13 at Duke Trailed 2-0 in 6th 5-2
8. 3/17 at Kennesaw State Trailed 5-3 in 9th 7-6
9. 3/21 vs. N. Carolina Trailed 5-0 in 6th 6-5
10. 3/24 vs. Auburn Trailed 1-0 in 4th 4-1

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Key today - Pitts pitching well. He's 0-3 for a reason. Hopefully Hall pulls him quick if he doesn't have it.

The other key - be patient at the plate and burn some more VT pitchers to help out for tomorrow.

Opened the first Red Stripe, I'll be listening while pulling weeds and spreading mulch. Gorgeous day here in Va.

Update: I love Hall. In pre-game he was asked what Pitts priority is today: "throw strikes". Hall says that Pitts said he felt the best he has all year. Here to hoping that translates to the game.

 

[OldJacketFan]

2 down and 1 to go!!!

11-5, the REAL Tech!!!

http://www.ramblinwreck.com/sports/m-basebl/recaps/040315aaa.html

Okay, Okay I know..................dollar short, day late

 

[OldJacketFan]

No wonder it wasn't on ramblinwreck, Jackets drop game 2, 9-8 giving up 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th

 

[AE 87]

2 down and 1 to go!!!

11-5, the REAL Tech!!!

http://www.ramblinwreck.com/sports/m-basebl/recaps/040315aaa.html

Okay, Okay I know..................dollar short, day late

Yeah, we lost today, 9-8.