@GTBaseball Hosts Pitt on Senior Weekend

May 7, 2015

LEADING OFF
>> Georgia Tech, which has won five straight and six of its last seven, looks to carry that momentum into a crucial ACC series versus Pitt at Russ Chandler Stadium. The series is underway Friday at 7 p.m. with both games on the weekend set for 1 p.m. Saturday’s game is the Game of the Week on ACC’s Regional Sports Networks, including SportSouth.

>> The Yellow Jackets are looking for revenge after the Panthers earned a sweep in the teams’ first-ever meeting last year in Pittsburgh. The Jackets enter the series 11-13 in ACC play and in fourth place in the Coastal Division, looking to remain among the league’s top 10. Pitt, which owns series wins over North Carolina and Wake Forest, is 6-18 in league play.

>> Only four pitchers nationally have more wins than sophomore closer Zac Ryan, who is 9-1 with seven saves and a 2.86 ERA. Ryan has logged a win or a save in 16 of his team-leading 25 pitching appearances. He and Ohio State’s Trace Dempsey (9-1, 7 saves, 1.88) are the two relief pitchers in the NCAA with eight or more wins. Ryan leads the ACC leads in wins and is fifth in saves. Ryan has been credited with four of Tech’s last six wins.

>> Tech is 6-1 in its last seven games and hitting .306 and slugging .486 over that stretch. Four Jackets carry significant hitting streaks into the series — Matt Gonzalez (10 games), Ryan Peurifoy (7), Thomas Smith (5) and A.J. Murray (4). Gonzalez is hitting .385 over his streak (15-for-39) with two doubles, two homers and 12 RBI. Peurifoy is 13-for-28 (.464) over his seven-game streak. Both of Peurifoy’s career homers have come in the last two games. Murray is among the ACC leaders in homers (12), RBI (44) and slugging (.575) — seven of his 12 homers have come in the last month.

>> Tech is outscoring opponents 80-36 in the eighth inning and beyond this season. That includes a +31 margin in the eighth (50-19), +11 in the ninth (25-14) and +2 (5-3) in extra innings. 17 of Tech’s 30 wins are come-from-behind victories, including five when trailing in the eighth inning and four when trailing in the ninth. Tech is 4-1 in walk-off games, and 3-1 in extra-inning games. Four of Tech’s last five wins have been comeback victories.

>> Sophomore C Arden Pabst is among the NCAA leaders in runners caught stealing and caught-stealing percentage. Pabst, who is on the watch list for the Johnny Bench Award, has thrown out 22 would-be base stealers this season, which are tied for ninth-most nationally. His caught-stealing percentage of .468 ranks in the top 10th in the NCAA.

>> The Jackets continue to be one of the nation’s best defensive teams, currently ranked 13th in double plays (49), 39th in fielding percentage (.975 — on pace for school record of .974 set last season) and own the seventh-most outfield assists nationally (13). Tech led the nation in both double plays (school record 77) and outfield assists last season. Since 2012, Tech’s 242 double plays are second-most nationally.

>> Tech is 19-3 this season when scoring first; 9-3 in one-run games; 7-7 versus ranked teams. Sophomore RHP Brandon Gold is 4-0 in series rubber-games — all coming in ACC victories over Notre Dame, Duke, Virginia Tech and Virginia. As a team, the Jackets are 7-1 this season in weekend rubber-games (5-1 in ACC play).