The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets just keep finding ways to win as it was a rain delay and a 10-run comeback that led the Jackets to their 35th win of the season and 18th in the ACC on Saturday afternoon.
Red-shirt sophomore right-hander Justin Shadek got the start for the Jackets, his second of the season and first since February 20th against Stony Brook. It unfortunately didn’t last long as he allowed five earned runs while recording just one out. After walking two, Kade Lewis hit his second home run of the series, and one of two he would go on to hit in this one, a three-run shot that got Wake Forest out to the same 3-0 lead they got out to on Friday night. Lewis was immediately followed up with another home run off the bat of Matt Conte, his seventh of the season to go back-to-back with Lewis. After hitting the next batter, Shadek’s day was done as sophomore right-hander Jake Lankie came in to relieve him. Lankie immediately gave up back-to-back doubles scoring two more, closing Shadek’s line at five earned runs on two hits and two walks. Lankie managed to close out the inning, stopping the bleeding at six runs, but was then tagged for two more on back-to-back solo home runs from Luke Costello and Kade Lewis to open the second. Not only was it back-to-back home runs in consecutive innings, but each inning included a home run from Kade Lewis as he brought his total on the season to 10. After issuing a walk, Lankie was then removed for senior left-hander Kayden Campbell. He would allow a walk and two singles as Wake Forest pushed across two more runs to extend the lead to 10-0 before the end of the second inning.
Following the conclusion of the top of the second, the light rain at Mac Nease Park started to pick up as the game went into a rain delay. There are a lot more desirable places to be than heading into a rain delay down 10-0, but whatever the Jackets did during the hour and a half delay boosted their spirits as they started chipping away when play resumed.
Sophomore right-hander Troy Dressler got the start for Wake Forest, and despite the layoff, he returned to the mound in the bottom of the second. Will Baker got the scoring started off Dressler in the second, hitting a two-run home run, his seventh of the season. Later in the inning, Drew Burress drove in a run with a double to bring the score to 10-3.
Wake Forest’s scoring wasn’t done yet, but one more run was all they would get. Freshman right-hander Dimitri Angelakos came in for Campbell in the third, and immediately gave up a leadoff home run to Dalton Wentz, Wake Forest’s fifth in three innings. He did manage to settle in however, giving up just two baserunners through the fourth. Freshman left-hander Cooper Underwood took over for Angelakos in the fifth, pitching for the first time since he gave up four earned runs in a one inning start against Georgia Southern a week prior. The start to Underwood’s career has been a struggle, but he broke through in a big way for the Jackets on Saturday, delivering his best outing of the season.
After a scoreless frame in the fifth for Underwood, the Jackets offense continued chipping away in the bottom half. With junior right-hander Blake Morningstar on the mound for Wake Forest after relieving Troy Dressler in the fourth, Drew Burress opened the inning with a single and then came around on a two-run home run off the bat of Jarren Advincula for his eighth of the season. The sixth was when the Jackets really closed the gap. Ryan Zuckerman and Caleb Daniel hit back-to-back singles to open the inning before Morningstar was removed for sophomore left-hander Rhys Bowie. Will Baker drove in his third run of the game on a fielder’s choice, and then Jarren Advincula delivered again with a two-run double to bring the score to 11-8. They added one more in the inning on a wild pitch that scored Advincula.
Cooper Underwood continued dealing as he struck out the side in order in the top half of the seventh, giving the offense the chance to make another push at tying the game. They would indeed tie the game and then some in the bottom of the seventh as they broke through for five more runs. After Ryan Zuckerman doubled and Will Baker walked, Bowie was relieved by freshman right-hander Marcelo Harsch. He immediately gave up four hits in a row to Carson Kerce, Drew Burress, Jarren Advincula, and Vahn Lackey as the Jackets jumped out to a 13-11 lead. They pushed across one more to make it a three-run game on a Kent Schmidt sacrifice fly.
Cooper Underwood remained nails out of the bullpen, allowing just one base runner in the final two innings on a hit by pitch. His five innings and seven strikeouts were both season-highs for the freshman. He also didn’t allow a single hit across his five innings of work which was really impressive considering how well Wake Forest’s hitters were seeing the ball earlier in the game. It was far and away Underwood’s best outing of the season and arguably one of the most important by a Jackets pitcher this year.
On the offensive side, Jarren Advincula was the player of the game, going 5-5 with two extra-base hits and six runs batted in. It was the first five-hit game of his career as well as the most total bases (9) he has had in a game since March 29th of last year, and a single-game career high in runs batted in. With three hits, Drew Burress came through with his fourth consecutive multi-hit game. Ryan Zuckerman came through with two doubles, while Carson Kerce had a multi-hit game of his own.
With the win, the Jackets advance to a 35-7 on the season and 18-5 in the ACC while Wake Forest falls to 28-16 and dip below .500 in the ACC at 11-12. The Georgia Tech bats will look to remain hot as they go for the sweep on Sunday afternoon against Wake Forest’s Cam Bagwell while Jackson Blakely will get the start for the Jackets.
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