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Baseball can be a funny sport sometimes, they say.
That’s really the only way one could describe the first two games of the series between Louisville and Georgia Tech.
After falling behind as much as 11-1 on Friday night, and surrendering a total of 13 free base runners due to a combination of BB and HBP, the Yellow Jackets came out a completely different ballclub on Saturday afternoon.
Nine innings went by, and the three pitchers (Archer, Huff, Westbrooks) combined for only two walks, and not a single HBP.
W- Andy Archer (1-1)
L- Adam Elliott (1-1)
Kevin Parada’s scorching start continues.. and Jake DeLeo is heating up too
Kevin Parada is the reigning ACC POTW, and if possible, he has been even better this week.
After going 1-3 on Saturday, Parada finished the game 4-4 on Saturday, to go along with a BB and 1 RBI.
His average going into Sunday’s matchup is sitting right at .500 to go along with a team leading 16 hits, 1.454 OPS, and part of a three-way tie for the lead in RBI with 11.
Parada gave up five stolen bases on Friday night. On Saturday, he gave up zero. His defense has improved each time out there, and the bat is still hot.
There were a lot of questions going into the week about Jake DeLeo’s bat. His speed has never been questioned, and his defense hadn’t been either.
Going into Sunday, DeLeo is batting .500 this weekend, with 3 RBI. What the box score doesn’t show, with DeLeo, is how often he steps to the plate with runners on, and in big spots.
Earlier in the season, sometimes it looked like he was pressing or trying to do too much, resulting in an approach that had some wondering if the lineup was being put together correctly.
DeLeo has the somewhat strange combination of someone that rarely strikes out (just 4 K in 24 AB) while also rarely walking (just 1 BB)
Hall seems to have found the spot for him in the lineup, and both he and Parada continue to show why they were prized recruits nationally, on complete opposite parts of the country (Connecticut and California)
Throwing strikes remains the most important piece to the puzzle for GT
The observation can be read over and over again, and it wouldn’t lose any of its meaning or importance.
Georgia Tech has, and will continue to, lose games like the one on Friday night where their pitchers just completely lost the strike zone.
Hurter had been impressive thus far this season going into his start on Friday. He struggled with control, and ended up giving up 7 runs (all earned) while only striking out 3 and walking 4.
He threw strikes just 48% of the time.
Archer has had a roller coaster start to his career as a starting pitcher, but has really settled in throughout his last two starts.
On Saturday, he pitched a career high 6 IP, to go along with 5 K, 1 ER, and 0 BB.
He threw strikes 71% of the time, lowering his ERA to 3.29 in the process.
Sunday’s matchup is going to have national attention, as it should
Depending on which poll you follow, Louisville is either as low as No. 5 nationally, or as high as the No. 1 team in the country. The same type of variance could be said with Georgia Tech, as Danny Hall’s program was ranked as high as No. 10 going into the weekend, but as low as 16.
In a weekend in which several other conferences continue their non-conference play, analysts and national college baseball writers will be looking for something to take a look at on Sunday afternoon.
When they turn on ACC Network, they’ll see close to double-digit MLB Draft prospects, including two future MLB catchers in Harry Davis and Kevin Parada.
In past years, if a scout was unable to get to a game due to travel issues they would just have to either watch highlights or just look at stats the next day.
With networks created in recent years such as the one for the ACC (if you have access to it) Georgia Tech’s baseball program has a big chance the next several games to showcase themselves as a program.
UP NEXT
Georgia Tech will close out the series with Louisville on Sunday afternoon with Sam Crawford on the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 3PM, and will air on the ACC Network.
The Yellow Jackets will look to keep their streak alive of consecutive series won.
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