Jackets' late comeback bid falls short in 12-9 loss to Mercer

Georgia Tech’s final home game of the regular season didn’t go as planned as visiting Mercer built a big lead over the first five innings, and despite a valiant comeback effort by the host Jackets, the Bears were able to pull out a big 12-9 win over their in-state foes.

Georgia Tech (42-9) saw Mercer jump out to a 7-0 lead after three innings with the help of a pair of long balls before the Bears pushed the advantage to 10 at 12-2 with a five-run fifth.

The Jackets refused to go away quietly, however, scoring two in the sixth and five in the seventh to pull with in three runs. Mercer (40-13) was able to get key outs from there though, holding Tech scoreless over the final two frames to seal the victory.

“Last midweek and last regular-season game at home, you tip your hat to Mercer, Coach (Craig) Gibson, and their staff,” said Georgia Tech head coach James Ramsey. “A big win for them, and they deserve it. They played really well. I think that at this point in the season, we’ve got to be a little sharper with details here and there, because good teams will make you pay, and that’s certainly what they did. I think 10 of their first 12 runs, if my count was right, were two outs. So once again, we know what that feels like, because that’s what we usually do to other people. In saying that, I was really proud of the effort of our guys to fight back and battle back on a night where we gave a lot away, and we didn’t play our sharpest.”

The Jackets’ pitchers struggled early on with Jake Lankie (0-1) getting his first start of the season and taking the loss after going 1 2/3 innings and allowing four runs on three hits with three walks and two strikeouts. Dylan Loy and Brett Barfield followed him and combined to pitch the next three frames, giving up eight more runs (seven earned) on six hits with five strikeouts and two walks.

Tech’s final three arms of the night steadied the ship and allowed the Jackets’ bats the chance to rally back into the game. Justin Shadek came in after Barfield and didn’t allow a run on just one hit with two strikeouts in 2/3 of an inning of work. Then Caden Spivey and Caden Gaudette shut Mercer down from there over the final 3 2/3 innings.

Spivey pitched 2 2/3 scoreless frames as he allowed just one hit and walked one, and Gaudette fired a scoreless ninth inning, striking out all three batters he faced.

“You want to keep guys on short leashes tonight with Thursday (at BC) looming, and so we didn’t want anybody to run their pitch count up too high,” said Ramsey. “At the same time, we want to give guys chances that, once again, for Spivey to do that, we know he’s capable of doing it, and then for Gaudette to have a better job putting guys away, I think it’s a huge confidence boost for him.”

The Jackets were led at the plate by the middle of the lineup as the 3-4-5 hitters combined for eight of the team’s 11 hits on the night and eight of its nine RBIs. Vahn Lackey had three of those, including a double, to go with four RBIs and two runs scored, while Jarren Advincula was 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored as he now has 93 hits on the season.

Will Baker added two hits, including a double, and three RBIs. Parker Brosius had a multi-hit effort as well, including a solo homer. Drew Burress rounded out the offensive contributors with a hit and two runs scored.

Mercer’s lineup was led by Eli Stephens ho finished with three hits, including two three-run homers in his team’s resume-boosting victory on the road. Braydon Kersey had a two-run homer of his own as part of a two-hit night.

The Bears’ Titan Kamaka had a triple and two RBIs, and Chris Katz doubled and drove in two runs. Logan Shepherd also had two hits and three runs scored in the leadoff spot.

Jeb Johnson (3-3) earned the win on the mound following a gutsy performance as he started and went 5 1/3 innings and allowed four runs (two earned) on seven hits while striking out four and walking two against Tech’s high-powered offense.

Three other pitchers worked after that for Mercer with Andrew Garnett earning his first save of the season thanks to three innings of scoreless relief in which he didn’t allow a run or a hit, struck out three and walked one.

Ramsey said it definitely wasn’t what his team envisioned for its final time on the field at Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium in the regular season, but he was impressed with the home atmosphere once again.

“It wasn’t the start we hoped for, but appreciate the crowd getting into things,” said Ramsey. “I think, once again, this is a dress rehearsal for us for a regional game and the crowd. It definitely was a factor helping us get back in the game, but at the end of the day, once again, we’re quickly flushing this and setting our sights on going up to Boston and playing a really capable Boston College team.”

Scoring Recap…

Georgia Tech’s first-inning troubles of late on the mound continued Tuesday night as Mercer wasted no time jumping on top with a two-run top of the first inning. The Bears’ Titan Kamaka tripled down the right field line to drive in both runs and make it 2-0 before the Jackets came to bat for the first time.

Mercer added onto its early lead with a three-run homer by Eli Stephens in the top of the second to push the score to 5-0.

Another long ball in the third pushed Mercer’s advantage to 7-0 as Braydon Kersey went deep for a two-run homer to left center.

Georgia Tech cut the deficit to 7-2 in the bottom of the third thanks to an RBI single by Jarren Advincula and an RBI groundout on a fielder’s choice by Vahn Lackey.

Mercer exploded for five runs in the fifth to push the advantage to 12-2 thanks to a two-run double by Chris Katz followed by Stephens’ second three-run homer of the night.

Georgia Tech scored two in the sixth on an RBI single by Lackey followed by an RBI groundout by Will Baker as Mercer’s lead shrunk to 12-4.

The Jackets put together a five-run rally in the seventh to get back in the game and cut the Mercer lead to 12-9. Parker Brosius hit a solo homer early in the inning, Lackey followed with a two-run double a little later and Baker drove in two more with a double to left.

Up Next…

Georgia Tech will close out the regular season with a three-game ACC series on the road at Boston College starting on Thursday at 6 p.m.

The Jackets enter the series with a magic number of two to clinch the regular-season ACC title meaning they would need some combination of two wins, two UNC losses at NC State this weekend or one and one.

Ramsey reiterated that Tuesday’s loss to Mercer was a bad night in the minds of himself and his players and they must turn it around quickly to get ready for a test at Boston College.

“Yeah, they’re pissed. I’m pissed. You know, you hate losing,” said Ramsey. “That’s why we’re in this spot is because we hate losing. And we’ve set records along the way because we hate losing, and when we scrimmage each other, we hate losing. And so the one thing is when you do that, you have to also remind yourself of, A. where you’ve been and the things we’ve battled through. And then we went on the road last year, we were not in the driver’s seat. I just told those guys that haven’t been there, as great as it is, and we would have much rather won an ACC championship at home in front of our fans. But there is something about winning on the road when you’ve got the guys in the trenches and the guys that you can look in the eye that have been in the waiting room since the day classes started, and they’ve continued to work. And the satisfaction of doing that on the road sometimes also gives you just a whole different feel because you’re kind of all you got, all you need, and that’s the focus for us going up to Boston.”