BLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech baseball team dropped a pair of games to No. 11 Georgia Tech on Saturday at English Field at Union Park and, with it, dropped the ACC baseball series two games two one, as unearned runs were the difference in the first contest, and a ninth-inning rally fell short in the second.
The day's opening game was won by the Yellow Jackets by a 7-5 score as three Hokie errors led to five unearned runs, while the Hokies stranded the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth in the 4-3 loss that decided the weekend series.
Georgia Tech (27-13, 13-8 ACC) plated two unearned runs in the fourth inning and added three more unearned runs in the fifth to turn a tied ballgame into a 7-3 lead.
The Hokies, who scored an unearned run in the first and tied the game at 2-2 in the second on Luke Horanski's team-leading ninth home run of the year, battled back from the deficit with a pair in the seventh.
With one out, Jack Owens and Nick Biddison, who each had three hits in the first game, tallied back-to-back doubles, the second scored Owens, and Kerry Carpenter had a two-out double that plated Biddison and the Hokies trailed by just two.
However, GT's Connor Thomas, who improved to 6-1 with the win, retired the final four batters he faced and Tristin English picked up his fourth save of the year with a perfect ninth. Chris Gerard lost his first game as a Hokie, falling to 3-1 this season.
The second game saw the Yellow Jackets take a 1-0 lead in the fifth (another unearned run) and increase that to 4-0 by the seventh.
Tech (22-18, 7-14 ACC), who was held without a hit until the eighth frame, finally broke through after Tanner Thomas led off the inning with a double and Biddison knocked him in with a two-out double.
In the ninth, the first four Hokies reached base that brought home a second run, as Kevin Madden led off with a single which was followed by three straight walks.
GT went to its bullpen, brining in Micah Carpenter, who got the next two batters on popups in the infield. Biddison then drew a two-out walk, making it 4-3, but Carpenter got the final out on a fly to right to earn his first save.
Out of the Jacket bullpen, Jonathan Hughes improved to 6-2 with the win, while Peyton Alford's record dropped to 1-5 with the loss.
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