Heading South – Georgia Tech Weekend Preview

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Fortunately, that title is not a veiled reference to the Pack9’s recent fortunes on the diamond.  Nope, that is only a reference to the fact that this weekend the Pack will take its only southbound conference road trip of the year.  Hopefully the warmer weather will help awaken the bats a bit (though with rain and a mild chill in the forecast for Friday in ATL, it might not happen until Saturday…more on that below).

The Pack is currently riding an 11 game win streak and has won 13 of 14 since Charlottesville.  They’ve won three conference series in a row, including sweeps the past two weekends (vs VT, @ BC).

In so doing, State has improved its record to 29-10 (11-7 ACC) and has begun to climb once again in the national rankings.  The Pack is ranked #15 this week.  Sadly however, BC is so bad that sweeping them on the road actually brought last week’s RPI of #11 down to #20.

Sweeping BC did allow the Wolfpack to avoid losing ground in the race for the Atlantic Division crown, however.

FSU (13-5) is still out in front after sweeping Duke at home last weekend, including a doubleheader sweep on Saturday.  Clemson (12-6), which swept Wake at home last weekend, is still just a game behind the ‘Noles with the Pack (11-7) still 2 games off the pace.  Maryland (5-13, 8gb) and Wake (4-14, 9gb) have each fallen out of the race for all intents and purposes.

And BC (0-17) is still BC.

That being said however, BC travels to Wake this weekend.  Not only might they have a decent shot at finally breaking into the win column, but proceeds from all ticket sales will be donated to The One Fund Boston, a fund established to help the victims (and their families) of Monday’s Boston Marathon bombing.

Pretty classy from our Deacon friends in Winston-Salem.  And with the Wolfpack on the road this weekend, a nice little trip to Winston wouldn’t be a bad way to spend Saturday or Sunday.  Think about it.

So, with that out of the way, let’s talk Georgia Tech….

GTLogoGeorgia Tech Yellow Jackets

27-10 (11-7, 3rd ACC Coastal; Rank #14, RPI #17)

2012: 37-24 (12-18, 4th ACC Coastal; ACC Tournament Champions)

Make no mistake, Tech is good.  Probably not UVa or FSU good, and definitely not UNC-CH good.  But they’re good.  They’re excellent offensively and defensively, and they have enough pitching to be a factor in any game they play.  State will have its work cut out this weekend to get out of Atlanta with a fourth straight series win in conference.

At The Plate

The Pack’s pitching has been pretty good of late, and it will need to continue to be as Georgia Tech hits very, very well both for average and power.

The Jackets check in with a team batting avg. of .321.  That’s tops in the ACC and #6 nationally, by the way.  They’re #2 in the league in hits (#10 nationally), they score 7.49 runs per game (2nd, 12th), have jacked 35 round trippers on the year (1st, t8th), and have a team slugging pct. of .481 (1st, 3rd).

They do also draw a lot of walks (170 total/4.6 per game), though probably not as many as they should given their potent offense (5th , t26th), and they do also tend strike out a lot (257 total/6.95 per game; 3rd/2nd most ACC).

They can steal a base if they have to (47 on the year, 7th ACC)…but they generally don’t have to.

Brandon Thomas (#6, Sr, CF/DH) leads the Jackets in avg. at .402.  He generally won’t hit for power (1 HR) but he is tied for the team lead with 11 doubles on the year and he’s 3rd on the team with 33 runs scored.

Kyle Wren (#8, Jr, LF/CF) leads GT in total hits (60) and is 2nd in avg. (.387).  He’s also Tech’s biggest base stealing threat with 18 steals on 28 attempts.

Daniel Palka (#32, Jr, 1B/OF/LHP) bats .378, is tied for team lead with 11 HRs on the year, and is 2nd in RBIs (42).  He’s also 2nd on the team in doubles (10), which combined with his HR numbers gives him the team lead both in total bases (94) and slg% (.696).

Zane Evans (#10, Jr, C) leads Tech with 44 RBIs on the year and is tied for team lead with Palka with 11 HRs.  He too has a very healthy slg% (.657, 2nd), and is the only everyday guy for GT who manages to walk more often than strike out (25/17).

Matt Gonzalez (#14, Frosh, SS/3B) bats .340 with 2 HR, 31 RBIs (3rd) and is a more than decent base stealing threat (9/12).

In The Field

With a team ERA of 3.58 and an against avg. of .239 (7th/5th ACC), GT’s pitching staff is solid but not spectacular (for comparison, the Pack checks in at 3.35 and .212 respectively, 5th/2nd).  That being said, they do have an ACC pitcher of the year candidate in Senior righthander Buck Farmer, who Wolfpack batters will be facing in game one.

His stats, as well as those of the other starters the Pack will go up against this weekend….

Buck Farmer (#30, Sr, RHP) – 7-1, 1.41 ERA, 64.0 IP, 1 HR, .211 against avg., 74 Ks, 14 BBs

Dusty Isaacs (#28, Jr, RHP) – 4-3, 4.20 ERA, 49.1 IP, 5 HR, .239 against avg.,  43 Ks, 14 BBs

Cole Pitts (#36, Soph, RHP) – 5-3, 3.42 ERA, 50.0 IP, 3 HR, .227 against avg., 32 Ks, 18 BBs

Georgia Tech is also a very good defensive team with a team fldpct of .978, good enough for tops in the ACC and #11 nationally.

Links

No. 15 Wolfpack Travels to No. 14 Georgia Tech (GoPack.com)

Georgia Tech Baseball Home (RamblinWreck.com)

Weekend Notes

Games Schedule – Pitching Probables

  • 4/19 Friday 3pm – Ryan Wilkins vs Buck Farmer
  • 4/20 Saturday 6pm – Carlos Rodon vs Dusty Isaacs
  • 4/21 Sunday 1pm – Brad Stone vs Cole Pitts

***All three games are scheduled to stream live over ESPN3.***

So…why is Carlos Rodon not getting the Friday start this weekend you ask?  Well, I’m only speculating here, but my guess is the weather forecast.  Friday’s weather is looking very wet in Atlanta with temps in the 50s by game time.

It’s questionable whether Friday’s game gets played Friday at all, but even if it does it very well might be delayed and quite chilly by the time they do get it in.  Delays and chilly temps have not proven to be Carlos’ friend thus far in 2013.  Better he expects not to go until Saturday from the outset.

Hopefully sunshine and warmer temps forecast for the rest of the weekend will be more to his liking, as well as that of the Pack’s batting order.

Also, heading south and getting some warmer climatological surroundings often helps with the overall outlook of spring springing and all which that implies.  In other words, heading south sometimes has additional benefits…

NCAA FOOTBALL: SEP 26 North Carolina at Georgia Tech

(You can click on her to see her better, btw 🙂 )

We like it…Ramblin’ Wreck, indeed 😀

Standings

(As Of April 18)
ATLANTIC DIVISION
School Conference Pct. Overall Pct.
Florida State 13-5 .722 31-6-0 .838
Clemson 12-6 .667 26-11-0 .703
NC State 11-7 .611 29-10-0 .744
Maryland 5-13 .278 20-18-0 .526
Wake Forest 4-14 .222 20-20-0 .500
Boston College 0-17 .000 6-30-0 .167
COASTAL DIVISION
School Conference Pct. Overall Pct.
North Carolina 15-2 .882 36-2-0 .947
Virginia 13-5 .722 32-6-0 .842
Georgia Tech 11-7 .611 27-10-0 .730
Miami 8-10 .444 25-15-0 .625
Duke 8-10 .444 22-17-0 .564
Virginia Tech 7-11 .389 22-16-0 .579

ACC Baseball This Weekend

  • BC @ Wake
  • FSU @ UVa
  • VT @ UMd
  • Clemson @ Miami
  • Duke @ UNC-CH

Please make your way over to the SFN Forums and do some talking over there…it’s been getting kinda lonely in that place since basketball ended but we’ve got links to basketball and football info (and other NCSU sports too) that don’t necessarily make it here on the main blog.  Not to mention some interesting discussions.

And also, please do check us out on facebook and give us a “like”.

About Wufpacker

A 2nd generation alumnus and raised since birth to be irrationally dedicated to all things NC State. Class of '88 and '92.

ACC Teams Baseball

21 Responses to Heading South – Georgia Tech Weekend Preview

  1. PackerInRussia 04/19/2013 at 10:17 AM #

    Here’s hoping that Rodon has a better outing than he did at BC. It’d be great to keep up the series streak against a quality opponent.

  2. Wufpacker 04/19/2013 at 10:51 AM #

    When writing this last night my brain must have temporarily checked out at some point….

    No one is allowed to go to Wake on Saturday as you should have your butts planted firmly in CF for the Kay Yow Spring Game.

    You may however, attend a BC/Wake game either tonight or Sunday.

    I have spoken.

  3. Wufpacker 04/19/2013 at 11:07 AM #

    Today’s game time has been moved back from 3pm to 7pm.

    Rain is expected to end late afternoon/early evening and game time temps in the mid 50s.

  4. poorfarmer 04/19/2013 at 7:24 PM #

    Thanks wuf for the update, are the games still on espn3?

  5. Wufpacker 04/19/2013 at 7:31 PM #

    As far as I know, yes. Tonight’s ESPN3 feed showing weather delay message but link is still there.

    Start time pushed back another hour to 8pm btw.

  6. poorfarmer 04/19/2013 at 7:36 PM #

    Thanks again, looks like crappy weather fixin to head my way too, just hope theres no hard stuff in it! Farmin and hail don’t mix too well!

  7. Wufpacker 04/19/2013 at 7:46 PM #

    No, indeed they do not.

    Hope anything damaging passes you by.

  8. BJD95 04/19/2013 at 10:21 PM #

    I think we take two out of three. God only knows what bad juju that optimism will bring.

  9. Wufpacker 04/19/2013 at 11:28 PM #

    Good start in spite of some BJD reverse-reverse mojo.

    Pack scores at least one in all but one inning en route to taking game one 13-4.

    Several guys had big nights at the plate, but Tarran Senay had the biggest going 3 for 6, with a HR, 2 doubles and 6 RBIs.

    Tzamtzis gets the win in relief.

    Clemson also wins tonight @Miami, everybody else rained out.

  10. PackerInRussia 04/20/2013 at 12:48 AM #

    Wow, great start to the series. With authority!

  11. BJD95 04/20/2013 at 10:56 AM #

    This baseball team is so badass they are immune to my converse Midas touch. Huzzah, Pack Nine!!

  12. Wufpacker 04/20/2013 at 8:44 PM #

    Carlos Rodon goes the distance to get the complete game win, Pack takes game two by a final score of 6-2.

    State goes for the sweep in Atlanta tomorrow at 1pm.

  13. poorfarmer 04/20/2013 at 8:48 PM #

    Way to go State and Mr. Rodon! Glad he was able to finish what he started!!!

  14. Wufpacker 04/20/2013 at 8:52 PM #

    Ditto me that, farmer.

    I’m also hoping he learned a little something about himself and the boys behind him over those last few innings.

  15. Wufpacker 04/20/2013 at 9:53 PM #

    And oh by the way….

    Clemson fell @ Miami today and FSU dropped a pair at UVa.

    State, Clemson and FSU now in a three way first place tie for the Atlantic Division.

  16. Wufpacker 04/20/2013 at 10:41 PM #

    RPI up to #10 after first two games in ATL, btw.

    ACC with four in the RPI top 10 (Carolina #1, UVa #5, FSU #6, State #10).

    Also Clemson (13), Miami(14), VT(18) and GT(22) in RPI top 25.

  17. vtpackfan 04/20/2013 at 11:51 PM #

    Wow Rodon, CG on 104 pitches! Turner breaks school record in SBs and he has played less than a season and a half. Amazing having not one, but two Golden Spikes caliber players.

    Senay has been the biggest surprise for me this year. That game against Vandy last year really changed his mentality at the plate. He seems to relish being in the middle of the order with the pressure on.

    Thank you Wahoo’s 🙂 We’ve got Stone, who has really proven himself, on the mound and everyone in the Pen loose. Should be fun.

  18. Wufpacker 04/21/2013 at 4:33 PM #

    Pack wins Sunday 8-7 for the sweep in ATL. 14 straight wins, 4 straight series, 3 straight sweeps.

    Clemson and FSU both lose today…Pack now in sole possession of first in the Atlantic.

    More later…

  19. Pack78 04/21/2013 at 4:40 PM #

    Another great baseball weekend…came back with two in the top of the 9th for the win.

  20. vtpackfan 04/21/2013 at 5:58 PM #

    Right hand Clyde:)

    Eat my hat on the sac bunt working in the ninth (although the eighth it didn’t). Time and a place for everything.

    Even when things seemed funcky back with Trea hurt I just kept saying that with a Golden Spikes player inserted back in would bring it all back to speed. I never believed it, just wishful thinking. This stretch of play with Turner back has been beyond even a wishful Wolfpacker 😉

    Bring on those Heels-the sooner the better!!

  21. poorfarmer 04/21/2013 at 8:54 PM #

    First in the Atlantic thats got a nice ring to it!

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