#22 Georgia Tech opens ACC weekend series with 6-4 win at #3 Virginia

No. 22 Georgia Tech (18-9, 5-5 ACC) put a halt to third-ranked Virginia’s school-record 19-game home win streak with a 6-4 series-opening win on Friday at Disharoon Park.

The Cavaliers drop to 23-3 overall and 7-3 in ACC action this season. The home loss for UVA is the first since May 4, 2021.

Georgia Tech never trailed in the contest and scored in three of its first four trips to the plate, opening a 6-3 advantage after four innings of play. Neither bullpen surrendered a run in a combined 9.1 innings pitched.

For the Cavaliers, freshman Jay Woolfolk struck out a season-high six batters over the final three innings of the game. He pitched himself out of a jam in the seventh by striking out the last two batters of the frame and went on to retire six of the last seven batter he faced.

Woolfolk followed two perfect innings by Dylan Bowers who fanned three batters.

Starting pitcher Nate Savino was charged with five earned runs. Coming into the game, he had only allowed eight earned runs in 35 innings pitched.

“I thought Georgia Tech did a great job against Nate Savino. He’s been pitching really, really great baseball for us and has done a terrific job. They had a great approach against him,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said.

In the first inning, the Yellow Jackets capitalized on a botched inning-ending double play attempt that eventually allowed two runs to score. In the second, Tres Gonzales reached on double that was lost in the sun by centerfielder Chris Newell and eventually came around to score one of the two runs the frame.

In what proved to be the difference in the contest, Yellow Jacket catcher Kevin Parada blasted a two-out, two-run homer in the top of the fourth to make the score 6-3. The long ball was his 11th on the year.

The Cavaliers responded to each of Georgia Tech’s first two scoring frames. Devin Ortiz plated Kyle Teel who reached on a double in the first inning and Casey Saucke singled home Alex Tappen to score in the second.

Virginia’s RBI leaders, Jake Gelof and Alex Tappen, chipped in run-scoring base hits in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively. Gelof now has 48 RBI on the season while Tappen upped his season total to 39.

The clutch hit eluded the bats in the late innings as UVA left the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth and sixth. In the sixth, the first three runners reached and after two strikeouts, the inning ended on a circus catch by shortstop Jaydn Jackson.

Georgia Tech’s Zach Maxwell pitched the final four innings and fanned six batters to earn the victory, his second of the season.

“Parada, the catcher, is a heck of a player. He’s got a bunch of home runs and drove that slider out of here, which was a big hit in the ball game,” O’Connor said. “They did a great job of minimizing innings, we couldn’t get a crooked number up there, we had four innings where we scored one run. When they brought Maxwell out of the pen, that was a big moment. Bases loaded with no outs that we were not able to capitalize and that’s to his credit. Obviously, he’s got great stuff. I thought we fought and battled and we out-hit them. We were not quite opportunistic enough and gave away too many free passes. That’s baseball in this league, you do that and you don’t capitalize on innings, you get beat by good teams and they’re a very, very good team.”

The ACC series continues on Saturday with the middle game of a three-game set. The Cavaliers will have lefty Brian Gursky (5-0) on the mound, and he will be opposed by fellow southpaw, Cody Carwile (2-1). First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Disharoon Park.