Week 2 Preview: Georgia Southern & Ohio State
Opening Weekend is officially in the books, and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets had a moderate amount of success in their first three games of the 2020 college baseball season. They kicked off the season 2-1 by shutting out Saint Peter's on Opening Day & holding off a Cincinnati rally, but falling in blowout fashion against St. John's to prevent the Atlanta Challenge sweep.
This weekend perfectly encapsulates how a talented but young team typically performs in the early goings of a season. While they put forth their fair share of contributions to victory such as the Saint Peter's game where 10 underclassmen saw the diamond, they also had the typical "freshman moments". This was most notable in the game against St. John's where Tech had 3 errors and 2 passed balls that directly helped the Johnnies defeated the Jackets. Although this goes without saying that this is a young season and they have plenty of time to correct any issues that pop up.
News & Notes
- Freshman RHP Zach Maxwell became the third freshman since 1967 to start on Opening Day for the Yellow Jackets.
- With a relief appearance in game 2 vs. Cincinnati, redshirt junior Andy Archer made his first appearance in 631 days.
The Week Ahead
Georgia Tech will go on the road for their first midweek game of the season, then come home for a normal slate of Friday-Saturday-Sunday games.
Away (Statesboro, GA)
- Friday, February 18th @ 6:00pm vs. Georgia Southern
- ESPN3
- WREK 91.1 FM
Home (Atlanta, GA)
- Friday, February 21st @ 4:00pm vs. Ohio State
- ACC Network Extra
- WREK 91.1 FM
- Saturday, February 22nd @ 2:00pm vs. Ohio State
- ACC Network Extra
- WREK 91.1 FM
- Sunday, February 23rd @ 1:00pm vs Ohio State
- ACC Network Extra
- WREK 91.1 FM
Know The Foe
School: Georgia Southern University
Nickname: Eagles
Location: Statesboro, GA
Total Enrollment: 26,408
Head Coach (school record): Rodney Hendon (712-487)
2020 Record (conference record): 3-0 (0-0)
Team Leaders:
- Avg: Mitchell Golden (.600)
- RBI: Jason Swan (5)
- HR: Jarrett Brown (1)
- ERA: 11 tied at 0.00
- Strikeouts: Jordan Jackson (9)
- Wins: 3 tied at 1
School: Ohio State University
Nickname: Buckeyes
Location: Columbus, OH
Total Enrollment: 61,170
Head Coach (school record): Greg Beals (299-231-1)
2020 Record (conference record): 2-1 (0-0)
Team Leaders:
- Avg: Archer Brookman (.500)
- RBI: Conner Pohl (4)
- HR: Nolan Clegg (1)
- ERA: 5 tied for 0.00
- Strikeouts: Seth Lonsway (12)
- Wins: Seth Lonsway & Patrick Murphy (1)
Opponent Breakdown:
| Georgia Southern | Ohio State | Georgia Tech | |
|---|---|---|---|
RPI | 65th | 38th | 62nd |
SOS | 66th | 52nd | 64th |
Home Record | 3-0 | 0-0 | 2-1 |
Away Record | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Batting:
| Georgia Southern | Ohio State | Georgia Tech | |
|---|---|---|---|
Base on Balls | 42 (19) | 64 (17) | 80 (16) |
Batting Average | 51 (.307) | 179 (.223) | 126 (.250) |
Hits | 70 (31) | 163 (23) | 173 (22) |
Home Runs | 147 (1) | 147 (1) | 147 (1) |
On Base Percentage | 50 (.418) | 115 (.362) | 120 (.360) |
Runs | 36 (29) | 113 (17) | 158 (13) |
Slugging Percentage | 84 (.406) | 153 (.330) | 94 (.398) |
Pitching:
| Georgia Southern | Ohio State | Georgia Tech | |
|---|---|---|---|
Earned Run Average | 12 (1.33) | 71 (2.57) | 141 (4.00) |
Hits Allowed/9 Innings | 29 (5.33) | 136 (8.04) | 105 (7.67) |
Strikeouts Per 9 Innings | 35 (12.0) | 5 (14.1) | 57 (11.0) |
Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio | 81 (3.00) | 50 (3.67) | 97 (2.75) |
WHIP | 46 (1.04) | 132 (1.32) | 124 (1.30) |
Walks Allowed/9 Innings | 137 (4.00) | 130 (3.86) | 137 (4.00) |
Key: Rank out of 297 (Value)
Georgia Southern Eagles
While the Eagles did not make the NCAA Tournament a year ago, they are still a high quality team that deserves respect from the Yellow Jackets. They return a ton of production from their 2019 squad and started this season off on the right foot with a 3-0 sweep over Ball State.
At the plate, they are highlighted by a deadly one-two upperclassmen punch in seniors Steven Curry and Mason McWhorter. A year ago, the duo lead the team in batting average, OPS, hits, doubles & total bases, with one or the other leading in triple, home runs, RBI, slugging percentage, and on base percentage. They were also the only players last season to have over 200 AB's. Both Curry & McWhorter combined to bat for .334 in 2019, while the rest of the Eagles combined were at a much lower .265 clip. Whoever Coach Hall decides to throw out on the mound for the midweek game against the Eagles, they better be disciplined against this duo.
On the mound, the Eagles are a much better team out of the bullpen than they are in the starting rotation, which will have a more direct effect on Tech than a three game series would. While they did lose arguably their best bullpen arm in Cole Whitney to graduation, they still retained their second and third best options out of the pen. Of all the returning bullpen arms, left-handers Nick Jones and Hayden Harris rank 1 & 2 in terms of innings pitched, strikeouts and ERA. A year ago, both had an ERA under 3.25 and 50 strikeouts. Notably, Jones had just 1 fewer strikeout than Harris, but 16.0 less innings pitched. Long story short, if the Jackets chase the starter out of the game, they will have to be as disciplined as they were if not more against the Eagles' bullpen.
Ohio State Buckeyes
Georgia Southern might be sending out their top two hitters from a year ago against the Jackets, but the opposite is true for the Buckeyes. Outfielder Dominic Canzone was drafted in the 8th round by the Arizona Diamondbacks while two-way player Brady Cherry graduated. The power hitting duo accounted for 32.8% of OSU's total bases, 46.4% of their home runs as well as 36.6% of their extra base hits. Considering this was team a season ago that was already batting .269 with them, Georgia Tech's might be able to contain the Buckeyes at the plate for most of the weekend.
However there's a reason that Ohio State won the Big Ten's representative in the NCAA Tournament last season, and that's because of their pitching. While not one of the premier pitching staff's in the conference, they are returning almost all of their pitching staff from last season. Go-to bullpen arm LHP Andrew Magno is the only key contributor that the Buckeyes lost heading into this season, and are returning 84.4% of their innings pitched and 83.5% of their strikeouts. Most notably, the entire starting weekend rotation is back including Friday night ace Seth Lonsway. He retired 126 batters a season ago, good for 2nd in the Big Ten and 15th in the nation. With the combination of a low scoring offense and experienced pitching staff, the weekend series against Ohio State has the potential to be a low scoring affair.
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