The Yellow Jackets entered a tough weekend series in Tallahassee against the fifth-ranked Florida State Seminoles as one of the nation’s hottest teams.
The first game against FSU displayed Tech’s strengths perhaps better than any other game this season. The Jackets blanked the Seminoles 10-0 in the first game of a day-night doubleheader on Friday behind yet another masterful pitching performance by Buck Farmer, who allowed just two hits over seven innings en route to his fifth win of the season and improved his microscopic ERA to 1.35. Run support was certainly not an issue for Farmer as the team was once again led by catcher Zane Evans, who went 3-for-4, including his tenth home run of the season, to go along with three RBIs.
Due to the threat of heavy rain on Saturday in the area, Friday night played host to the second game of the series, which unfortunately told a completely different story from the day contest. The Seminoles jumped on Dusty Isaacs early for two runs in the first inning before blowing the game open in the fifth after a grand slam by FSU’s D.J. Stewart, leading to an 11-3 win. The Jackets did get a 4-for-5 day from outfielder Kyle Wren, but 11 runners left on base turned out to be the downfall for Tech.
Sunday saw a hotly-contested finale of a series that, up until that point, had yet to be competitive. The Jackets got off to a hot start, leading 5-1 after two innings, but six unanswered runs by the Seminoles over the final three innings led to an 8-6 win for Florida State and back-to-back losses for Tech, the first time all season that the Jackets have lost consecutive games. The top of the order, Kyle Wren, Sam Dove and Brandon Thomas, collected six hits collectively to lead the offense.
The series loss dropped the Yellow Jackets to 18-5 on the season, 6-3 in the ACC, and back to 16th in the national rankings as they returned home Monday to play five of six back at Russ Chandler Stadium. Tuesday saw the Bulldogs from The Citadel visit Tech on a frigid “spring” night in Atlanta, with snow flurries flying and a 33-degree wind chill in the air. After a slow start, the Jackets rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the eighth inning by hitting a pair of two-run home runs, one by Daniel Palka in the eighth and the other by Daniel Spingola, a walk-off liner that cleared the right field wall. It was Spingola’s first career home run and it capped a 2-for-4 day, which also included an RBI double that put the Jackets on the board.
Kyle Wren added two hits, extending his hitting streak to 13 games, as the Jackets improved their record to 19-5 on the season. Next up for Tech is a weekend home series against Wake Forest, which has struggled against ACC opponents, posting a 3-6 conference record so far and a 14-12 overall record.
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