A year ago, Chance Huff was a Georgia Tech reliever with a 9.99 ERA.
On Friday night, their updated and improved version was a central unit in the opening game of the annual Tec-Georgia series, an 11-7 win for the Yellow Jackets at Tec's Russ Chandler Stadium.
Huff, who has climbed to the top of the tech pitching staff since the end of last season, kept the Bulldogs off balance in a seven-inning gem, enough to shrink Georgia's window for a rally to the game. Took a long time.
Tech coach Danny Hall said, "I thought Chance Huff was outstanding (Friday)." "I thought he did a really good job of settling the game early."
On an extremely pleasant night in front of a sold out crowd (3,394) made up of a mix of Jacket and Bulldog fans in Midtown, Teck captured the first volume of the three-game series, which will continue on Saturday in Athens and end in Lawrenceville. Sunday with the annual fundraiser for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Cooley Field.
Georgia (8-1) entered the game in Baseball America, Tech (9-1) in 19th place, 14th. A raucous crowd celebrated the renewal of this meeting of archers, this time with a little more at stake with both the top-25 ranked teams.
Huff allowed one run in seven innings, his only excuse for a solo blast in the top of the fourth by UGA designated hitter Corey Collins. He gave only three hits in his final innings, hit a six and scored two runs. The Bulldogs rarely got solid contact against Huff's mix of fastballs, sliders, curves and changeups.
Huff, a transfer from Vanderbilt, has used his controls to increase his performance. A year earlier, Huff hit almost one batsman per innings (22 in 24 1/3 innings), but also scored 19 runs, threw nine wild pitches and had an opponent's batting average of .320, hence the 9.99 ERA. In the fall, Huff focused on moving up the count, an approach that has clearly proven effective.
In 18 innings this season, Huff played four at-bats and reduced his ERA for the season to 2.00.
"I think it's just mindset and confidence," Huff said. "Just to throw these (technical) guys on fall and preseason and obviously, it's one of the best offenses in the country, and still be able to catch four or five innings in fall and preseason — just kind of it." Seeing that gave me a lot of confidence to be able to handle anyone this season."
When Huff left the game after seven innings, the Jackets took a 6–1 lead and then added two more in the bottom of the seventh, which proved crucial, as the Bulldogs answered with six in the top of the eighth. , making Tech's lead 8-. 7 going to the bottom of the eighth.
Jacquet pushed back after scoring three runs in the bottom of the eighth to score the final 11-7.
"We fought back," said UGA manager Scott Stricklin. “We made them use the bullpen. Once it was 6-1, that was the goal, to make sure we got into the bullpen to make (Saturday) more challenging (for the take), and I think we did so. Next thing you know, it's 8-7 but we don't have enough time. We didn't play well enough to win."
Stricklin apologized for foul play on the field that left the Bulldogs chasing from the start.
When starter Jonathan Cannon's pickoff effort was high, the Jackets opened the scoring in the bottom half of the first after leadoff hitter Chandler Simpson moved from second to third. With no outs and runners in first and second, Simpson scored on the ground ball to third baseman Josh McAllister, whose fielder's choice of throw home was higher and Fleet Simpson was able to dive home safely. made, covering his pinstripe uniform with clay.
After two at-bats, Drew Compton slid an opposite-field grounder down the third-base line for a double, which scored two more runs over Cannon and the Bulldogs for a 3–0 lead.
"That first inning, we make an error, we make a bad throw at a fielder's pick, and who knows, we could be out 0-0 if we just made a throw and we didn't, Stricklin said. “When you play with good teams, good teams pay you. That's what he did. Before you even blink your eyes, it's 3-0."
Take struck big again in the fourth, when second baseman Tim Bourdain launched a 3-2 cannon fastball into the wall in right-center, landing at the top of the camera tower, a 415-foot explosion. It was his second home run this season in 15 at-bats, not bad for an 8-hole hitter, and a raucous celebration at stand and home plate.
"(Friday) with the fans and everything, it was more like, well, I have no clue what happened there," Bourdain said. "Let me come back down to earth, just calm down, take a deep breath. It was so much fun. Everyone was having fun, having fun. That's all that matters."
It was a fitting choice of words. After touching home, Bourdain jumped in for a chest collision with teammate Jon Anderson and didn't bring as much strength into the collision as the back to Earth.
"Good start to the weekend, and I think probably all games are going to be like this because I think both teams are really good," Hall said.