Presbyterian College at Georgia Tech
Saturday, May 2 - 1 p.m. (Video | Stats)
Saturday, May 2 - 4:30 p.m. (Video | Stats)
Sunday, May 3 - 1 p.m. (Video | Stats)
Russ Chandler Stadium - Atlanta, Ga.
Presbyterian College baseball hits the road this weekend for a Saturday-Sunday three-game series at Georgia Tech, beginning with a Saturday doubleheader at 1 p.m. The Blue Hose did not play a midweek game due to final exams and will look to get back on track following a series sweep at the hands of Coastal Carolina last weekend. Georgia Tech snapped a four-game losing streak last weekend by taking two of three from Clemson in Atlanta. This weekend's series wraps a seven-game homestand for the Yellow Jackets.
The two teams meet for the first time since 2009, when the series resumed after the last meeting in 1942. Georgia Tech holds a 5-2 record in the all-time series with PC's wins coming in 1940 and 1942. All seven games took place in Atlanta and the Yellow Jackets swept PC in 2009, though PC nearly edged Tech in a 9-8, 10-inning loss in the second game of the series.
Georgia Tech won seven of nine to begin the month of April but enter the weekend winning two of their last seven after winning its weekend series against Clemson. The Yellow Jackets have compiled an 11-13 record in ACC play and a 16-7 marker at Russ Chandler Stadium. Kel Johnson leads the team with a .314 batting average while AJ Murray checks in with 10 home runs and 40 RBI. The Yellow Jackets hit .275 as a team with a 4.28 pitching staff ERA, holding opponents to a .267 batting average.
PC will likely start LHP Brian Kehner (1-1, 4.62 ERA), LHP Beau Dees (2-4, 6.03 ERA) and RHP Tanner Chock (2-3, 3.83 ERA). Georgia Tech will counter with LHP Jonathan King (2-3, 4.03 ERA), RHP Cole Pitts (0-5, 6.17 ERA) and RHP Brandon Gold (5-2, 3.03 ERA). Kehner delivered a solid start on Friday against No. 24 Coastal Carolina, allowing only three runs in six innings of work. Chock tied a career-high with five strikeouts and Dees also fanned seven on Sunday.
Over the last five games, Tyler Weyenberg leads the team with a .565 average and six RBI, a total shared with Jay Lizanich. Lizanich has hit .409 over the last five as well and the Blue Hose have hit .296 as a team.
After this weekend's series, PC plays NC Central on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Durham (the series' first game in Clinton was rained out) before resuming Big South Conference play on the road at Winthrop next weekend.
PC went 1-3 last week, toppling USC Upstate on Tuesday in a 16-11 win before suffering a home sweep against Coastal Carolina. PC tied a season-high 16 runs and pounded out 19 hits in Tuesday's win, matching the 16 runs the Blue Hose scored against the Spartans on March 24.
Sophomore centerfielder Tyler Weyenberg enters the week on a tear, going 17-for-32 (.531) in his last seven games with a team-best nine RBI. The Blue Hose leadoff man got on base 55.9 percent of the time in games against High Point, USC Upstate and Coastal Carolina with a .750 slugging percentage. He has seven multiple-RBI games this season, three of them coming in the last six games. His seven-game hit streak marks the current longest on the team and will play in front of family and friends this weekend, as Weyenberg hails from nearby Marietta and played at Hillgrove High School.
One more win would give the Blue Hose 24 for the season, tying the program's high-water mark in Division I. The Blue Hose won 24 games in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and this year's team already surpassed last year's 19 wins with a 7-6 win over UNC Asheville.
Sunday's Senior Day doubleheader saw a couple of milestones for a pair of Blue Hose fourth-year players. Senior Beau Dees became the first Blue Hose pitcher in the Division I era to record 200 career strikeouts when he fanned seven in game one. His 205 strikeouts rank first over Chandler Knox's (2011-14) 186, and 136 of Dees's strikeouts have come swinging. Shortstop Jay Lizanich also took over the PC Division I games started record, with 206 at the end of the day.
Senior shortstop Jay Lizanich ranks eighth nationally as one of the toughest hitters to strike out, fanning only once every 19.9 at-bats. Lizanich posted a reached base streak of 15 games this season as well and enters the week hitting .335, higher than his .193 average in 2014 and his .276 career marker. He also boasts four home runs this season after hitting zero through the first three seasons of his career.
Senior Cam McRae's .351 batting average paces the Blue Hose, as do his five home runs and his 31 RBI, .494 slugging percentage and .392 on-base percentage. The senior saw his reached base streak end at 26 consecutive games on Sunday, falling one short of Kenny Bryant's 2010 PC Division I record of 27. McRae's best career season came in 2014, when he hit .267 and 29 RBI–both markers already surpassed in his senior campaign.
PC ranks 35th in the country in hits and 61st in batting average. Freshman reliever Russell Thompson also ranks second in the country in appearances, with 29. Thompson enters the week with a 5-1 record and a 3.82 ERA in 30.2 innings pitched while fellow sophomore reliever Ethan Wortkoetter ranks 29th in appearances, with 24.
The Blue Hose have thrived this year with an extremely even offense. PC ranks third in the Big South in batting average (.290) but boasts zero players that rank in the top 10 in home runs, doubles, walks, on-base percentage or slugging percentage. Seniors Cam McRae (1.39 per game) and Jay Lizanich (1.36 per game) rank fourth and fifth in the league in overall hits per game, respectively. Four Blue Hose regulars boast averages of .296 or higher and four PC players have 26 or more RBI.
PC holds a 20-4 record when outhitting opponents and a 8-5 record in one-run games. The team won its last three one-run games, including two straight against UNC Asheville. PC fought off Asheville tying the game in the ninth with a Ryan Hedrick walkoff double for the 6-5 win to give the Blue Hose a 17-1 marker when leading after eight innings (now 19-1). PC's sweep also marked the second straight sweep of UNC Asheville, also the last time PC swept a Big South opponent.
