Georgia Tech baseball team ready to erase memories of 2015

ATLANTA -- The Georgia Tech baseball team is trying to put last year's disappointing season in the mirror.

"For me, it probably started the day after our season ended," head coach Danny Hall said.

The Yellow Jackets, coming off an ACC championship in 2014, went 32-23, finished fifth in the Coastal Division and failed to reach the postseason. That was tough to swallow for Hall, who starts his 23rd season on The Flats and had only one previous team fail to make the NCAA playoffs.

"The guys are working hard, the coaches are working hard," Hall said. "We're definitely looking forward to Friday."

That's when Georgia Tech opens the season against Purdue, the first of three games at Russ Chandler Stadium. Western Michigan follows on Saturday and Virginia Commonwealth visits on Sunday. The Yellow Jackets start the season ranked No. 21 by Collegiate Baseball.

The Yellow Jackets lost three players from last year's team, but return pretty much the entire pitching staff. They also welcome in 16 newcomers in what both Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game rank as the No. 4 recruiting class in the country.

"The good thing is we do have a lot of guys back, but we have an exciting bunch of freshmen, and they're putting a lot of pressure on these older guys to not only compete in practice, but get better every day," Hall said. "I think it's a great blend, I think a lot of those juniors and seniors have played a lot of years at Tech and it's their time to shine, but some of those new guys are also going to be great players for us and they're going to get a lot of opportunities as well."

The offense is led by sophomore Kel Johnson, an outfielder who hit .298 and led all ACC rookies with 10 home runs in 2015. Johnson has fully recovered from an ankle injury that caused him to miss 13 games. He was one of 50 players included on the preseason watchlist for the Golden Spikes Award.

Also returning are third baseman Matt Gonzalez (.285, five homers), a two-time All-ACC choice who is the team's returning leader in doubles and RBI.

Ryan Puerifoy (.324 in 102 at-bats) and Keenan Innis (.310) return to the outfield. Connor Justus (.249) is back at shortstop and Wade Bailey (.255) returns at second base.

Arden Pabst (.235) is the incumbent catcher.

Freshmen likely to get a chance to play include: catcher Joey Bart, who was drafted by Tampa Bay; infielder Tristin English, who was drafted by Cleveland; and Brandt Stallings, a first-team All-America with plenty of power.

The rotation to start the season will be right-hander Brandon Gold (7-3, 3.26), lefty Jonathan King (4-5, 3.81) and freshman right-hander Jonathan Hughes, a second-round draft pick who turned down the Orioles so he could play at Georgia Tech.

The bullpen is anchored by right-hander Zac Ryan, a preseason All-America choice, who went 9-1 with a 3.59 ERA and seven saves. Ryan had 40 strikeouts and only 15 walks in 47 2/3 innings.

Fifth-year senior Cole Pitts (0-6, 6.90) received a medical waiver to return and could be a midweek starter. Freshman Keyton Gibson of Buford will also get a look.

"It's exciting, but in a way, it's anxious," Hall said. "I've always said you think it's going to go go one way in your practices, but until you play another opponent You'll find out a lot about this team the first weekend for sure, and probably the first couple weeks of the season, we'll have a pretty good idea of how guys react under stress. Hopefully, they'll react the right way."

Georgia Tech's first ACC games are a three-game series at Florida State on March 11-13. The first ACC home series is against Virginia Tech on March 18-20.

The Yellow Jackets play a home-and-home series with Mercer, meeting on April 5 in Macon and April 19 in Atlanta. Georgia Tech will play Georgia on April 12 at Russ Chandler, April 26 in Athens and in the annual Spring Classic for Kids on May 17 at Turner Field.

Georgia Tech will have 24 games broadcast on television or online via ESPN3.

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 9:35 PM with the headline "Georgia Tech baseball team ready to erase memories of 2015 ."