Wilmington, N.C. will face Georgia State (40-15) on Saturday at 6 p.m.
The loss was Tech's first shutout loss in an NCAA regional tournament since an 8-0 loss to Washington in Oxford, Mississippi on May 31, 2014, and just the fourth shutout loss in school history.
Tech coach Danny Hall elected to start Brett Thomas in relief on Friday. Thomas has pitched 23 times so far this season (after a four-year career at South Carolina), all as a relief pitcher. Thomas (4-2) easily struck out the first four batters he faced before walking Alec DeMartino with one out in the bottom of the second inning. John Newton then hit a sharp single to center field and Thomas drove in a drive in by Brock Wills' legs to load the bases.
Arendt, who is batting .205 this season, took the mound and hit a 1-2 pitch over the left field fence for a grand slam home run.
Relief pitcher Cam Hill came in to help keep the Jackets in the game, pitching 3 1/3 scoreless innings, giving Tech some hope.
Sales started the night without allowing a hit through 4 2/3 innings. He was on a roll until the sixth inning, when Drew Burress hit a leadoff double to left field. Burress advanced to third on a sacrifice fly to left field, but John Giesler struck out swinging on a ball that hit the ground and Cam Jones got out of the danger by hitting a sharp grounder to second base.
Sales singled with one out in the seventh and then turned into a double play, then walked consecutive batters with one out in the eighth before finally leaving the game. Reliever Luke Craig came in and struck out Matthew Ellis and Giesler to end Tech's comeback.
In the eighth inning, the Seahawks loaded the bases after Arendt was hit by a pitch, and Kevin Jones singled to right field to add two more runs to make it 7-0. Jack Croom then hit a double into the right field corner to make it 9-0.
Tech relief pitcher Ben King gave up five runs on five hits in 2 2/3 innings.
Tech has gone 18 consecutive scoreless innings since losing 13-0 to Virginia in the ACC Tournament on May 22. The school's next opponent is an Army team (31-22), which lost 8-7 to Georgia on Friday afternoon at Foley Field.
