Baseball rides .500 streak

The Jackets are in a midseason slump as they go into the second half of the season. They have won seven of the last 14 games. Over the past week, they went 2-3 against Maryland and Georgia Southern.

“I think that we are making teams better than they really are right now,” said senior left fielder Steven Blackwood, “Whether we are playing against Maryland or Georgia Southern, they are both very competitive teams that are going to do very well. I do believe that we play to our abilities that we will be better.”

Last weekend, the team traveled to Maryland and faced a team which the Jackets in the past have had success against. However, this trip to College Park was a different story.

The trip started out well the Jackets defeated the Terrapins 15-4 in the first game. Blake Wood started for the Jackets with a good effort. He threw seven innings, allowing six hits and three walks. He only gave up one earned run though, while striking out seven. Wood’s strikeout total was a season high.

At the plate, freshman Luke Murton went 4-5 with one RBI. In Matt Wieters’ two at bats, he drove in three runs. Overall, the Jackets had a season-high 21 hits for the game.

In game two of the series, the tides turned against the Jackets. They lost to Maryland 6-3. Maryland pitcher Ben Pfinsgraff pitched six innings and picked up the victory. He threw six innings, allowing eight hits and three runs. Pfinsgraff picked up his second straight win in as many seasons against Tech.

“[Pfinsgraff] beat us last year,” Blackwood said. “He beat us in a game last year where Lee Hyde pitched his heart out and had a career best in just about everything in that game, but going into that game we knew he was going to be a good pitcher.”

In this game, the Jackets could not recover from a four-run first inning by the Terrapins. Shipley Field was unkind to David Duncan as he gave up three earned runs, five hits, and walk in just two innings pitched.

On the positive side, Jared Hyatt came in relief of Duncan and pitched 5.1 innings in relief, and only gave up two runs while striking out seven.

In the rubber match, the Jackets fell 8-5. This is the first time that Tech has ever lost to Maryland in a season series since this format began in 1990.

The Terrapins jumped on the Jackets early in this one as well, scoring seven runs in the first two innings. In the first inning, starter Ryan Turner surrendered seven hits and six runs.

The Jackets tried to avoid third straight loss by playing against the Georgia Southern Eagles this past Tuesday night. They were unable to come away with the victory in a lopsided 19-7 loss. It was the largest margin of defeat for the Jackets since July 1, 1999.

Yet again, the Jackets had difficulty getting out of the gate as the Eagles put up 11 runs in the first three innings.

Starter Tim Ladd threw two innings, giving up seven hits, eight runs, while walking two. Brad Rulon came in relief for Tech and did not fare much better giving up three hits and three runs in only one inning of work.

The Jackets, however, did have some success at the plate. Second baseman Mike Trapani hit his first home run of the season, a three-run shot.

Sophomore Danny Payne went 2-4 in the game with a home run of his own. It was his fifth of the season.

John Goodman made his first appearance of the season for Tech, which was also his first appearance since May 27, 2004 where he pitched 2.2 innings in the ACC tournament against Clemson.

This past Wednesday, the Jackets were able to break out of their three-game losing streak with a victory over Georgia Southern 7-4.

The Jackets got on the board first in the second inning. In the fourth, the Jackets scored twice on a bases loaded walk from catcher Andy Hawranick and an RBI single from short stop Michael Fisher. This put the Jackets ahead of Georgia Southern 3-0.

Duncan came out with an impressive pitching performance. He threw 6.1 innings allowing only two hits, two walks and one run while striking out six players.

Wieters came in to relieve Duncan in the seventh, but was unable to close the door on the Eagles before they tied the game at three on a Mike Economos two-RBI single.

Payne came up in the bottom half of the seventh and broke the tie with a leadoff home run. It was his seventh of the season, and the second straight day that he hit one over the outfield wall.

Later in the inning, the Jackets loaded the bases up for Blackwood. He drove in a run to make the score 5-3. This was followed by a Trapani RBI ground out, and an RBI single by Wieters to make the game 7-3.

The game was not without drama. In the top of the ninth, the Eagles loaded the bases with no one out.

Sophomore catcher Jeremiah Parker struck out. Then junior outfielder Mike Economos grounded out, but drove in a run to make the game 7-4. That would be the final score in this one as Wieters struck out the last batter infielder Brett Pelfrey to end the game.

“It wouldn’t be that much fun if you didn’t have to sweat a little bit,” Wieters said. “I’m sure I had coach Hall a little worried over here, but I knew they still had to score four runs. With our defense behind me, I knew that all I had to do was throw strikes.”

The next game for the Jackets is today against the Virginia Tech Hokies. They will play a three game series in Blacksburg, Virginia. The Hokies are struggling this year with a record of 12-17 overall, and 1-11 in the conference.

“[Any] time you go on the road in this league, you’d better be ready to play,” Hall said.