Baseball wins one out of three versus Hurricanes
By Blake Israel / Student Publications
Michael Fisher went 4-for-11 and had 2 RBIs in the three game series at Miami this weekend, improving his batting average to .360 this season.
The Tech baseball team took their seven game winning streak down to Coral Gables, Fla. last weekend to take on the Miami Hurricanes in a pivotal Atlantic Coast Conference matchup.
The Jackets were able to take the first game of the series on Friday night with relative ease, 9-2, behind a strong pitching performance and timely hitting. The win earned Coach Danny Hall his 600th win in his 14th season in a Tech uniform.
"Anytime you win that many games, the people that really deserve the credit are the players," said Coach Hall.
"Certainly we've had some great players over the years and a lot of great coaches that have coached along with me. So you share that with your teams and with Georgia Tech. I'm more excited about [the win] than I am about [600 wins]."
Miami bounced back and won the final two games of the series, both in walk off fashion, 5-2 and 8-7.
Going into the weekend, Tech was tied atop the Coastal Division in the ACC at 8-4 with North Carolina and Virginia. At the end of the weekend, the Jackets found themselves in third place with a 9-6 record and looking up at the Tar Heels (11-4) and Cavaliers (10-5).
Sophomore southpaw David Duncan (5-2, 3.53), who is eligible for the upcoming 2007 MLB First Year Player Draft, was solid through 5 1/3 innings on Friday night to pick up the win for Tech. He allowed just two runs on eight hits while striking out six en route to picking up his fifth win on the season to lead the Tech pitching staff.
Four relievers, Jared Hyatt, Tim Ladd, Brad Rulon and Chris Hicks, combined to pitch 3 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits in that span and striking out five to close out the victory for Tech.
Scheduled Miami starter, freshman Eric Erickson (4-3, 1.96), was a late scratch due to an arm contusion. He was hit by an errant ball during pre-game warm-ups which kept him out all weekend.
With Tech trailing 2-1 in the top of the third inning, former Tech Head Coach and current Miami Head Coach Jim Morris went to left-hander Teddy Kaufman to face left-handed hitter Wally Crancer with two men on and two outs.
Crancer made the Hurricanes pay by crushing a 1-1 pitch over the palm trees beyond the right field wall to give the Jackets a 4-2 lead which they never relinquished.
A similar situation occurred in the seventh inning with the score 5-2. Matt Wieters, who had driven in a run with an RBI double, was on second and Crancer came to the plate again. Coach Morris once again decided to go with another left hander, Dennis Raben.
Raben was able to come through, striking out Crancer, but Tony Plagman, a freshman left-handed hitter came through. Plagman delivered his first home run of his young Tech career, another moon shot over the palm trees in right field, to give Tech a 7-2 lead.
An RBI double by Luke Murton in the eighth inning and an RBI ground out by Patrick Long in the ninth inning led to the final score of 9-2.
The middle game of the series was a tight pitching battle to the end.
Tech's scheduled starter, John Goodman, was scratched and red shirt sophomore Eddie Burns took the hill. Goodman, who is still recovering from Tommy John's elbow surgery, was sore and had not fully recovered from his start last Saturday against Maryland.
"[Goodman] had a little soreness and we just wanted to skip a week in the rotation and see if he will bounce back against Virginia [next week]," said Associate Head Coach and Pitching Coach Bobby Moranda.
Burns, despite starting his second game in five days, allowed just two runs, one earned run, in 6 1/3 innings. Burns had a slow start, striking out just one batter in the first 15 that he faced, but bounced back, striking out five of the next 10 batters.
"Eddie is not quite exactly where he was out of high school, but we were very pleased with him. He is going to be a big factor for us all the way through the rest of the season," Moranda said.
Tech got their first run in the fifth inning when freshman Jeff Ussery led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice by Danny Payne, and scored on an RBI single by Michael Fisher.
Matt Wieters scored Tech's second run when he reached on a single to lead off the eighth, moved to third on a Plagman double and scored on a Chris House sacrifice fly to tie the game, 2-2.
Both teams bats were held at bay as they combined to strand 25 runners. The Jackets were just 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position, with their only hit coming in the fifth inning on a Fisher RBI single.
In the ninth inning, Payne, Tech's closer, came on to pitch to hold off the Hurricanes. Payne, and Miami's closer, Danny Gil, matched zeros through 10 1/2 innings. In the bottom of the 11th, Payne allowed back-to-back one out walks before giving up a walk-off three-run home run to Miami freshman and cleanup hitter Mark Sobolewski on his 50th pitch of the afternoon.
It was the first three runs Payne (0-1, 2.79) had allowed all season and his first loss of the year.
On Easter Sunday, Tech scored a run in each of the first four innings, taking advantage of several Miami miscues and looked to be in control.
Miami got on the board in the bottom of the fifth with a Blake Tekotte RBI double and a Yonder Alonso two-run home run, Alonso's first hit of the series, to bring Miami within a run, 4-3.
Tech responded with two runs in the next half inning on a Chris House RBI single and a Payne sacrifice fly to assume a 6-3 lead.
The Hurricanes responded with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to 6-4.
Wieters then hit a 2-0 pitch the other way, down the left field line, and out of the park for his sixth homerun to extend the lead, 7-4.
Miami had yet another response in the bottom of the seventh. With a man on and no outs, Ladd was called from the bullpen for the third consecutive game to create a left on lefty matchup.
Ladd, who had come through in the first two games with a strikeout and a ground out, hit Alonso to put two men on.
After getting a pop out of Sobolewski, Saturday's hero for Miami, senior designated hitter Gus Menendez took a Ladd's 2-2 pitch at the knees on the outer part of the plate over the left field wall, off the scoreboard, to tie the game, 7-7.
With the Tech bullpen depleted, junior catcher Matt Wieters was forced into action on the mound. After looking sharp in the eighth inning, retiring the Hurricanes in order, he faltered in the ninth.
Wieters walked the leadoff man, Roger Tomas, on five pitches and then walked the next batter, Alonso, on four pitches. After striking out Sobolewski on a nasty curveball, Menendez stroked the first pitch he saw from Wieters into left field for a base hit, scoring Tomas from second and giving Miami their second walk-off hit in as many games.
Tech will continue their six game road swing today as they take on the Virginia Cavaliers in Charlottesville, Va.
Tonight's game time is set for 7 p.m. while Saturday's game begins at 4 p.m. and Sunday's game starts at 1 p.m. All three games can be heard on WREK.
