March 4, 2011
ATLANTA – No. 23 Georgia Tech broke a 4-4 tie with three runs on a pair of singles by Brandon Thomas and Mott Hyde in the fifth inning for a 9-5 win over Rutgers in game two of a double-header Friday night at Russ Chandler Stadium. The Yellow Jackets (7-4) and the Scarlet Knights (4-4) will conclude the series at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Because of impending weather in the forecast for Saturday, the Yellow Jackets and the Scarlet Knights played a double-header Friday.
“It still wasn’t totally smooth, but I thought our at-bats were much more competitive today,” head coach Danny Hall said. “We got a lot of hits today and that is a good sign. I did feel like competed a lot better and were able to get some of those hits when we needed them.”
Thomas, Hyde and freshman catcher Zane Evans each had two hits and two RBI to pace the Jackets, who combined for 19 runs and 29 hits in two games on the day. Thomas extended his hit streak to a career-best nine games.
Sophomore Luke Bard (1-0) earned the win in relief, yielding one run on two hits in 2.1 innings. Bard entered the game with one out in the fifth inning for Tech starter Jed Bradley.
After the Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first behind RBI’s from junior Jacob Esch and Evans, the Scarlet Knights got three back on two hits of their own in the second inning from Joe D’Annunzio and Brandon Boykin.
Tech scored a pair of runs in the second and third inning, before Rutgers tied it at 4-4 on a sac fly single to center by Bill Hoermann.
The Jackets’ followed the three-run fifth inning with a two spot in the sixth, highlighted by a solo home run from freshman Daniel Palka to extend the lead to 9-4.
Palka, who hit his second home run of the day, now has three round-trippers on the season.
Rutgers starter Rob Smorol (1-1) picked up the loss after allowing seven run (six earned) on 11 hits. Smorol had five strikeouts in 4.1 innings.
