March 21, 2005
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ATLANTA–Georgia Tech (19-2, 9-0 ACC) wraps up a nine-game homestand as the Yellow Jackets host Auburn (16-7, 1-2 SEC) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in a game that will be televised live by FSN South.
The Yellow Jackets, who are ranked as high as No. 4 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball, are off to a fast start in conference play with sweeps of Duke, Wake Forest and NC State. Tech has won an ACC-record 25 straight regular season conference games and the Yellow Jackets have swept eight consecutive ACC weekend series.
Yellow Jacket head coach Danny Hall enters Tuesday’s game with 503 victories at Georgia Tech, needing one victory to tie the school record of 504 wins held by Jim Morris (1982-1993).
For the year, Tech leads the ACC with a .361 team batting average, a .470 on base percentage and an average of 11.7 runs per game. The Yellow Jackets have scored at least nine runs in 19 of 21 games, reaching double figure scoring in 14 games.
Third baseban Wes Hodges (.471AVG/.553OBP/.812SLG, 7HR, 21RBI) has paced the Tech offense, leading the club in batting, slugging, home runs and hits. Junior right fielder Jeremy Slayden (.388/.481/.694, 7, 33) has five home runs and 22 RBI in the last 10 games.
The rest of the Tech lineup features catchers Andy Hawranick (.333/.422/.500, 2, 13) and Matt Wieters (.385/.524/.554, 2, 18), first baseman Whit Robbins (.271/.459/.443, 1, 16), second basemen Mike Trapani (.273/.420/.327, 1, 8) and Michael Fisher (.364/.432/.636, 2, 13), shortstop Tyler Greene (.353/.439/.612, 4, 28), left fielder Steven Blackwood (.380/.466/.606, 3, 32), center fielder Danny Payne (.393/.530/.562, 3, 21), and DH Jeff Kindel (.393/.479/.672, 3, 18).
TUESDAY'S PITCHING MATCHUP (Georgia Tech vs. Auburn):LHP Ryan Turner (2-0, 1.50) vs. LHP Mike Felix (0-0, 5.06)
GAME COVERAGE: Live statistics on the internet at www.ramblinwreck.com. Radio coverage available on WREK (91.1 FM) in Atlanta and on the internet at www.wrek.org. The game will be televised live by FSN South.
Series Notes vs. Auburn
Auburn leads the all-time series with Georgia Tech, 114-103-5; the series dates to 1897.
Tech is 61-46-2 in games played in Atlanta. The Yellow Jackets are 3-1 against the Tigers at Russ Chandlers Stadium since the series resumed in 2001.
The Yellow Jackets and Tigers split a pair of meetings last season, each team winning on their home field. Auburn won, 6-2, at Plainsman Park when Arnold Hughey worked six innings and allowed one earned run and Steven Register worked three shutout innings for the save. Tech took a 20-5 win in Atlanta thanks to two seven-run innings.
Tech’s 222-game series with Auburn is the second longest in school history behind only Georgia (329 games). Tech’s third longest series is 180 games against Clemson.
Tech and Auburn have renewed the long-standing series in recent years. After not playing an on-campus series since 1989, the two schools resumed an annual home-and-home series in 2001. Since that time, the Yellow Jackets hold a 5-3 edge in the series. The two teams split in both 2001, 2003 and 2004, and Tech swept the series in 2002.
Tech is 5-4 against Auburn under head coach Danny Hall.
LEADING OFF … NEWS & NOTES ON THE YELLOW JACKETS
THE OFFENSE: The Yellow Jackets led the ACC with a .319 team batting average during the 2004 season. Tech has hit over .300 as a team in 19 of the last 21 years, and has averaged at least seven runs per game every year since 1981. Tech has led the ACC in batting in five years (1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2004) under Danny Hall. Tech leads the ACC with a .361 average this year.
WORKING THE WALKS: The Yellow Jackets have walked 145 times in 21 games (6.9 bb/g) in 2005 while posting a .470 team on base percentage. Tech has 145 walks to 134 strikeouts; the last Tech team to record more walks than strikeouts for an entire season was in 1984 (370/278).
YOUTH IN THE PITCHING STAFF: Georgia Tech has only three upperclassmen pitchers on the staff – senior Jordan Crews and juniors Jason Neighborgall and Ryan Self. Tech has no pitchers with 100 or more career innings pitched, and Neighborgall is Tech’s active leader with eight career wins.
TECH SETS ACC RECORD WITH 25 STRAIGHT CONFERENCE WINS The Yellow Jackets won 16 straight ACC games to finish the 2004 season, a new school record, after starting the year 2-5 in conference play. Tech has opened the 2005 season with nine straight league wins to extended its win streak in conference play to an ACC-record 25 games. The current 25-game streak is the longest regular season ACC win streak in conference history.
LONGEST CONFERENCE WIN STREAKS IN ACC HISTORYWINS SCHOOL YEAR(S)1. 25 Georgia Tech 2004-pres.2. 21 Clemson 1987-88 21 North Carolina 1963-654. 17 Florida State 19965. 14 Clemson 1975-76 14 Clemson 1993-94
HALL APPROACHING TECH RECORD FOR WINS
Georgia Tech head coach Danny Hall reached 500 wins in his career at Georgia Tech on Mar. 13 vs. Wake Forest, and with one more win he will tie the school’s record for career victories. Hall, who has a 503-213 (.703) record in 12 years at Tech, already ranks as the school’s winningest coach by percentage. Jim Morris went 504-244-1 from 1982-93.
Hall reached 700 wins for his career in Tech’s 9-1 win over Georgia Southern on Mar. 1. Now in his 18th season as a head coach at Georgia Tech and Kent State, Hall owns a career record of 7107-330 (.683).
