March 1, 2015
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TECH STARTERS: Spingola/CF, Smith/1B, Murray/DH, Johnson/RF, Gonzalez/3B, Innis/LF, Bailey/2B, Pabst/C, Justus/SS, Gold/SP.
ISU STARTERS: Curry/CF, Hannahs/2B, Hayes/RF, Young/3B, Giesler/DH, Friis/SS, Zahn/1B, Steen/C, McClain/LF, McKinney/SP.
THE BASICS:
• Brandon Gold took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and A.J. Murray drove in three runs as Georgia Tech completed the sweep of Indiana State with a 7-1 victory on Sunday at Russ Chandler Stadium.
• The victory improved the Yellow Jackets to 8-3 overall in their final weekend before ACC plays next Friday at home versus Notre Dame. The Sycamores fell to 3-6.
• The sweep was the Jackets’ first since taking three from Duke last April in Atlanta.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
• Gold was in command in his first career start and the sophomore righty from Alpharetta retired the first 13 batters he faced before a one-out walk in the fifth broke up the perfect game. He set down the next seven before Andy Young broke up the no-hit bid with a two-out single up the middle in the seventh inning.
• It was the deepest a Tech pitcher had taken a no-hitter since Feb. 26, 2011 when Jed Bradley no-hit St. John’s until a leadoff single in the eighth inning.
• Gold (1-0) was credited with the win, tossing a seven-inning gem with one hit, one walk and four strikeouts. He threw just 87 pitches in his seven innings of work.
• Reliever Zac Ryan retired the final four batters in order to close it out.
• Murray stayed hot as the senior was 2-for-5 with his third double of the series and three RBI. Murray finished the series 7-for-13 with two homers, three doubles, five RBI and three runs.
• Connor Justus’s two-run single to left broke the 0-0 tie during the Jackets’ three-run fourth inning and Murray made it 3-0 with an RBI two-bagger down the right-field line.
• A two-RBI laser to right from Daniel Spingola and Murray’s two-run single to center in the fifth capped the scoring.
• Murray extended his hitting streak to five games and he’s reached base safely in all 11 games this season.
• Tech out-scored Indiana State 23-3 in the series and out-hit the Sycamores 26-11. All 11 hits by the visitors were singles.
QUOTEABLE:
• “Brandon (Gold) was outstanding and I would have loved to see him get out of there without giving up a hit but they squeaked one in on him. He threw it as well as he could have thrown it. I was very encouraged by what I saw from our pitchers all weekend and I know Coach (Jason) Howell and our guys have been working very hard to get some things right. Offensively, we’re still not clicking on all cylinders, and we’ve got to get some guys right. But A.J. (Murray) is seeing the ball well right now and playing with a lot of confidence. He’s a senior and he seems to be delivering in a lot of key spots.”
UP NEXT:
The Yellow Jackets remain home this week to battle Ohio on Tuesday afternoon. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.
