March 8, 2015
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TECH STARTERS: Spingola/CF, Smith/1B, Johnson/RF, Murray/DH, Innis/LF, Bailey/2B, Gonzalez/3B, Pabst/C, Justus/SS, Gold/SP.
ND STARTERS: Johnson/CF, Fiala/3B, Biggio/2B, Bull/DH, Youngdahl/RF, Lidge/C, Kutsulis/1B, Richards/SS, Sanchez/LF, McCarty/SP.
THE BASICS:
• Brandon Gold pitched a shutout over eight strong innings and Georgia Tech made four early runs stand in a 4-1 victory over Notre Dame on Sunday at Russ Chandler Stadium in the rubber game of the series.
• Gold, who has not allowed a run in 15 consecutive innings, improved to 2-0 with his second straight Sunday gem.
• With the series win, the Yellow Jackets improved to 11-4 overall and 2-1 in the ACC, while the Fighting Irish slipped to 11-3, 1-2. Tech has won six of its last seven.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
• Gold retired the final 13 batters he faced and finished his eight-inning effort by allowing just five hits (all singles) with no walks and a career-high seven strikeouts.
• After back-to-back singles by Notre Dame led off the game, Gold set down eight in a row. He dodged trouble after consecutive two-out hits in the third and rolled a double play following a single in the fourth – the last hitter that reached safely.
• The eight-inning start was the longest by a Yellow Jacket since Josh Heddinger tossed a complete-game shutout in the 2013 NCAA Regional versus No. 1 Vanderbilt. No Tech pitcher went longer than 7.1 innings last season.
• Back-to-back doubles by Wade Bailey and Matt Gonzalez got the Jackets on the board in the second and Connor Justus followed later that inning with an RBI single for a 2-0 lead.
• Bailey and Gonzalez factored again in the third. After Kel Johnson’s double kick-started the inning, Bailey drove him with an RBI single and Gonzalez followed with run-scoring single up the middle for a 4-0 lead.
• Johnson finished the day 3-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to six games, while Bailey, Gonzalez and Arden Pabst each had two hits.
• Notre Dame ended the shutout bid with a run off Tech’s bullpen in the ninth.
• The loss fell to ND starter Nick McCarty (2-1), who was lifted after allowing seven hits and three runs in 2.2 innings.
• Tech has won 16 of 22 ACC-opening series under head coach Danny Hall.
QUOTEABLE:
“Gold was the difference today, no question. He was outstanding. We played good defense behind him and got some critical hits early to give us the lead and we held on. It was a nice weekend for us to win a series over a good Notre Dame team here at home. We had great crowds Saturday and Sunday so I want to tip my cap to the Tech fans and hope they come back – they really do make a difference for us.”
— Head Coach Danny Hall
UP NEXT:
Georgia Tech hosts Georgia Southern Tuesday night looking to sweep the two-game season series. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. and the game is live on ESPN3.
