April 8, 2014
THE FLATS – A.J. Murray and Connor Justus each hit home runs as Georgia Tech pounded out 16 hits and rolled past Georgia Southern, 13-2, Tuesday night at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Matt Gonzalez and Thomas Smith each had four hits, while freshman lefty Ben Parr fanned a career-high nine over his six innings on the mound to lead the Yellow Jackets to their 20th win (20-13). The Eagles slipped to 24-11.
Tech grabbed the lead for good with a four-run second inning, then put the game on ice with a seven-run uprising in the fifth and cruised to its fifth straight win.
Parr was lights out for the Jackets, tossing a career-high six innings en route to the victory (3-1). Parr scattered seven hits and allowed just one run and one walk in the winning effort. The nine strikeouts were a season-high for a Tech pitcher.
“They had a lot of left-hand hitters in their lineup and he (Parr) was the equalizer against their lefties,” said head coach Danny Hall. “He battled, got outs when he needed them and it was a good quality start.”
Smith’s 4-for-5 night with four RBI marked a career-high in hits and matched his career-high in RBI. Gonzalez went 4-for-4 with three RBI and two runs to set a career-high in hits. He finished a home run shy of the cycle.
Daniel Spingola had two hits, two RBI and two runs. Brandon Gold had two hits and scored twice.
“We had some really good at-bats tonight,” said Hall. “Gonzalez had some good at-bats, Smith had some and you can pretty much say that about a lot of guys in our lineup and that was good to see.”
Tech grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first thanks to Smith’s RBI single and after the Eagles scratched across their only run off Parr in the top of the second, the Jackets went right back to work in the bottom half.
Southern starter Will Middour plunked the first two Jackets in the inning and Spingola delivered an RBI single to make it 2-1. Gonzalez followed by hammering a two-run triple to center and Smith drove in Gonzalez in the next at bat.
Parr settled in with the lead and the Jackets broke the game open by sending 10 batters to the plate during a seven-run, six-hit onslaught in the fifth. Justus got the scoring started by launching his first career home run to left.
Spingola and Gonzalez had consecutive RBI singles, Smith rocketed a two-run double down the left-field line and Murray’s two-run bomb to deepest part of Russ Chandler Stadium in left-center made it 12-1.
GSU got a run back in the seventh and Tech capped the scoring with Mitch Earnest’s sacrifice fly to score Keenan Innis in the eighth.
Freshmen Tanner Shelton, Matt Phillips and Ben Schniederjans each tossed an inning of relief behind their classmate Parr.
Middour was on the hook for the loss (1-2), allowing three runs on two hits in one inning on the hill. Kody Adams had three hits and an RBI for GSU.
Tech returns to action Wednesday night hosting Savannah State. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
