April 12, 2014
THE FLATS – Daniel Spingola had three hits, Mitch Earnest drove in four runs and Devin Stanton pitched a shutout over six innings as Georgia Tech opened up a 12-0 lead and beat No. 1 Florida State, 12-4, Saturday at Russ Chandler Stadium to clinch the weekend series.
A season-best crowd of 3,204 watched Tech win its eighth straight game and improve to 23-13 overall and 10-7 in the ACC. The Seminoles, who dropped their first weekend series since last April at Virginia, slipped to 26-8, 13-4.
The Yellow Jackets are 6-2 in their last eight games versus No. 1-ranked teams, including a series win over North Carolina last season in Atlanta. Versus ranked teams this season, Tech is 6-2, having already picked up series wins over then-No. 22 Miami and then-No. 13 UNC.
“That’s a very good team over there so to win a series from them is nice,” said head coach Danny Hall. “And we’re playing really well right now. Devin was in trouble early, but pitched out of his trouble and we were able to have a couple big innings. We’ve been pitching well, playing good defense and getting timely hits and when you’re doing that, you have a chance to win.”
Tech has played 16 consecutive games holding the opposition to five runs or less (11-5), extending the longest such streak in the 21 seasons under Hall.
For the second game in a row, Spingola ripped a leadoff single up the middle and the Jackets were off and running on FSU starter Mike Compton. Hyde’s double to left plated Spingola for the game’s first run, and Tech broke the game open two innings later with a noisy fourth.
Spingola’s two-run triple chased Compton from the game and highlighted the four-run, three-hit frame that made it 5-0. The Jackets sent 11 batters to the plate the next inning, and Brandon Gold’s RBI double and Earnest’s three-run bomb to left helped put the game on ice during the six-run, four-hit uprising in the sixth.
Earnest followed the next inning with an RBI single that made it 12-0.
Stanton was in complete control of the top-ranked Seminoles from the third inning on, but needed to maneuver around some early turbulence. In the first, FSU led off with consecutive singles before Stanton got D.J. Stewart swinging and a pair of fly balls to end the threat.
In the second, the first two Seminoles reached, but again Stanton was up to the task and rolled up a key 6-4-3 double play to end it. From there, he faced just three batters over the minimum and retired 10 in a row between the fourth and the sixth.
Stanton, who tossed a shutout over six innings in last Saturday’s win over Duke, improved to 3-1 with his second straight win. The redshirt junior fanned five and walked just one as his ERA dipped to 2.58.
FSU scratched across four runs in the seventh to end the shutout bid, but Jonathan Roberts pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning with two strikeouts and Ben Schniederjans struck out the side during a 1-2-3 ninth to close out the victory.
Compton was on the hook for five runs and six hits in 3.2 innings and was hung the loss (3-1). Stewart had two hits, including a two-run home run in the seventh.
Hyde, Gold, Earnest and Connor Justus each had two of Tech’s 15 hits, including six more for extra bases. Spingola triple was his ACC-leading fifth, while Earnest’s home run was his first of the year. Tech is now 10-1 this season when hitting a homer.
Sunday’s series finale is set for 1 p.m. at Russ Chandler Stadium with the Yellow Jackets looking for the second sweep in as many weekends.
