May 8, 2015
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TECH STARTERS: Innis/LF, Bailey/2B, Gonzalez/LF, Murray/RF, Johnson/DH, Smith/1B, Peurifoy/CF, Pabst/C, Justus/SS, King/SP.
PITT STARTERS: Wright/LF, Leblanc/SS, Vazquez/RF, Kowalczyk/C, Frabasilio/DH, Sherman/3B, Hess/1B, Pazos/2B, Maldonado/CF, Zeuch/SP
THE BASICS:
• A.J. Murray and Kel Johnson launched home runs and Jonathan King pitched a gem as Georgia Tech rolled past Pitt, 9-1, Friday night in the opener of an ACC series at Russ Chandler Stadium.
• The Yellow Jackets scored the game’s final nine runs to extend their winning streak to a season-high six games.
• With the win, Tech improved to 31-17 and 12-13 in the ACC, while Pitt fell to 16-30, 6-19.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
• Pitt struck first with an unearned run off King in the first, but it was all Jackets after that.
• King retired 12 straight Pitt batters from the first to the fifth inning while his offense went to work.
• Keenan Innis’ leadoff triple in the bottom of the first set the tone, and Wade Bailey’s RBI grounder in the next at-bat tied the game at 1-1.
• Johnson followed later in the first with his 10th home run of the season — a two-run blast to left that made it 3-1.
• RBI from Murray (double) and Bailey (single) in the second helped the hosts extend the lead to 5-1.
• Murray belted his 13th homer of the season to make it 7-1 in the fourth and the Jackets tacked on two more runs of insurance in the fifth.
• King turned the game over to rookie Trevor Craport in the eighth, and the righty tossed a pair of perfect innings with a strikeout to close it out.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
• Tech trailed 1-0 in the first to mark its 18th come-from-behind win this season.
• King improved to 4-3 by limiting the Panthers to just three hits and one unearned run over seven innings. He fanned a career-high seven and walked none.
• Over King’s last four starts (27.2 innings), he’s allowed just five runs (two earned) with five walks and 17 strikeouts to lower his ERA to 3.29.
• The Jackets attacked opposing starting pitcher T.J. Zeuch, tagging him for a career-high nine runs in 4.1 innings. He fell to 4-6.
• The top five batters in Tech’s lineup each amassed at least one hit in the game.
• Matt Gonzalez, who turned in a handful of dazzling plays at third, extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
• Murray finished 3-for-4 — a triple shy of the cycle — with three RBI and two runs. He is now tied for the ACC leads with 14 home runs this season.
• Innis was 3-for-6 to match his career-high for hits and scored twice.
• Bailey drove in three runs to match his career-high for RBI.
• Connor Justus had two more hits and is 6-for-9 over Tech’s last two games.
QUOTABLE:
“We gave them a run in the first inning, but after that he (King) was pretty much in control the whole way. I felt like we made some nice defensive plays, Gonzalez made some great plays at third, and it was a very good start by Jonathan King.”
— Head Coach Danny Hall
UP NEXT: The Yellow Jackets and Panthers continue the series Saturday at 1 p.m. The game can be seen live on the ACC’s regional sports networks, including SportSouth.
