March 16, 2012
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech offense left little doubt Friday night in getting head coach Danny Hall his 1,000th career win, as the No. 20 Yellow Jackets pounded out 13 hits and buried visiting Virginia Tech, 12-3, at Russ Chandler Stadium.
The victory makes Hall the 47th Division-I coach all-time to achieve the milestone. His all-time career record stands at 1,000-471-1 in this, his 25th season as a head coach. In 19 years at Tech, Hall has amassed a school-record mark of 792-354-1, leading the Jackets to three College World Series berths, 16 NCAA Regionals and three ACC Tournament titles.
“I’ve been very blessed; I’ve coached a long time and been here for 19 years, six years at Kent State,” said Hall, following the win. “I’ve had great players that have contributed, certainly, a lot to that. I’ve had great coaches and I’ve been at two good places.”
Backed by another gem from junior preseason All-America Buck Farmer, Georgia Tech (13-5, 2-2) broke open a 1-1 game in the bottom of the second with a four-run uprising that stunned the Hokies (14-5, 1-3). After Jake Davies delivered an RBI single in the first inning, he came through again in the second with a two-run single through the right side.
“I thought we really played well and it started from the get-go,” said Hall. “I thought Farmer had a great first inning and that set the tone. Davies had a big night, so did Kronenfeld, and Buck pitched great. We played aggressive and we need to play that way.”
Davies and Paul Kronenfeld each had a career-best four hits in the game, while Davies drove in a career-best five runs with his 4-for-5 night. Kronenfeld was 4-for-4 and collected three RBI. Sam Dove extended his hitting streak to nine games with a 2-for-3 effort and Daniel Palka hit his team-leading fifth home run of the season.
Farmer was in control, scattering six hits and two runs over seven innings with seven strikeouts to win for the fourth-straight time this season (4-1). With the score 5-1 in the third, the junior escaped a key situation with back-to-back punch outs of Chad Pinder and Ronnie Shaban to strand runners at second and third. He rolled an inning-ending fielders’ choice to leave the bases loaded in the fourth, and allowed just two more hits after that.
“Those were key moments in the game,” said Hall. “And you need that. They (Virginia Tech) are a good hitting team, and you need to be able to pitch out of some jams, and he was able to do that.”
Tech got consecutive two-RBI hits from Brandon Thomas, a single to center field, and from Davies, a double to right, as part of a five-run fifth inning that put the game on ice. Palka’s monster home run that landed on Fowler Street over the right-field wall capped the Yellow Jackets’ scoring in the sixth inning.
Many Martir took the loss for the Hokies, allowing nine runs on hits in four innings to fall to 0-1.
The series continues Saturday at 4 p.m. at Russ Chandler Stadium. The game can be seen live on ESPN3, with radio coverage available on 91.1 FM WREK in Atlanta and at RamblinWreck.com.
