May 5, 2008
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech’s Derek Dietrich has been tabbed the ACC Baseball Player of the Week for the first time in his career, as announced by the league office Monday afternoon.
Dietrich, a freshman shortstop from Parma, Ohio, led Georgia Tech to a series win over 15th-ranked Coastal Carolina over the weekend by batting .500 with a double, triple, home run and six RBI in the three-game series.
His biggest game of the series came in the finale, when he drove in runs in the first, fifth, sixth and eighth innings en route to the Yellow Jackets’ 11-4 win to take the series, 2-1. He drove in the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly in the first inning, hit a two-run home run as part of a three-run fifth for the Yellow Jackets, and had run-scoring singles in both the sixth and eighth innings.
His home run in the series finale was the freshman’s 14th of the season, which stands tied for second in the league, one home run behind teammate Tony Plagman, who has 15 homers in 2008. He leads all freshmen in the league in home runs and RBI.
Georgia Tech returns to action this week when it travels to Athens to take on eighth-ranked Georgia Wednesday at 7 p.m., before closing out the home schedule by hosting Clemson for a three-game series this weekend.
