March 7, 2008
ATLANTA – Derek Dietrich had two hits, both of which were home runs, to lead No. 19 Georgia Tech (10-1, 1-0 ACC) to a 14-1 win over Virginia Tech (7-4, 0-1 ACC) Friday afternoon in the Yellow Jackets’ Atlantic Coast Conference opener at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Dietrich hit his third and fourth home runs of the season, and homered for the third-straight game, in a 2-for-3 performance at the plate. He also had a career-high six RBI, scored three runs, and was walked and hit by a pitch.
David Duncan (2-0) had another strong outing to pick up his second victory of the season, holding the Hokies to one run on four hits in eight innings of work. He also struck out three and walked none while facing just four over the minimum. Hutts closed out the game by tossing a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
Chris House and Patrick Long led the Jackets with three hits apiece while Feltes went 2-for-5 with two runs and three RBI in the game.
The Yellow Jackets erupted for six runs in the third inning, which began with three straight singles before Tony Plagman was hit by a pitch to plate Tech’s first run. Dietrich then cleared the bases with a grand slam to increase Tech’s lead to 5-0 before a two-out double by House later scored Long to cap the scoring in the inning.
Tech added three runs in the fourth to push its lead to 9-0. Plagman hit a one-out double and scored on an RBI single by Feltes for the Jackets’ first run of the inning. Feltes later scored on an RBI single by Long before a bases-loaded walk issued to House plated Dietrich for the ninth run of the game.
Steve Bumbry broke up the shutout with a two-out, RBI double in the fifth inning. Ty Hohman earned the second hit off Duncan, and first since the first inning, with a two-out single and came around to score on Bumbry’s only hit of the game to make the score 9-1.
Hohman led the Hokies with two of Virginia Tech’s four hits in the game.
The Jackets added four runs in the bottom of the seventh to push their lead to 12. House singled to lead off the frame and moved to second when Charlie Blackmon was hit by a pitch. A double by Feltes pushed the score to 11-1 before Dietrich’s second home run of the game, a two-run shot over the center field wall, made it 13-1. An RBI single by Curtis Dupart capped Tech’s scoring in the eighth inning.
Josh Wymer (2-1) suffered his first loss of the season by giving up nine runs on 10 hits in 3.2 innings of work.
The Jackets and Hokies will continue the series Saturday at Russ Chandler Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m., and the game can be followed on ACC Select (gatech.playonsports.tv) and heard on WREK Radio (91.1 FM/www.wrek.org). Live stats for all Georgia Tech games can be found at Ramblinwreck.com.
