March 17, 2013
THE FLATS – Zane Evans’ two-RBI single busted open a 2-1 game in seventh inning, and No. 14 Georgia Tech pulled away from Boston College, 9-1, Sunday to sweep the ACC series at Russ Chandler Stadium. Cole Pitts gave the Yellow Jackets another strong start to pick up his fourth win.
Pitts fired a season-long 6.2 innings, allowing just three hits and an unearned run to put the Jackets in position for their first ACC sweep since the 2011 season. The offense put it away by scoring seven runs over the final three innings.
“We finished it today, but they made us play,” said head coach Danny Hall. “Chin pitched well (for Boston College) and kept us off-balance, so tip your cap to him. I felt like it would be sooner rather than later that we’d get some runs and Zane (Evans) had a big hit to bust it open.”
Tech improved to 17-2 overall, 5-1 in ACC play – its third weekend sweep of the season and first in league play since April 2011 versus BC at the Rusty C. The Eagles slipped to 3-15, 0-6.
It was a pitchers’ duel early between Pitts and BC lefty Andrew Chin. Tech drew first blood in the third when freshman RF Dylan Dore, making his first career start, ripped a lead-off double down the left-field line, and came home on Kyle Wren’s RBI single.
The visitors drew even in the fourth, as Tom Bourdon led off with a single and eventually scored from third on a two-out error by the Jackets. BC put the lead off man on base in six of the nine innings, but the Jackets were able dodge the trouble.
Mott Hyde put the Jackets in front for good when he smoked an RBI double in the fourth, scoring A.J. Murray, who walked to lead off the inning.
Pitts improved to 4-1 by scattering three singles and an unearned run with three walks and four strikeouts in 6.2 innings of work. Alex Cruz emerged from the bullpen in the seventh, with a runner at second in a 2-1 ballgame, and the junior promptly rolled an inning-ending grounder to third.
“First three innings they had runners on every inning,” said Hall. “But Pitts did a nice job and pitched out of it, and we got a couple double plays that always help. I thought he was in control most of the day.”
The offense went to work in the bottom half thanks to Evans’ two-run rocket to center to make the score 4-1. Matt Gonzalez followed later with an RBI single of his own, increasing the margin to 5-1 and extending his ACC-leading hitting streak to 14 games.
Cruz rolled up an inning-ending double play in the eighth, and the high-powered Jackets poured on four in the bottom half to put the game out of reach. Wren, Daniel Palka, Evans and A.J. Murray drove in runs in the frame.
Tech got at least a base hit from every starter in the lineup and pounded out 14 hits in Sunday’s victory. Thomas was 3-for-5 – his seventh-consecutive multi-hit game – while Sam Dove and Evans each had two hits. Evans and Thomas extended hitting streak to 12 and 11 games, respectively.
The Jackets return to action Tuesday night, hosting Georgia Southern in the final game of the teams’ three-game season series. After taking two in Statesboro earlier this year, Tech goes for the sweep of its in-state rival at 6 p.m.
