May 3, 2013
THE FLATS – Senior Buck Farmer gave No. 23 Georgia Tech eight shutout innings with nine strikeouts and the Yellow Jackets pounded out 14 hits in a 4-2 win over Coastal Carolina in the first game of a doubleheader Friday at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Farmer allowed just three hits to help lift the Jackets to 29-16 overall with their second-straight win, while the Chanticleers slipped to 27-18. The senior righty improved to 8-3 this season, and moved into second place on the Jackets’ career list with 350.1 innings pitched. Doug Creek (1988-91) holds the Tech record with 472 innings.
Sophomore Michael Hodorowski had two hits and his RBI single in the fourth inning gave the Jackets a lead they would not relinquish. Thomas Smith added an RBI double in the sixth inning and later in the frame scored from third on a throwing error on the back end of an attempted double steal.
Daniel Palka went the other way for a ground-rule RBI double to left in seventh inning that gave the hosts a 4-0 lead.
Tech had to hang on in the ninth as Coastal rallied for a pair of runs, and left the tying runs in scoring position when Alex Cruz rolled a grounder to Sam Dove at third for the final out in the ninth. Cruz pitched a scoreless ninth, allowing a pair of inherited runners to score, before putting the finishing touches on his first save.
Sam Dove finished 3-for-5 and is nine-for-20 (.450) over Tech’s last four games. Zane Evans, Kyle Wren, Daniel Palka and Matt Gonzalez each had two hits.
