ATLANTA (Apr. 15) – Junior catcher Bryan Prince went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs while sophomore Rhett Parrott tossed six strong innings to lead eighth-ranked Georgia Tech to a 5-1 win over visiting Virginia on Saturday night at Russ Chandler Stadium.
The victory extended Tech’s winning streak to a season-long twelve games, and the Yellow Jackets (30-8, 12-2 ACC) equaled their Atlantic Coast Conference victory total from last season. Georgia Tech maintained first place in the ACC standings while the Cavaliers (17-21-1, 5-9 ACC) lost for the 17th consecutive time in Atlanta.
Parrott (5-2) picked up the victory after holding Virginia to one run on five hits in six innings of work. The right-hander walked three batters and recorded five strikeouts in the game.
Freshman Jeff Watchko tossed three scoreless innings to close out the game and pick up his team-leading fourth save of the season.
The Cavs’ Kevin Shout (4-2) took the loss despite a strong effort. He surrendered four runs on five hits in seven innings, but settled down to retire 11 of the final 12 batters he faced.
Tech took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Richard Lewis was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame, then stole second base and came around to score on a RBI double from Bryan Prince. Mark Teixeira, who walked, scored on a RBI single from Derik Goffena, and Prince came around on a sacrifice fly from Jason Basil.
Teixeira made the score 4-0 in the third with a solo home run, his team-leading 12th of the season.
The Cavs trimmed the lead to 4-1 in the fourth inning when Tim LaVigne singled and scored on a groundout from Ryan Kalamaya.
Georgia Tech added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth to provide the final scoring. Brad Stockton led off the inning with a double and scored on a RBI single from Prince.
Teixeira extended his hitting streak to 16 games and Goffena pushed his streak to 15 games when each player recorded single hits in the game. However, Lewis’ hitting streak came to an end at 27 games with a 0-for-3 performance, just one game shy of the school record of 28 games.
Catcher Mark Rueffert and second baseman Robbie Marvin each had two hits for the Cavaliers.
Georgia Tech and Virginia will conclude the three-game series on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at Russ Chandler Stadium.
