April 12, 2015
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
TECH STARTERS: Spingola/CF, Bailey/2B, Gonzalez/3B, Murray/C, Smith/1B, Innis/LF, Justus/SS, Peurifoy/RF, Wruble/DH, Gold/SP.
UVA STARTERS: Haseley/CF, Pinero/SS, Thaiss/1B, Towns/3B, Smith/LF, Doherty/RF, Clement/2B, Coman/C, Lowry/DH, Waddell/SP.
THE BASICS:
· Brandon Gold pitched a gem to lead Georgia Tech past No. 15 Virginia, 4-3, Sunday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium in the rubber-game of a key ACC series.
· Tech has won seven of its last nine games and is now 5-1 in weekend rubber-games this season (3-1 in ACC rubber-games).
· The Yellow Jackets improved to 24-12 overall and 9-9 in the ACC, while the Cavaliers slipped to 21-14, 7-11.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
· Gold limited the Cavaliers to just three hits and one run in his seven strong innings on the mound and was boosted by a three-run fourth inning from his offense.
· Gold improved to 5-1, while Zac Ryan pitched the final two innings for his seventh save.
· Tech opened the fourth with three consecutive hits from Wade Bailey, Matt Gonzalez and A.J. Murray, with Murray’s RBI double down the left-field line making it 1-0.
· An RBI grounder from Keenan Innis made it 2-0 in the fourth and Connor Justus slashed a two-out single to right for a 3-0 lead.
· Tech tacked on what would prove to be important insurance in the fifth thanks to another knock from Gonzalez — a two-out RBI laser to right that made it 4-0.
· Virginia finally scratched off Gold in the seventh, but the sophomore righty induced an inning-ending, 6-4-3 double play in his final batter faced.
· Ryan had to sweat out his seventh saves as UVa made it 4-3 on a two-out, two-run home run from Charlie Cody in the eighth.
· In the ninth, Ryan walked the leadoff man, but stranded him at second after a sac bunt, a groundout and a strikeout of Christian Lowery to end it.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
· Tech improved to 17-1 this season when scoring first, 8-2 in games decided by one-run and 7-7 versus ranked teams.
· Gonzalez was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run, while Ryan Peurifoy had another two-hit effort.
· Peurifoy finished the series a team-best 5-for-9 (.556) with a run and three RBI.
· Wade Bailey (14 games), Thomas Smith (13) and Arden Pabst (10) each extended reach-base streaks, while Daniel Spingola’s was snapped at 26 games.
· Spingola was robbed of a two-run home run in the sixth when Virginia right-fielder Kevin Doherty scaled the wall to snare a ball that would have given Tech a 6-0 lead.
· A.J. Murray made an emergency start for the Jackets at catcher as sophomore Arden Pasbt was held out of the lineup (hand injury).
· The loss fell to Virginia starter Brandon Waddell, who was responsible for all four runs and six hits in 4.2 innings.
· Josh Sborz entered in the fifth and got the Cavaliers out of trouble by stranding the bases loaded. He pitched a shutout over the final 3.1 innings.
QUOTEABLE:
“Gold pitched very well and we needed it. We knew coming in that Virginia pitched it well, and we needed to match it. Certainly Brandon today did, and I was impressed by Zac — after giving up a home run in the eighth and then getting the tying run to second in the ninth — in keeping his calm and getting the last two outs.”
–Head Coach Danny Hall
“I felt really good in the bullpen today and I thought A.J. (Murray) did a great job behind the plate today. I wanted to go back out there in the eighth, but the coaches told me Zac (Ryan) was going in and I knew he’d get the job done.”
–Sophomore RHP Brandon Gold
UP NEXT: The Yellow Jackets welcome Georgia Tuesday night looking to clinch the season series from the Bulldogs. The game begins at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN3.
