May 3, 2015
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TECH STARTERS: Bailey/2B, Smith/1B, Gonzalez/LF, Murray/RF, Johnson/DH, Peurifoy/CF, Pabst/C, Justus/SS, Jackson/3B, Gold/SP.
PC STARTERS: Weyenberg/CF, Motroni/2B, Lizanich/SS, McCrae/DH, Midkiff/1B, Johnson/LF, Hedrick/3B, Martin/RF, Burt/C, Chock/SP.
THE BASICS:
· On the strength of five home runs, including two from rookie Kel Johnson, Georgia Tech thumped Presbyterian, 10-2, Sunday to sweep the three-game weekend series at Russ Chandler Stadium.
· Of Tech’s 13 hits, nine went for extra bases.
· The Yellow Jackets, who have won four straight and five of six, improved to 29-17 overall, while the Blue Hose fell to 23-24.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
· Tech got the bats going with two outs in the first inning as Matt Gonzalez triggered the rally with a double to the right-field gap.
· A.J. Murray followed with a towering shot to left and Johnson’s went yard two pitches later for a 3-0 lead.
· Boosted by the early runs, Brandon Gold was in command again for the Yellow Jackets and kept the Blue Hose at bay.
· Gonzalez launched a three-run shot of his own in the fifth to double Tech’s lead to 6-0.
· Presbyterian finally scratched off Gold in the seventh, but its two runs were answered by four more from Tech in the eighth to put the game on ice.
· Johnson belted a two-run shot to left and Ryan Peurifoy followed in the next at-bat with his first career round-tripper.
· Blake Jackson capped the scoring by ripping a triple to right and coming home on an error.
· Gold pitched seven strong innings and allowed three hits and two runs to improve to 6-2.
· Zac Ryan entered in relief of Matthew Gorst in the eighth and got the final two outs to strand the bases loaded as the Blue Hose had the potential tying run at the plate.
· Tanner Shelton pitched a scoreless ninth.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
· The five home runs by the Jackets were a season high and the most since a five-homer game against Savannah State on April 16, 2013.
· Murray’s blast was his team-leading 12th of the season and pulled him within one of ACC leader Will Craig of Wake Forest.
· Murray has hit five home runs and driven in nine over Tech’s last seven games.
· It was the first two-homer game of Johnson’s young career. After missing 13 games with an ankle injury, Johnson retuned April 17 and homered for the first time since March 20. He is second on the club with nine home runs.
· Peurifoy, who finished the series 7-for-11, had three hits on Sunday, including a double and his first career home run. He is 11-for-23 (.478) over a six-game hitting streak that has raised his average to a team-leading .351.
· Gonzalez, who also doubled and homered, extended his hitting streak to nine games.
· Jackson made his second straight start at third base and was 2-for-4 with a double, a triple and two runs. Four of his first six career hits have gone for extra bases.
· Gold had retired 15 of 16 batters before Presby’s brief, two-out rally in the seventh that began with double by Jacob Midkiff.
· Catcher Arden Pabst threw out his third base-runner of the weekend Sunday, and the sophomore has cut down 21 in 45 attempts this season. He leads the ACC and is among the NCAA leaders in both runners caught stealing (21) and percentage (.467).
· Thanks to four more runs in the eighth on Sunday, Tech is out-scoring the opposition 75-32 in the eighth inning and beyond this season.
· At 29-17 and 12 games over .500, Tech matches its high water-mark of the year (24-12).
· The sweep was Tech’s second of the year (Indiana State).
QUOTABLE:
“He got a lot of first-pitch outs and we played good defense, but seven strong innings of (Brandon) Gold is always good. I thought we had some great at-bats today. It was huge for Kel to hit two home runs and start to get some confidence back. We got better offensively as the weekend went on, and it’s good to see.”
— Head Coach Danny Hall
“I was able to get a couple pitches I could handle today and I really felt good about all four of my at-bats today. I was seeing the ball well and was selective on a couple pitches I could get the barrel on.”
–Kel Johnson
UP NEXT: The Yellow Jackets are on the road Wednesday night at Mercer, looking to sweep the two-game season series from the Bears. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
