April 6, 2008
CARY, N.C. – Zach Von Tersch tossed seven shutout innings to help No. 14 Georgia Tech to a doubleheader split against No. 3 North Carolina Sunday afternoon at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C.
After the Yellow Jackets lost the first game of the doubleheader, 10-4, Von Tersch (4-1) scattered four hits over seven innings while striking out five to help the Yellow Jackets to a 4-1 win in the series finale, thus avoiding a series sweep at the hands of the Tar Heels.
The Yellow Jacket sophomore faced just two over the minimum through the first four innings and allowed just three runners past first base while tying a career-high with seven innings pitched.
Thomas Nichols gave the Yellow Jackets their first lead of the series when he doubled with one out in the top of the first inning and came around to score on an RBI single by Charlie Blackmon. Blackmon moved to second on a passed ball before scoring on an RBI double from Luke Murton, giving Tech a 2-0 lead.
Nichols, Blackmon and Murton all had two hits in the final game of the series.
A two-run double by Nichols pushed the Jackets’ lead to 4-0 in the fourth inning, and the score held until UNC scored its one and only run of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning on an RBI double by Kyle Seager.
Chris Hicks forced three groundouts to end the game while earning up his eighth save of the season.
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North Carolina used a five-run second inning to take an early lead in the first game of the doubleheader and held the Jackets off the scoreboard until the top of the sixth to pick up win No. 2 in the series.
Tony Plagman singled home Blackmon for Tech’s first run of the game before a two-run double by Murton narrowed the Tar Heels’ lead to 5-3. UNC plated four runs in the bottom of the eighth to push the score to 10-3 before a ninth-inning sacrifice fly by Chris House capped the Jackets’ scoring at four.
Murton led the Jackets with two hits and two RBI in the first game of the doubleheader, while Jason Haniger also collected two hits in the game.
Adam Warren (5-0) faced just four over the minimum through the first five innings before yielding the three runs to the Jackets in the sixth. He earned his fifth win of the season after Brian Moran came on to end the threat. Moran tossed 2.2 innings in relief, striking out six of the eight batters he faced.
Eddie Burns (4-2) suffered his second loss of the year after giving up six runs on eight hits in five innings.
The Yellow Jackets will have two days off before hosting the University of Georgia in Georgia Tech’s first televised game of the 2008 season. The Jackets and Bulldogs will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday and the game will be broadcast on SportSouth and can be heard on WREK Radio (91.1 FM in Atlanta/www.wrek.org). Live stats for all Tech baseball games can be found at Ramblinwreck.com.
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