May 23, 2009
DURHAM, N.C. – Luke Murton’s 18th home run of the season highlighted a three-run third inning, and Brandon Cumpton tossed 5-1/3 solid innings to help Georgia Tech snap a four-game losing streak with a 9-2 win over Florida State Saturday afternoon at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
“This was a game that we wanted to win, and we felt like we had a good pitcher going for us today,” head coach Danny Hall said. “I thought Brandon pitched great, only giving up one run.
“I was also happy to see Luke Murton get his first hit of the tournament, which was the three-run homer that gave us some momentum.
“And then Brandon did a good job the rest of the way. When he got into a little trouble, he pitched out of it. It was a much better day for the Yellow Jackets, all-around.”
Cumpton held the Seminoles to just one run on six hits to improve to 4-2 on the season. The Tech sophomore worked into the sixth inning before turning the ball over to his bullpen, which held FSU to just one run over the final 3-2/3 innings to secure the win.
Despite the loss, the Seminoles move on to Sunday’s ACC Championship game against either North Carolina or Virginia.
Jake Davies, Andrew Robinson, Mark Pope and Kevin Jacob all made scoreless appearances out of the bullpen.
Georgia Tech scored its first run in the second inning when Derek Dietrich grounded into a double play. Tony Plagman reached on a leadoff single and moved to third on a base hit by Jason Haniger before crossing the plate on Dietrich’s first at-bat of the day.
Plagman went 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored while Haniger finished the game 3-for-4 with an RBI.
The Seminoles’ lone run against Cumpton came in the fourth inning when Jason Stidham reached on a leadoff double and scored on an RBI single by Stuart Tapley. A base hit by Tommy Oravetz, followed by a sacrifice bunt from Ohmed Danesh, put runners on second and third with one out, but centerfielder Jeff Rowland threw Tapley out at the plate when he tried to score on fly out by Mike Meschke.
Jason Garofalo doubled off the top of the left field wall to push Tech’s lead to 5-1 in the fifth inning before a solo home run from Plagman made it a five-run game in the top of the sixth.
Plagman’s homer was the Yellow Jackets’ 104th of the season, which eclipses the previous season high of 103 round-trippers by a Danny Hall-coached Georgia Tech team and is the third-most in a season by the Yellow Jackets.
Back-to-back run-scoring singles by Plagman and Haniger pushed Tech’s lead to 8-1 in the seventh, and a run-scoring triple off the wall by Chase Burnette made it 9-1 in the Jackets’ favor in the top of the eighth inning.
FSU scored its final run of the game in the eighth inning when Stidham homered to lead off the frame. The Seminole second baseman finished the game 3-for-3 with a double, home run and two runs scored.
Florida State starter Hunter Scantling (3-1) lasted just four innings, yielding five runs on four hits and three walks.
The Yellow Jackets now await word as to if they will receive an at-large bid to the 2009 NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Baseball Selection Show will be aired on ESPN Monday at 12:30 p.m., while regional sites will be announced Sunday evening.
