April 1, 2007
ATLANTA – Yellow Jacket starter Ryan Turner faced the minimum through the first five innings and Matt Wieters collected three hits, including his team-leading sixth home run of the season, to lead Georgia Tech (19-11, 8-4 ACC) to a 4-2 win over Maryland (18-11, 5-7 ACC) Sunday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium to sweep the series from the Terrapins.
Turner (3-3) held the Terrapins to just two runs, only one of which was earned, on six hits while striking out three and recording two pickoffs in six innings to earn his third win of the season.
Wieters went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs for the Jackets while Danny Payne and Patrick Long added two hits apiece as Georgia Tech won its sixth-straight game.
Brad Rulon worked 1.2 innings in relief of Turner, giving up just one hit while striking out one before Danny Payne came on to pitch the final 1.1 innings and struck out three of the four batters he faced to earn his third save of the season.
Michael Fisher helped Tech to a 1-0 lead when he hit his third home run of the season with two outs in the bottom of the first inning, extending his hitting streak to eight games.
The Jackets added two runs in the fifth on an RBI double by Payne and an RBI single by Wieters to take a 3-0 lead. Long doubled to lead off the frame, moved to third on a balk by Maryland starter Kevin Biringer and scored on Payne’s 12th double of the season. Luke Murton then reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second base and scored the Jackets’ third run of the game on the RBI single by Wieters.
The Terps struck for two runs on four hits in the sixth after being held scoreless on two hits through the first five innings. Dan Melvin and Mike Murphy recorded back-to-back RBI singles with two outs in the frame, but Turner struck out Gerry Spessard with runners on first and second to end the Maryland threat with the Jackets leading, 3-2.
Wieters extended Tech’s lead to 4-2 when he hit his team-leading sixth home run of the season over the right field wall with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
Biringer (2-5) took the loss by giving up three runs on eight hits while striking out five in five innings of work.
Georgia Tech will return to action Tuesday evening when it hosts Wofford at 7 p.m. at Russ Chandler Stadium. The game can be heard on WREK-Radio (91.1 FM/www.wrek.org) and live stats can be found at www.ramblinwreck.com.
