April 10, 2010
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. – Behind home runs from Derek Dietrich and Tony Plagman, the second-ranked Georgia Tech baseball team erased an early five-run deficit, and freshman Buck Farmer allowed just one run in six innings of relief to lead Georgia Tech to a 9-7 win over No. 4 Virginia Saturday at Davenport Field.
With the win, the Jackets (27-4, 12-2 ACC) evened the series at one game apiece with the Cavaliers (26-7, 9-5), and remain in sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings.
“Buck Farmer saved the day for us,” Head coach Danny Hall said. “He pitched great and took the momentum away from them. We had some big two-out hits by Derek [Dietrich] and Tony [Plagman], but Buck was awesome along with our bullpen, and now we have a chance to win the series tomorrow.”
Farmer (3-1) entered the game with the bases loaded and no outs in the first inning, and held the Cavaliers to just one run on four hits in the next six frames. The freshman right-hander recorded six strikeouts en route to his third win of the season.
“I was just trying to work my stuff and keep them off-balance today,” Freshman Buck Farmer said. “They are a very good fastball hitting team, so I tried to throw some off-speed stuff to trick them and pitch them backwards. My pitches were working well, and the offense really came through for me.”
Tech scored all nine of its runs with two outs on Saturday.
Plagman combined with Deitrich to bring in seven of Tech’s nine runs, as each had two hits. Juniors Jeff Rowland and Thomas Nichols led the Jackets with three apiece.
For the second consecutive game, Plagman gave Tech a lead with a three-run home run. Saturday’s shot came off UVA starter Robert Morey with two outs in the fifth, and landed just inside the foul pole in left field to put Tech up 7-5.
Tech plated two more runs with in the sixth inning on a fielding error by Virginia first baseman Danny Hultzen. Hultzen was unable to scoop a grounder by Rowland as Jacob Esch and Evan Martin scored on the play.
In addition to Farmer’s strong performance out of the bullpen, junior Taylor Wood and senior Andrew Robinson combined to allow just two runs – one earned- on three hits in the final three innings. Robinson pitched the final two for his second save of the season, as Tech would hold on for the win.
Trailing 5-0 in the third inning, Dietrich belted his deep three run shot off of Morey down the right field line. The Parma, Ohio native brought in the first four runs of the game for the Jackets, adding an RBI single to center in the fifth that cut the lead to 5-4.
Morey fell to 4-2 on the season after allowing eight runs – seven earned – on eight hits in 5.0 innings.
The series concludes at 12 p.m. Sunday, as sophomore Jed Bradley (4-1) will face Virginia’s Cody Winiarski (3-0) in the rubber match. The game can be heard on WREK 91.1 FM or free online at www.RamblinWreck.com.
