April 2, 2008
ATLANTA – Brandon Cumpton, Kevin Jacob, Michael Hutts and Chris Hicks combined to hold the Buccaneers to four runs and No. 14 Georgia Tech (24-5) held off late East Tennessee State rally to win, 5-4, Wednesday night at Russ Chandler Stadium. With the loss, the Buccaneers dropped to 6-21 on the season.
Hutts entered the game with two outs and runners on first and third in the top of the eighth inning and got out of the jam by forcing designated hitter Bart Roark to line out, and Hicks picked up his seventh save of the season with a solid performance in the ninth.
Roark paced the Bucs’ offense with two hits, one of which was a seventh-inning home run that pulled East Tennessee State to within two runs at 5-3.
After Tech took a 2-0 lead on a two-run double by Luke Murton in the third inning, the Jackets added three in the fourth to make the score 5-0. Three ETSU errors – fielding miscues by the first baseman and centerfielder surrounding an errant throw by the catcher – allowed Charlie Blackmon to reach base and score, all on the same play. Also scoring on the play was Chris House, who had reached on a fielders choice earlier in the frame after back-to-back leadoff doubles by Cole Leonida and Jeff Rowland gave Tech a three-run edge.
The Bucs hit solo home runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings and scored their final run of the game on an RBI double by Derek Trent in the eighth.
Cumpton (2-0) picked up his second win by holding ETSU to three runs on seven hits while striking out six in 6.2 innings of work. He faced just three over the minimum through the first 4.1 innings before giving up a solo home run to Roark in the fifth inning for the Bucs’ first run of the game.
The Yellow Jackets will hit the road for Cary, N.C., where they face the University of North Carolina this weekend in a three-game ACC series at the USA Baseball Complex. Game times are 7 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday, and all three will have live stats available by visiting Ramblinwreck.com. A live video broadcast of the series finale can be found on ACC Select (gatech.playonsports.tv).
–GT–
