April 6, 2007
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Wally Crancer’s third inning three-run home run helped Georgia Tech (21-11, 9-4 ACC) to its eighth-straight win, a 9-2 victory over Miami (18-14, 5-9 ACC) in the series opener Friday night at Mark Light Stadium.
The victory was Georgia Tech’s 600th under head coach Danny Hall, as the Yellow Jacket skipper now stands at 600-259 (.698) in his 14 years on the Flats and 808-376 (.682) in his 20-year coaching career.
Matt Wieters went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles, three runs and an RBI to lead the Jackets in the opener, while Crancer paced the Jackets with three RBI on the night. The home run by Crancer was his fifth of the season, while freshman Tony Plagman added the first home run of his career in the eighth inning.
The Yellow Jackets managed just seven hits in the game, five of which were for extra bases, but also earned eight walks and an HBP against the Miami pitching staff.
Crancer walked with one out in the top of the second, moved to second when Plagman was hit by a pitch and advanced to third after Patrick Long walked to load the bases before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Jeff Ussery to give the Yellow Jackets a 1-0 lead.
Miami responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second on an RBI groundout by Ryan Jackson and an RBI double by Roger Tomas to go ahead 2-0, but a three-run home run by Crancer in the third inning gave the lead back to the Yellow Jackets, 4-2.
Tech starter David Duncan (5-2) then struck out three of the next four batters he faced while holding the Hurricanes scoreless over the next three innings to earn his fifth win of the season. The lefty gave up just the two runs in the second inning while striking out six in 5.1 innings of work.
An RBI double by Wieters and a two-run home run by Plagman extended Tech’s lead to 7-2 in the seventh inning before Luke Murton dropped an RBI double down the right field line in the eighth for Tech’s eighth run of the game.
Wieters led off the top of the ninth with a single, moved to third after both Crancer and Plagman were hit by pitches, and scored on an RBI groundout by Long for Tech’s final run of the game.
The Yellow Jacket bullpen of Jared Hyatt, Tim Ladd, Brad Rulon and Chris Hicks combined to hold the Hurricanes scoreless through the final 3.2 innings, giving up just three hits while striking out five.
Alex Koronis (3-1), making his first start of the season as a late replacement of Eric Erickson after the Hurricane lefty injured his hand during pre-game workouts, gave up just one hit, the three-run home run by Crancer, while suffering his first loss of 2007.
The Jackets and Hurricanes continue the series at 1 p.m. Saturday in the featured ACC Game of the Week. The league’s Regional Sports Network (FSN South, Comcast SportsNet, SunSports and NESN) will broadcast the contest, and the game can also be heard on WREK-Radio (91.1 FM/www.wrek.org). Live stats for all Georgia Tech games are available at www.ramblinwreck.com.
