April 19, 2008
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Joe Palumbo hit a walk-off two-run single in the bottom of the ninth and Maryland (24-17, 7-13 ACC) scored seven runs over the final two innings to defeat Georgia Tech (27-12, 9-11 ACC), 14-13, Saturday afternoon at Shipley Field.
The Yellow Jackets built a 13-5 lead through six-and-a-half innings, but Maryland scored twice in the seventh and plated four in the eighth before scoring three in the bottom of the ninth to win.
After Chris Hicks (0-3) retired the first batter of the ninth inning on a liner up the middle, Gerry Spessard was hit by a pitch and Bill Rice, A.J. Casario, Chad Durakis and Palumbo notched four-consecutive singles to hand the Tech closer his third loss of the season.
The Terrapins pulled within three runs of the Jackets when Will Greenberg plated three with a two-out single in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Luke Murton tied a career high with four hits and Georgia Tech pounded out 18 hits against the Terrapins, but it wasn’t enough to get the win. He continued his torrid hitting with a 4-for-6 performance which included a home run and two doubles. The Yellow Jacket junior has gone 6-for-10 with two home runs and three doubles in the series and is hitting .600 (9-for-15) with four home runs, three doubles and seven RBI on the week.
Joining Murton with four hits on the day was leadoff hitter Charlie Blackmon, who went 4-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored while Jeff Rowland and Jay Dantzler added three hits apiece.
A sacrifice fly by Tony Plagman gave Georgia Tech a 4-3 lead in the top of the third inning before the Jackets added five in the fourth. Dantzler began the onslaught with a walk. He then stole second base and came around to score on back-to-back wild pitches from Maryland starter Brett Jones. A solo home run by Jason Haniger, run scoring single from Rowland, and two-run home run by Murton capped the scoring for the Jackets in the inning.
Brad Feltes doubled to lead off the fifth inning and came around to score on an RBI single by Dantzler to make the score 10-3 in the Jackets favor before a two-run single by Derek Dietrich pushed Tech’s lead to eight.
Maryland jumped on Eddie Burns early, as the first three batters he faced came around to score in the first inning. The Yellow Jacket starting pitcher settled down after that, retiring the next five batters he faced, and 12 of the next 13, before giving up a leadoff double to Durakis in the fifth inning. The Terrapin catcher came around to score Maryland’s second run of the game, making the score 10-4.
The Jackets and Terps will conclude the series Sunday in a game that will be nationally televised on CSTV. First pitch is at 12:30 p.m., and the finale can be heard on WREK Radio (91.1 FM in Atlanta/www.wrek.org) while live stats will be available at Ramblinwreck.com.
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