March 4, 2008
ATLANTA – Deck McGuire held Western Carolina to one run on one hit while striking out eight in seven innings of work to lead Georgia Tech to a 4-1 win against the Catamounts Tuesday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium.
The Yellow Jackets improved to 8-1 with the win, while the Catamounts dropped to 3-5 on the season.
McGuire (2-0) faced just three batters over the minimum. He allowed a leadoff home run in the second inning to J.C. Lyons, but settled in after that, allowing just one run past first base over his final six innings of work.
Brad Rulon pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Chris Hicks worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth to pick up his second save of the season.
Tech got on the board in the second inning when Derek Dietrich hit a two-run home run, the first of his career, over the right field wall. The Jackets added another run in the third inning when Jason Haniger hit a leadoff double, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Chris House, and scored on an RBI groundout by Thomas Nichols.
Haniger went 3-for-3 with two doubles and two runs scored to pace the Yellow Jacket offense. Brad Feltes added two hits for Georgia Tech.
Haniger again ignited Tech’s offense in the eighth inning with a leadoff single. He moved to second when House worked a walk off Catamount reliever Chris Masters and advanced to third on a groundout by Charlie Blackmon before scoring on a wild pitch by Masters.
Western Carolina starter Drew Saberhagen (0-1) suffered his first loss of the season by giving up three runs, only one of which was earned, on three hits in seven innings of work.
Georgia Tech returns to action Wednesday afternoon when it hosts Kennesaw State at 4 p.m. The game is scheduled to be aired on ACC Select, and live stats will be available at Ramblinwreck.com.
