CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Freshman Matt Murton homered and drove in four runs and Rhett Parrott tossed seven strong innings to lead third-ranked Georgia Tech (22-7, 5-3 ACC) to a 10-3 victory over Virginia (17-11, 5-6 ACC) on Saturday afternoon at UVA Baseball Field. Tech’s win evened the Atlantic Coast Conference series at one win apiece with the rubber match scheduled for Sunday afternoon.
Parrott (7-1) picked up his ACC leading seventh win of the season after holding the Cavaliers to three runs on six hits in seven innings of work. He walked three batters and struck out seven. Jeff Watchko and Brian Burks closed out the game with a scoreless eighth and ninth inning, respectively.
Virginia starter Joseph Kohansky (3-3) took the loss after allowing six runs in 5.1 innings.
The Yellow Jackets took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first on a three-run homer from Murton, his second of the season. Victor Menocal singled and Bryan Prince walked before Murton blasted his shot over the left center field fence with two outs. Tech pushed the score to 4-0 in the top of the second when Matthew Boggs walked and eventually scored on a two-out RBI single from Menocal. Murton and Menocal each had three hits for the Yellow Jackets in the game.
Virginia trimmed the lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the second hen Hunter Wyant led off the inning with a single and scored on Chris Sweet’s RBI groundout. The Cavaliers made the score 4-3 with two more runs in the third. Doug Vroman led off with a walk and scored on a RBI single by Jon Benick. A sacrifice fly from Hunter Wyant scored Robert Newton with the second run of the inning.
Tech stretched the lead to 5-3 in the fifth inning after Menocal reached on an error and eventually scored on a two-out RBI single from Murton.
The Yellow Jackets added another run in the sixth to make the score 6-3. Brad Stockton led off the inning with a walk and took second base when a failed pickoff attempt sailed wildly into the first base dougout. Stockton advanced to third base after a sacrifice bunt from Boggs before scoring on Wes Rynders’ sacrifice fly.
Tech added another run in the top of the eighth when Murton led off the inning with a single and came around to score on a squeeze bunt from Boggs that made the score 7-3.
The Yellow Jackets put the game out of reach with three more runs in the top of the ninth to extend the lead to 10-3. Jason Basil drove in a run on a fielder’s choice, while Stockton and Jason Perry each added RBI singles in the inning.
Georgia Tech and Virginia will conclude the three game series on Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on WREK-Radio (91.1 FM in Atlanta) and on the internet at www.ramblinwreck.com.
