April 12, 2008
ATLANTA – Blake Tekotte homered twice and drove in seven runs, while Enrique Garcia scattered eight hits over seven solid innings to lift top-ranked Miami past No. 10 Georgia Tech, 15-5, and a sweep of Saturday’s Atlantic Coast Conference doubleheader at Russ Chandler Stadium.
The Hurricanes, who improved to 29-3 overall and 14-1 in the ACC to remain atop the Coastal Division, bolted to a 9-1 lead after three innings, scoring three times in the first, two in the second and four in the third.
The Yellow Jackets, who dropped the first game Saturday by a score of 10-5, lost for the fourth time in their last five conference games to fall to 26-9 overall, 9-8 in the ACC.
“This was an emotionally draining day for us,” said Tech coach Danny Hall. “But give Miami credit for coming out and playing extremely well today.”
Tekotte came within a double of hitting for the cycle, getting a single in the third, a triple in the fifth and home runs in the seventh and ninth innings.
Garcia (2-0) also walked four and hit a batter, but managed to limit Tech to three runs in his stint as the Jackets stranded 10 runners in the first seven innings.
Tech starter Eddie Burns (4-3) created trouble for himself from the start, hitting two of the first three batters before Dennis Raben got Miami on the board with a sacrifice fly. After a walk, Ryan Jackson doubled home to runs for a 3-0 Hurricane lead. Miami put together three singles in the second, scoring on Tekotte’s sacrifice fly and Jemile Weeks’ RBI hit.
After Tech scratched for a run on Patrick Long’s sacrifice fly in the second, Miami pushed across four more runs in the third with the help of a third hit batter by Burns and an error on second baseman Thomas Nichols. Mark Sobolewski homered to start the uprising, and the Hurricanes cashed in further on Jason Hagerty’s sacrifice fly and Weeks’ RBI-double for a 9-1 lead.
Burns gave up eight runs, six of them earned, on five hits in two-plus innings of work.
Tekotte tripled to drive in a run for Miami in the fifth, then belted a two-run homer in the seventh and a three-run shot in the ninth to make the score 15-3.
Charlie Blackmon led Tech with a triple and home run, a two-run blast in the ninth.
The teams will conclude their three-game series at 1 p.m. Sunday. Zach Von Tersch (4-1), whose pitching helped Tech avoid a sweep last weekend at North Carolina, will take the mound for the Jackets. The game will be regionally-televised on Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS).
