May 11, 2014
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Elliott Barzilli homered and Ben Parr gave Georgia Tech a solid start, but No. 1 Virginia led wire-to-wire in a 3-1 victory over the Yellow Jackets at Davenport Field on Sunday in Tech’s regular-season ACC finale.
The Jackets, who have four non-conference games remaining in the regular season including Tuesday at Turner Field versus Georgia, slipped to 29-23 overall and 14-16 in the ACC. Tech will now need help in clinching a berth in the 2014 ACC Tournament.
Virginia pushed across two runs in the second inning, and behind seven strong innings from starter Brandon Waddell, improved to 41-9, 21-6 with the series sweep.
Consecutive two-out RBI singles from John La Prise and Brandon Downes put the Cavaliers on the board in the second, but Parr kept the UVa bats quiet after that. The rookie lefty allowed two runs over his six innings, but would absorb the loss (4-3).
In the fifth, Barzilli launched his second home run of the season to the seats in left allowing Tech to cut the margin in half. The Jackets threatened again in the sixth after Daniel Spingola led off with an opposite-field double to left, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt, but was left stranded there.
Tech left the tying run in scoring position again in the seventh after Connor Justus reached on a lead-off hit-by-pitch, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, but got no further.
Waddell went seven innings, scattering five hits with four strikeouts and improved to 7-2. Austin Young pitched a scoreless eighth and Nick Howard closed out the ninth for his 17th save.
Spingola had two hits for the Jackets, while Mott Hyde walked in the second to extend his reached-base streak to an ACC-leading 30 games.
Of Tech’s 52 games this season, 27 have been decided by two runs or less (11-16).
The Jackets return to action Tuesday night versus Georgia at Turner Field in the annual Kauffman Tire Spring Classic for Kids. All tickets are $12 and can be purchased via Ticketmaster or at the Turner Field box office. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. in the rubber-game of the teams’ three-game season series.
