May 7, 2011
CHICAGO – Junior pitcher Mark Pope earned his 10th win of the season, and four different players recorded multiple hits to lead No. 10 Georgia Tech to a 9-2 win over Illinois-Chicago in non-conference action Saturday night at Les Miller Field.
Pope improved to 10-2 overall after holding the Flames to just two runs (one earned) on six hits over six innings on the night. The entire pitching staff was solid as freshman Dusty Isaacs and sophomore Luke Bard kept UIC off the bags in three shutouts innings of relief.
The three hurlers received plenty of support offensively as the Yellow Jackets combined for 11 hits. Junior Jake Davies, sophomore Brandon Thomas and freshmen Mott Hyde and Kyle Wren each chipped in with two hits apiece.
UIC starter Matt Salemi (4-5) was credited with the loss after allowing six runs on five hits. Salemi walked five batters.
Tech took the game’s first lead in the top of the first inning on a sacrifice fly to left field by junior Matt Skole that scored Wren. Wren led off the game with a walk before advancing to third on a two-base pickoff error by Salemi that sailed into the outfield.
The Flames took advantage off a failed pickoff error by Pope in the bottom of the second inning to advance UIC’s Matt Serna to second base. UIC designated hitter Harry Kammholz connected on a single to right field with one out to tie the game at 1-1.
The Jackets broke the tie with the pair of RBIs by freshman Zane Evans and Hyde in the fourth inning. Evans sent a sac fly to centerfield that scored Davies before Hyde’s 2-out single up the middle pushed the lead to 3-1.
Tech brought across three more runs over the next two frames to extend the lead to five. Sophomore Sam Dove scored on a balk by Salemi in the fifth, while Thomas and Wren drove in the other two on singles in the sixth inning for a 6-1 score.
The Flames got an RBI single by Jacob McNamara in the bottom half the inning before Isaacs and Bard froze the UIC bats for the rest of the game. Each pitcher had a pair of strikeouts while not allowing any hits in their relief outings.
The Jackets closed out the scoring with three runs in the ninth, one on a RBI single by Thomas and two on an error by UIC centerfielder Nick Addison.
The series continues at 3:05 p.m. (EST) on Sunday.
