April 18, 2009
Box Score
Scroll down for video highlights and postgame interview!
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Zach Von Tersch scattered three hits over six scoreless innings and the 10th-ranked Yellow Jackets (25-8-1, 12-5-1 ACC) smacked three home runs to down Wake Forest (20-18, 6-14 ACC), 8-1, Saturday evening at Gene Hooks Field at Wake Forest Baseball Park.
Georgia Tech collected 14 hits and scored runs in five different innings to win the season series against the Demon Deacons.
“(We are happy that) we have won the series, but now we have to be hungry and try get another win here tomorrow,” head coach Danny Hall said after the game.
Von Tersch (6-1) didn’t allow a runner past second base while picking up his sixth win of the season. He yielded just three hits while walking five before turning the ball over to his bullpen in the seventh inning.
“I thought Zach pitched really well,” Hall said. “He worked six innings and didn’t give up a run, keeping them off balance all night. When you work six innings while not giving up a run you have done your job.”
Chase Burnette went 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored to lead the Yellow Jacket offense on the night.
Jeff Rowland extended his career-long hitting streak to 13 games with a 2-for-5 performance at the plate. One of his hits cleared the outfield wall for the fifth time this year, bypassing his total of four home runs hit a season ago.
Joining Rowland with a career-long hitting streak was Tony Plagman, who recorded a hit in his 10th-straight game. The Yellow Jacket first baseman went 2-for-5 with a pair of singles and is now 7-for-11 with two home runs, three doubles and two singles on the weekend.
Chris House continued his offensive tear by going 2-for-3 with a home run and two runs scored on the night. The Tech left fielder has gone 7-for-12 (.583) in four games this week.
“House gave us a big lift by hitting the early home run in the game to give us the lead, and then Chase also gave us some big at-bats,” Hall added.
“It’s the story of our team – if you’re going to have a good team, you need different guys at different times to do things and it was nice to see those two guys have great nights.”
House belted a solo home run in the top of the third inning, and the Jackets added two more in the fifth when Burnette reached on a leadoff single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by House, advanced to third on a groundout by Rowland and scored on Derek Dietrich’s two-out, two-run homer.
“Dietrich’s home run was a blast,” Hall said. “Their guy had been getting us out with changeups, but he stayed back and hit through it to center, which gave us a really big lift.”
Luke Murton scored Tech’s fourth run of the game in the top of the sixth inning after he reached on a fielder’s choice, moved to second on a single by Thomas Nichols and scored on an RBI single by Burnette, which made the score 4-0 in Tech’s favor.
Rowland’s home run came in the seventh inning, and a run-scoring double by Murton pushed Tech’s lead to 6-0 before the Demon Deacons could get out of the frame. The Yellow Jacket right fielder then scored the Jackets’ seventh run of the game on an eighth-inning balk by Wake Forest reliever Mark Adzick. A run-scoring single by Jason Haniger made it 8-0 before the Demon Deacons could work out of the jam.
Wake Forest was held scoreless until the bottom of the ninth, when Weldon Woodall reached on an error and came around to score on a double by Evan Ocheltree.
Patrick Long struck out the side in a 1-2-3 seventh inning and faced the minimum through two innings. Jacob Esch worked the ninth inning, striking out one.
Phil Negus (2-3) struck out six and issued no walks in his seventh start of the season, but the Yellow Jackets knocked the Demon Deacon starter out of the game in the seventh inning after giving up six runs on 10 hits to the Tech offense.
The Jackets and Demon Deacons will conclude the weekend series Sunday at Gene Hooks Field at Wake Forest Baseball Park. The game is now scheduled to begin at 12 noon due to impending storms in the Winston-Salem area, but it will be carried on live on WREK Radio (91.1 FM in Atlanta/www.wrek.org) while live stats will be available at Ramblinwreck.com.
–Ramblinwreck.com.–
