March 14, 2008
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – With the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning, Ohmed Danesh hit a two-out single which plated two runs and gave No. 3 Florida State (14-1, 4-0 ACC) an 8-7 victory over No. 11 Georgia Tech (13-2, 3-1 ACC) Friday night in the series opener at Dick Howser Stadium.
After closer Chris Hicks forced the first two batters to ground out and strikeout, Tony Delmonico singled to right center to start the Seminole comeback. Dennis Guinn and Tommy Oravetz earned back-to-back walks to load the bases before Danesh sent his second hit of the game back up the middle and just out of reach of shortstop Derek Dietrich to plate Delmonico and Guinn.
Hicks (0-2) suffered his second loss of the season while Geoff Parker (1-0), making his first appearance in 2008, picked up the win by tossing two scoreless innings.
Guinn had a game-high three hits in the game, while Delmonico, Danesh and Jason Stidham added two apiece.
Brad Feltes led Tech with two RBI against Florida State.
The Seminoles jumped on the Jackets early, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning on a two-out, two-run double by Delmonico followed by an RBI single by Guinn. Florida State added another run in the third inning when Stidham hit a leadoff single, moved to second and third on a pair of walks issued to Buster Posey and Delmonico, and scored on a wild pitch by Tech starter David Duncan.
Meanwhile, Florida State’s starting pitcher Elih Villanueva held Georgia Tech’s offense off-balance through the first three innings, facing just two over the minimum while holding the Jackets hitless before Tony Plagman broke up the no-hitter with a two-out, opposite-field home run in the fourth.
Tech added two more runs in the top of the fifth to pull within one at 4-3. Patrick Long walked to lead off the inning and moved to third on a double by Chris House. Long scored on a sacrifice bunt by Jeff Rowland, which also allowed House to advance to third base. A sacrifice fly by Brad Feltes plated House for the second run of the inning.
The Jackets tied the game in the sixth when Thomas Nichols reached on a fielders choice and scored on a double off the wall by Jason Haniger.
Florida State regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth when Danesh reached on a leadoff, pinch-hit double and scored on Stuart Tapley’s second home run of the season, which pushed the score to 6-4.
Rowland reached on a one-out single in the seventh inning, stole second base and scored on an RBI single by Brad Feltes to pull the Jackets to within one run at 6-5, but Seminole reliever Trenton Jarvis forced Charlie Blackmon to ground into a double play to end the threat.
The Jackets were issued back-to-back walks to lead off the seventh inning, and both runners came around to score – one on a wild pitch, and the other on an RBI single by Long – to give Tech its first lead of the game at 7-6.
Michael Hutts and Andrew Robinson both made scoreless appearances on the mound for the Jackets. Hutts struck out the only batter than he faced while Robinson struck out two in an inning of work.
The Jackets and `Noles will continue the series Saturday with a 6 p.m. first pitch at Dick Howser Stadium. A live video broadcast of the game will be available on ACC Select (gatech.playonsports.tv) while fans can listen to the game on WREK Radio (91.1 FM/www.wrek.org). Live stats for all Georgia Tech baseball games can be found at Ramblinwreck.com.
–GT–
