March 3, 2005
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ATLANTA–Georgia Tech (8-2), ranked as high as No. 13 in the Collegiate Baseball poll, opens Atlantic Coast Conference play in a three-game weekend series at Duke (6-8). The series begins on Friday at 3 p.m., and continues on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Yellow Jackets are coming off a 9-1 win over Georgia Southern on Tuesday in Atlanta, and Tech has won eight of nine games since dropping the season opener. For the year, Tech is batting .313 as a team, averaging nearly 10 runs per game while posting a .443 on base percentage. Since scoring two runs on four hits in the season opener, the Yellow Jackets have scored at least nine runs in each of the last nine games.
Third basebam Wes Hodges (.474AVG/.533OBP/1.053SLG, 6HR, 12RBI) has paced the Tech offense, leading the club in batting, slugging, on base percentage, home runs and hits. Hodges went 8-for-12 with three home runs in two games against Rutgers last weekend.
The rest of the Tech lineup features catchers Andy Hawranick (.250/.385/.250, 0, 5) and Matt Wieters (.226/.429/.258, 0, 4), first baseman Whit Robbins (.219/.468/.344, 0, 4), second baseman Mike Trapani (.206/.372/.294, 1, 6), shortstop Tyler Greene (.387/.513/.645, 0, 7), left fielder Steven Blackwood (.333/.444/.485, 1, 19), center fielder Danny Payne (.375/.519/.550, 1, 9), and right fielder Jeremy Slayden (.302/.392/.512, 2, 11).
Tech will send junior RHP Jason Neighborgall (2-0, 3.18) to the mound in game one, and sophomore LHP Lee Hyde (1-0, 8.10) will start game two on Saturday. Sunday’s starter is TBA.
Following the weekend series, Tech will return to Atlanta to host William & Mary on Tuesday and Georgia Southern on Wednesday.
GAME COVERAGE: Live statistics will be available on the internet at www.ramblinwreck.com.
GEORGIA TECH – DUKE SERIES HISTORY
Georgia Tech leads Duke, 67-22, in a series that dates to 1903. The Yellow Jackets are 23-8 in games played in Durham. Tech swept a three-game series in Atlanta last year, winning by scores of 9-8, 9-8 and 14-3. The Yellow Jackets have won 13 straight games over the Blue Devils dating to 2001. Tech is 32-7 against Duke under head coach Danny Hall, including a 14-1 mark in games played in Durham.
HALL REACHES COACHING MILESTONES
Georgia Tech head coach Danny Hall reached 700 wins for his career in Tech’s 9-1 win over Georgia Southern on Mar. 1. Now in his 18th season as a head coach at Georgia Tech and Kent State, Hall owns a career record of 700-330 (.680).
Hall needs eight wins to reach 500 in his career at Georgia Tech, and with 13 wins he will become the school’s all-time leader in career victories. Hall, who has a 492-213 (.698) record in 12 years at Tech, already ranks as the school’s winningest coach by percentage.
