March 21, 2008
ATLANTA – Andrew Robinson scattered two hits over the final four innings to help No. 17 Georgia Tech (16-4, 4-3 ACC) hold off Duke (18-4, 3-4 ACC), 5-4, Friday night at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Robinson, who made his seventh scoreless appearance of the season, faced just two batters over the minimum and recorded three strikeouts while walking none to earn his first career save. Starter David Duncan (3-0) retired the first six batters he faced and picked up his third win of the season, giving up four runs on five hits to the Blue Devils.
Jeff Rowland, Charlie Blackmon and Derek Dietrich each had two hits for the Yellow Jackets, while Tim Sherlock led Duke’s offense with a 2-for-4 performance at the plate and Matt Williams has two RBI.
Three costly errors by Duke helped Georgia Tech to a four-run third inning to take a 5-2 lead. Jeff Rowland earned a one-out walk and moved to third on an error by second baseman Gabriel Saade. Blackmon singled home the first run, and Dietrich single home another to put the Jackets in front. After Brad Feltes grounded out, Blackmon and Dietrich came around to score on consecutive ground-ball errors by Saade and Ryan McCurdy.
Duke closed the gap to 5-4 with a pair of two-out runs in its half of the fifth. Saade and Williams each drew walks from Duncan, and came around to score on back-to-back singles from Alex Hassan and Jeremy Gould.
But the Blue Devils did not threaten again until the ninth when Sherlock singled with two outs, and pinch-runner John Bunder took second on a wild pitch. Robinson fanned Saade to end the game.
Rowland led off the game with a triple and scored on Thomas Nichols’ sacrifice fly to put Tech ahead in the bottom of the first inning, but a two-run double by Williams gave Duke a 2-1 edge in the top of the third.
Tech and Duke will continue the series Saturday at 2 p.m. Junior RHP Eddie Burns (2-1, 2.38) will take the mound for the Jackets while the Blue Devils will counter with RHP Will Currier (2-2, 4.95). A live video broadcast of the game will be available on ACC Select (gatech.playonsports.tv), and WREK Radio (91.1 FM/www.wrek.org) will air the game in Atlanta. Live stats for all Georgia Tech baseball games are available at Ramblinwreck.com.
