March 8, 2008
ATLANTA – Jay Dantzler, Brad Feltes and Jason Haniger all hit home runs to lead No. 19 Georgia Tech (11-1, 2-0 ACC) to a 6-4 win over Virginia Tech (7-5, 0-2 ACC) Saturday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Dantzler led Georgia Tech with two hits in the game. He also scored twice. Haniger and Derek Dietrich drove in two runs apiece.
Yellow Jacket starting pitcher Eddie Burns (2-0) yielded eight hits in 5.2 innings of work, but held the Hokies to just one run while striking out eight to pick up his second victory of the season.
A first inning home run by Ty Hohman staked Virginia Tech to an early 1-0 lead, but Haniger hit his second home run of the season, a two-run shot, in the second inning to give Georgia Tech a 2-1 edge.
The Jackets added two more runs in the third inning on a two-run single by Dietrich and extended their lead to 6-1 with solo home runs from Dantzler and Feltes in the bottom of the fifth.
The Hokies narrowed Georgia Tech’s lead to three in the seventh inning when Anthony Sosnoskie hit a two-run home run over the right field wall to make the score 6-3.
Virginia Tech threatened again in the top of the eighth inning when the first two batters reached base on walks, but Yellow Jacket reliever Brad Rulon struck out Matt Blow and Tony Balisteri before forcing Hohman to hit into a bases-loaded fielders choice to end the threat.
The Hokies picked up their final run in the top of the ninth when Sean O’Brien reached on a leadoff single, moved to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a groundout by Steve Bumbry, and scored on Jose Cueto’s two-out infield single. Yellow Jacket closer Chris Hicks then struck out Matt Hacker to earn his fourth save of the season.
O’Brien led the Hokies with three runs in the game, while Sosnoskie went 2-for-4 with two RBI.
Sean McDermott (1-2) took the loss after giving up all six Georgia Tech runs in five innings pitched. He held the Jackets to just seven hits and struck out five in the contest. Kyle Cichy, Justin Wright and Rhett Ballard combined to hold the Jackets hitless over the final three innings of the game.
Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech will wrap up the three-game series Sunday at 1 p.m. A live online video broadcast for the series finale can be found on ACC Select (gatech.playonsports.tv) while the game can also be heard on WREK Radio (91.1 FM in Atlanta/www.wrek.org). Live stats for all Georgia Tech baseball games are available at Ramblinwreck.com.
