April 8, 2010
Live Stats: RamblinWreck.com
Live Audio: WREK 91.1 FM
Twitter Updates: twitter.com/gt_baseball
ATLANTA – Having swept three of its first four Atlantic Coast Conference opponents, the second-ranked Georgia Tech baseball team (26-3, 11-1 ACC) will hit the road this weekend when it travels to No. 4 Virginia (25-6, 8-4 ACC) for three games in Charlottesville, Va. The series begins at 7 p.m. Friday at Davenport Field.
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS:
Friday, April 9 (7 p.m.) – Davenport Stadium
Georgia Tech – Deck McGuire, Jr., RHP (5-1, 1.53 ERA, 54 K’s)
Virginia – Danny Hultzen, So., LHP (4-1, 1.57 ERA, 55 K’s)
Saturday, April 10 (4 p.m.) – Davenport Stadium
Georgia Tech – Brandon Cumpton, Jr.., RHP (5-0, 5.03 ERA, 25 K’s)
Virginia – Robert Morey, Jr., RHP (4-1, 3.43 ERA, 34 K’s)
Sunday, April 11 (12 p.m.) – Davenport Stadium
Georgia Tech – Jed Bradley, So., LHP (4-1, 3.46 ERA, 50 K’s)
Virginia – Cody Winiarski, Jr., RHP (3-0, 5.18 ERA, 21 K’s)
BROADCAST INFORMATION
The GT radio broadcast can be heard over the air on WREK (91.1), the flagship station of Georgia Tech baseball, and online at RamblinWreck.com. The games can also be heard online, free of charge at www.ramblinwreck.com.
Be sure to tune into the pre-game show 15 minutes before every game as play-by-play commentator Kyle Tait will preview the matchup.
SERIES PREVIEW
No. 2 Georgia Tech (26-3, 11-1 ACC) has won 12 of its last 13games, and four straight after defeating Kennesaw State at home inmidweek action Tuesday … The two will meet for thesecond-straight year in which both sides were ranked in the top-15nationally. Then-No. 8 Georgia Tech and No. 11 Virginia squared offat Russ Chandler in 2009 … The Cavaliers (25-6, 8-4 ACC) arethird in the ACC Coastal Division standings, and were picked ashigh as No. 2 in two preseason polls and No. 1 in the ACC Coaches’poll … Friday’s pitching matchup will feature two of the toppitchers in the conference, as Tech’s Deck McGuire (1.53 ERA) and UVA’s Danny Hultzen (1.57 ERA) takethe mound … Entering the week, both teams were tied for theconference lead in batting average at .344. The Jackets arecurrently in sole possession of first place in the ACC CoastalDivision with an 11-1 record in conference play … Tech has sweptthree of its four conference series, and two in a row … TheJackets are ranked as high as No. 2 in three different polls thisweek (ESPN/USA Today Coaches’, Baseball America and NCBWA)
Virginia returns 26 letterwinners and nine position players(virtually its entire offense) from a 2009 team that went 49-15-1overall (16-11-1 ACC), won the ACC and made a trip the CollegeWorld Series … UVA lost two out of three at NC State lastweekend, but rebounded with midweek wins over James Madison (9-4)and Radford (12-2).
SERIES HISTORY
Georgia Tech holds a 63-38-2 advantage in the all-time series against Virginia … The Yellow Jackets are 30-19-1 against the Cavaliers since Danny Hall’s arrival in 1994.
Last Meeting:
The two teams split wins in 2009 at Russ Chandler Stadium, before ending the series finale in a 4-4 tie due to travel restrictions … Tech won the first game by a 7-6 score, before Virginia evened the series with an 11-10 win the game two.
UP NEXT
Tech will head to Athens to face in-state rival Georgia on Wednesday, April 14, in a televised game on CSS at 6:30 p.m.
QUICK NOTES
GT holds the best record in the conference at 26-3, and leadsthe ACC in pitching with a 3.15 ERA, while tied for the lead inhitting with a .343 average.
Tech’s starting pitchers are 20-2, and have combined for 183strikeouts in 185.0 innings. Deck McGuire leads the way with 54 strikeouts, are the secondmost in the conference.
McGuire ranks in the top five in the conference in four differentcategories: wins (5, T-1st), Innings pitched (53.0, 1st),strikeouts (54, 2nd) and complete games (2, 1st)
Tech is the only team in the ACC that has two pitchers with fivewins (McGuire and Brandon Cumpton).
The Tech bullpen is 6-1 on the year, and 4-for-4 in saveopportunities.
Senior Andrew Robinson has allowed just two runs (one earned) in 13appearances out of the bullpen … He is 3-0 on the year and hasrecorded one save in 18.0 innings.
Sophomore Mark Pope is 4-0 as Tech’s midweek starter … He has struckout 40 batters and walked just two hitters in five starts.
The Jackets have recorded five shutouts on the year, three shy oftrying the school record of eight – held by the 1906, 1971 and 1997teams. The five shutouts lead the conference.
The Jackets have scored double digit runs 15 times this season, andin nine of their last 13 games.
Tech has hit 65 home runs this season, an average of 2.2 per game.Seven different players have hit at least five homers, and threehave hit 10.
The Jackets have homered in eight straight games. SophomoreMatt Skole has gone yard in three-consecutive games, whilejunior Chase Burnette has hit four home runs in Tech’s last four gamescombined.
Junior Derek Dietrich has started 149 consecutive games at shortstop,every game of his career.
