March 15, 2011
ATLANTA – Behind strong pitching from Matthew Grimes and Luke Bard, the 21st-ranked Georgia Tech baseball team defeated Georgia Southern, 4-3, in midweek action on Tuesday at Russ Chandler Stadium.
The Yellow Jackets (13-4) extended their winning streak to eight games, and will conclude a four-game midweek series with the Eagles (11-6) on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
“Tonight was a tough ballgame,” head coach Danny Hall said. We hung in there and played well and played good defense. That is what it is going to take.
“I just think that a lot of the games are going to be tight and you are going to have to play well to win them. We are rolling along and we just need to keep going trying to get better.”
Grimes (3-1) scattered two Georgia Southern runs on four hits over six innings en route to his third win of the season. After allowing both runs on RBI singles in each of the first two innings, the 6-6 right-hander put the clamps down, holding Georgia Southern hitless over the next four frames.
“In the first two innings I was just trying to throw it as hard as I could,” Grimes said. “In the third inning I realized that wasn’t going to win ball-games, and I just settled down and threw strikes.”
Grimes retired 11 straight batters before giving way to sophomore Luke Bard to start the seventh inning. Bard allowed one run on two hits in the final three innings for the save.
Junior Jacob Esch was 3-for-4 with a run scored to lead the Jackets.
Esch’s second hit of the game started a rally in the third inning with his side down by a 2-1 score. The St. Paul, Minn. native stole second base with one out to put himself in scoring position with freshman Daniel Palka at the plate.
Palka then tied the game with a double to left centerfield before sophomore outfielder Brandon Thomas laced a triple to right field on the next at-bat for a 3-2 lead.
The Jackets added another run an inning later on a two-out fielding error by Georgia Southern shortstop Ben Morgan that scored freshman DeAndre Smelter from third.
The Eagles made a late run at a comeback, pulling within on in the eighth frame on a solo home run to right field by Victor Roache. Georgia Southern then put two runners in scoring position with two outs in the ninth, but Bard struck out Michael Burruss to preserve the win.
