March 10, 2007
ATLANTA – Home runs by Matt Wieters and Luke Murton highlighted an eight-run sixth inning to help No. 21 Georgia Tech (9-7, 1-1 ACC) to a 19-4 victory over Virginia Tech (9-6, 1-1 ACC) Saturday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Georgia Tech scored the eight runs in the sixth on a pair of home runs, a sacrifice fly, and a pair of bases-loaded walks to earn their first conference victory of the season.
Wieters finished with a season-high four hits and six RBI while belting his fourth and fifth home runs of the season. Curtis Dupart added three hits, three runs and three RBI in his second start of the weekend, while Danny Payne reached base four times, three of which came on walks.
Jared Hyatt (2-0) earned his second win in relief by holding the Hokies scoreless over the last five innings, giving up just three hits while striking out four.
The Yellow Jackets took a 1-0 lead in the first inning after Payne led off with a walk and came around to score on a double by Wieters, but the Hokies tied the game in the second when Jose Cueto hit his third home run of the season off the left field foul pole.
Dupart gave the Jackets the 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second when he pulled the first pitch he saw off Hokie starter Andrew Wells over the left field wall for the first home run of his career.
Virginia Tech tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth after Sean O’Brien led off the frame with a single and advanced to third on a fielding error by the right fielder Dupart before scoring on a groundout by Warren Schaeffer.
A single by Bryan Thomas off Hyatt drove in two runs in the fifth inning to give the Hokies their first lead, 4-2, after a Nate Parks double and single by Adam Redd chased Georgia Tech starter John Goodman from the game.
Goodman allowed four runs on seven hits while striking out four in his first start in nearly 10 months, but did not figure into the decision.
A solo home run by Brad Feltes and a two-run shot by Wieters helped the Jackets to a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. With one out, Feltes pulled his second home run of the season over the left field wall to pull the Jackets to within one run at 4-3. Payne then legged out a single to the third baseman before Wieters sent his fourth home run of the year over the left field wall to give Tech the one-run lead.
With one out in the sixth inning, Dupart was hit by a pitch, Patrick Long singled, and pinch hitter Tony Plagman walked to load the bases. Feltes then walked on a full count and Payne was issued a walk for the third time in the contest to push the score to 7-4 in favor of the Jackets. After a sacrifice fly by Michael Fisher plated Jay Dantzler, who was pinch running for Plagman, Wieters sent his second home run of the game, and fifth of the year, over the left field wall to make the score 11-4. Wally Crancer then reached base when he was hit by a pitch before Luke Murton smacked his fourth home run of the season to push the Jackets to a 13-4 lead.
Three-straight doubles by Murton, Dupart, and pinch-hitter Jeff Ussery extended the Yellow Jackets’ lead to 14 runs in the bottom of the eighth inning before a pinch-hit double by Jason Garofalo capped the Jackets’ scoring at 19 runs.
Wells (1-1) took the loss for the Hokies, giving up five runs on six hits while striking out three in five innings of work.
First pitch of the rubber game of the three-game series will be Sunday at 1 p.m. Live online video will be available on ACC Select (gatech.playonsports.tv) while the game can also be heard on WREK-Radio (91.1 FM/www.wrek.org). Live stats for all Georgia Tech games can be found at www.ramblinwreck.com.
