May 7, 2007
Jason Haniger recorded a career-high three hits and Patrick Long, Wally Crancer and Luke Murton drove in three runs apiece to lead No. 24 Georgia Tech (30-17) to a 15-7 win and series sweep of USF (28-21) Monday afternoon at Red McEwen Field on the campus of the University of South Florida.
Haniger went 3-for-4 with a double, walk, two RBI and three runs scored while Murton also added three hits, including a double, and drove in three runs for the Jackets.
Danny Payne, Long, Matt Wieters, Crancer and Jason Garofalo all collected two hits apiece in the series finale.
Yellow Jacket starter Ryan Turner (5-3) picked up his fifth win of the year and tied a career-high with six strikeouts Monday, while Chris Hicks and Michael Hutts both made scoreless relief appearances on the day.
The Yellow Jackets scored in double-figures for the third-consecutive game and totaled 37 runs in the series against the Bulls.
The Jackets jumped on the Bulls early, scoring four runs in the top of the first inning on a two-run home run by Patrick Long, his fifth of the season, and a two-run double by Jason Haniger, who earned the start behind the plate.
USF answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first to pull within two runs at 4-2. Back-to-back two-out RBI singles by Addison Maruszak and Ty Taborelli halved Tech’s lead, but starter Ryan Turner struck out Joey Angelberger to end the USF threat.
Taborelli’s two-run single with two outs in the third inning tied the game at 4-4 before Angelberger plated Taborelli with a double off the left field wall to give the Bulls a 5-4 lead after three innings.
The Jackets answered with five runs in the top of the fourth and four runs in the fifth to take a 13-5 lead in the game. RBI singles by Long and Luke Murton, as well as a two-run double by Matt Wieters and an RBI groundout by Wally Crancer, highlighted the Jackets’ fourth inning while Crancer and Luke Murton posted RBI singles in the fifth.
A passed ball by USF catcher Brad Karns allowed Haniger to score the Jackets’ 14th run in the sixth inning before an RBI double by Murton capped Tech’s scoring in the top of the ninth.
The Jackets tagged Chris Delaney (8-2) with just his second loss of the season, as the reliever gave up seven runs on eight hits in 3.1 innings of work.
The Jackets will return to Atlanta before continuing on to Athens to face the Georgia Bulldogs in the final game of the season series Wednesday at 7 p.m. The game can be found on CSS and heard on 790 the Zone, with Wes Durham and former Tech great Randy Carroll calling the action. Live stats can be round at www.ramblinwreck.com.
