Feb. 25, 2010
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ATLANTA – After two wins at Georgia Southern during midweek play, the No. 3 Georgia Tech (5-0) baseball team returns home this weekend to host Xavier (0-3) for a three-game series at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Friday’s 4 p.m. game will be the sixth all-time meeting between the two schools, but the first since the 1998 season. The Yellow Jackets hold a 5-0 advantage in the series, going 3-0 under head coach Danny Hall. The series continues Saturday at 3 p.m., before concluding with Sunday’s 1 p.m. start.
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
GAME 1 – Friday, Feb. 26 (4 p.m.) – Russ Chandler Stadium
Georgia Tech – Deck McGuire, RHP, Jr. (1-0)
Xavier – Nate Mutsch, RHP, So. (0-1)
GAME 2 – Saturday, Feb. 27 (3 p.m.) – Russ Chandler Stadium
Georgia Tech – Brandon Cumpton, RHP, Jr. (1-0)
Xavier – Tommy Shirley, LHP, Jr. (0-0)
GAME 3 – Sunday, Feb. 28 (1 p.m.) – Russ Chandler Stadium
Georgia Tech – Jed Bradley, LHP, So. (1-0)
Xavier – Jon Richard, LHP, Sr. (0-1)
Xavier, the 2009 Atlantic 10 Conference Champions, is the third-straight team Tech will face that won some form of a conference championship last season. The Musketeers come to Atlanta looking for their first win of the season after dropping three games to Tennessee last weekend.
Georgia Tech has opened the season on a tear in its first five games, outscoring opponents 55-8, while pitching three shutouts. The Jackets’ three shutouts in the first four games were the most through four played in school history.
Four of Tech’s five starting pitchers so far have picked up a win, and all five have combined to allow 24 hits, an average of just 4.8 per game. The entire staff has combined for a 1.60 ERA.
Offensively, Tech is batting .369, with a conference leading 10 home runs. Junior Chase Burnette has come out of the gate strong with 14 hits in his first 21 at-bats for a .667 average. Burnette has three doubles, two home runs and eight RBI, with a slugging percentage of 1.095. First baseman Tony Plagman has also shown his power early in the year. The preseason All-American is hitting .348 and has knocked out four home runs this season. He has 38 career homers, the 11th most in school history.
After junior Deck McGuire fanned 10 batters, allowing no runs and just five hits in the season-opening 4-0 win over Missouri State, sophomore Jed Bradley had a career-day just two games later when pitched a four-hit no-run outing, going six innings while striking out 12 of his own. Bradley earned ACC Pitcher of the Week honors for his performance.
Xavier is under the directions of fifth year head coach Scott Googins. In 2009, Googins led the program to its first ever A-10 crown, and first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The squad enters the series 0-3 after three tough losses at Tennessee last weekend by a combined score of 40-13. Junior Phil Bauer is leading the team in hitting with a .400 average, two doubles, a home run and one RBI.
