April 26, 2010
Live Stats: RamblinWreck.com
Live Audio: WREK 91.1 FM
Twitter Updates: Twitter.com/gt_baseball
ATLANTA – No. 4 Georgia Tech (34-7, 16-5 ACC) will face in-state rival Georgia (12-28, 3-15 SEC) for the third time this season when the two teams meet in the eighth annual “Spring Baseball Classic for Kids” Tuesday at Turner Field. The game will be televised live on Sports South with first pitch set to begin at 7 p.m.
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS:
Tuesday, April 27 (7 p.m.) – Turner Field (Atlanta, Ga.)
Georgia Tech – Mark Pope, So., RHP (6-0, 3.99 ERA, 48 K’s)
Georgia – Blake Dieterich, Fr., LHP (0-2, 14.77 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. 4 Georgia Tech and Georgia will meet in the Children’sHealthcare of Atlanta “Spring Baseball Classic for Kid’s” for theeighth-straight year when the teams collide Tuesday … Last year’sgame drew a crowd of 24,665, the sixth highest attendance for aregular-season game in NCAA history, and the second highest in theseven years of the Spring Baseball Classic at Turner Field … No.4 Georgia Tech is 2-0 against Georgia this season, and will lookfor its first regular season sweep of the Bulldogs since 1994. TheJackets are ranked as high as No. 4 in two major polls this week(ESPN/USA Today Coaches and NCBWA).
Georgia returns 19 letterwinners from a 2009 team that went 38-24overall (15-15 SEC) and went 2-2 in the NCAA Tallahassee Regional… The Bulldogs were swept in their series against 10th-rankedSouth Carolina over the weekend … Georgia has played fourAtlantic Coast Conference opponents this season (Clemson, Duke,Florida State and Georgia Tech).
SERIES HISTORY
Georgia Tech and Georgia will continue their baseball rivalry Tuesday, meeting for the 350th time in history. The Bulldogs own a 196-151-2 edge in a series that dates to April 21, 1898 … The Yellow Jackets are searching for their first win in the fund-raising event (and at Turner Field) since 2004 … Georgia has won each of the last five games played at Turner Field, and is 6-1 overall on the annual event.
The Yellow Jackets are 34-27 against the Bulldogs since Danny Hall’s arrival in 1994.
Last Meeting:
Tony Plagman and Jeff Rowland each went 4-for-5 to lead 14 different players with a hit, while the Georgia Tech baseball team recorded its largest-ever victory over rival Georgia with a 25-6 win at Foley Field on April 14.
The 25 runs tied the most ever recorded by one team in the 112-year old rivalry. It was also the most earned runs and hits (25) allowed by Georgia in school history.
UP NEXT
Tech will continue ACC play with a three-game series at NC State over the weekend in Raleigh, N.C. Game times are 6:30 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
Saturday’s game will be televised live on Regional Sports Network (FS South, SunSports, Comcast Sports Net, New England Sports Network).
GEORGIA TECH vs. IN-STATE OPPONENTS
The state championships of college baseball in Georgia continue Tuesday, when Tech plays its 12th game against an in-state opponent this season.
Georgia Tech went 8-4 against teams from the state of Georgia in 2009 and has posted a 10-1 mark against in-state foes in 2010. The Jackets have won four against Georgia Southern, two against Mercer, two against Georgia, one against Georgia State, and one against Kennesaw State. Tech’s only loss came at Kennesaw State on March 31.
Tech has a total of 13 regular season games on the schedule against schools from Georgia this season.
Since 1999, the Yellow Jackets own a 108-34 (.761) record against its in-state foes. In 17 years under head coach Danny Hall, Tech is 152-51 (.749) against teams from Georgia.
QUICK NOTES
GT holds the best overall record in the ACC at 34-7 (.829), andranks in the top three in the conference in hitting (.338 BA, 3rd)and pitching (3.76 ERA, 3rd)
Tech’s starting pitchers are 26-5, and have combined for 237strikeouts in 245.0 innings. Deck McGuire leads the way with 76 strikeouts, the second mostin the conference.
McGuire ranks in the top five in the conference in four differentcategories: Innings pitched (73.2, 1st), strikeouts (76, 2nd),Opponent batting average (.215, 3rd) and complete games (2,1st).
Tech has three starting pitchers in the ACC with at least six wins(JedBradley, Brandon Cumpton, and Mark Pope). No other team in the conference has more than twopitchers with six wins.
The Tech bullpen is 8-2 on the year, and 7-for-7 in saveopportunities. Senior Andrew Robinson has made in 18 appearances out of the bullpen(24.0 innings) … He is 4-0 on the year and has recorded threesaves.
Sophomore Mark Pope is 6-0 as Tech’s midweek starter … He has struckout 48 batters and walked just five in seven starts.
The Jackets have scored double digit runs 19 times this season, andare third in the nation in scoring at 10.6 runs per game.
Tech has hit a conference-leading 90 home runs this season, anaverage of 2.2 per game. It is the third most homers in the nation.Eight different players have gone yard at least five times, andfour at least 12.
The Jackets ran a streak of 18 straight games with a home runbefore it was snapped on April 24. Senior Tony Plagman is second in the ACC with 15 round-trippers thisseason.
Plagman leads the conference in total bases (121) and RBI (56),while third in slugging percentage (.760).
Junior Derek Dietrich has started 161 consecutive games at shortstop,every game of his career.
Senior outfielder Jay Dantzler (day-to-day) has missed 23 games due to afractured wrist … Junior right-handed pitcher Kevin Jacob (Tech’s closer) has been out for over a month(March 13) with shoulder tendinitis.
A LITTLE ABOUT THE “SPRING BASEBALL CLASSIC FOR KIDS”
All tickets to the “Spring Baseball Classic for Kids.” are $12 with proceeds benefitting Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and its Brain and Spinal Cord Tumor Program. The game has raised more than $200,000 annually for the not-for-profit pediatric healthcare system. Since 2004, there have been more than 20,000 tickets sold annually for each game.
The Spring Baseball Classic for Kids competition is heating up on and off the field! Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta challenges all UGA and Georgia Tech fans to donate $5 to Children’s with a single text. The team with the most money donated will be announced during the Spring Classic game at Turner Field.
Text TECH to 90999 to show your school spirit and make adifference by donating $5 to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
The one-time donation will be added to your monthly wireless phonebill
You can also “text-to-give” online atwww.choa.org/springclassic
