April 7, 2003
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ATLANTA–Georgia Tech, ranked fifth in the nation’s by Collegiate Baseball, hosts a pair of in-state foes this week at Russ Chandler Stadium. The Yellow Jackets take on Georgia State on Tuesday at 7 p.m. and host Savannah State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Tuesday’s game will be televised by Comcast Sports Southeast (cable channel 45 in Atlanta), while live statistics for both games will be available on the internet at www.ramblinwreck.com.
Following the two contests at home this week, the Yellow Jackets visit Duke for a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series this weekend in Durham.
GEORGIA TECH UPDATE (24-6, 5-1 ACC)
Georgia Tech got back to its winning ways with three wins on four games last week, including taking two of three at North Carolina in an ACC series over the weekend. Tech’s 17-0 start to the season eclipsed the previous school record of a 16-0 start in 1987. The Yellow Jackets’ current 5-1 ACC record has them in first place in the league standings.
The Yellow Jackets have been on an offensive tear over the last 11 games, scoring 116 runs on 134 hits over that stretch (10.5 runs per game), and LF Matt Murton (.345-9-27) is batting .447-4-12 over that 11 game stretch.
Tech has belted 50 home runs this season (averaging 1.67 per game after hitting 0.97 per game in 2002). Other offensive leaders include C Mike Nickeas (.345-5-27), DH Micah Owings (.289-10-24), SS Tyler Greene (.333-7-27) and 1B Clifton Remole (.327-2-21).
The Georgia Tech pitching staff owns a 3.79 team ERA, incluing a 7-3 record, nine saves and a 3.51 ERA from the Tech bullpen. Opponents are batting .239 against Georgia Tech pitching this season.
GEORGIA STATE & SAVANNAH STATE UPDATE
Georgia State is currently 18-15 overall and 9-9 in the Atlantic Sun after winning two of three against Stateson over the weekend. The Panthers are batting .281 as a team and own a team ERA of 5.19, and Tuesday night’s starter is TBA.
Savannah State is 25-5 pending a three-game series at Grambling State last weekend. Wednesday’s starting pitcher is TBA.
SERIES NOTES vs. GEORGIA STATE – Tech leads, 41-5
Georgia Tech leads Georgia State, 41-5, in a series that dates to 1971. The Yellow Jackets hold a 25-1 edge in games played at Russ Chandler Stadium.
The Yellow Jackets have won 19 of the last 20 meetings between the two schools, with the Panthers’ lone win coming with a 4-3 decision in Panthersville during the 2000 season. Tech has scored at least 11 runs in each of the last five games against Georgia State.
Last year at Russ Chandler Stadium, Tech won 12-4 behind a home run and four RBI from Jeremy Slayden as the Yellow Jacket s scored nine runs in the fourth inning. Tech took an 11-7 decision in Panthersville, including a homer and 3 RBI fom Slayden, as the Yellow Jackets used eight pitchers in the game.
Georgia Tech is 18-1 against Georgia State under head coach Danny Hall.
vs. SAVANNAH STATE – First Meeting
Georgia Tech and Savannah State are meeting for the first time on Wednesday night.
STARTING PITCHER NOTES
Tuesday: CHRIS GOODMAN (RHP) 3-1, 4.89 ERA
Senior Chris Goodman will get the ball on Tuesday night against Georgia State. Goodman will be making his sixth start of the 2003 season and the 19th start of his Georgia Tech career.
Goodman is 3-1 with a 4.89 ERA this spring, earning no decision in each of his first two starts against Georgia Southern and Michigan before picking up his first win of the season in his third start against George Washington. He earned his second win with 5.1 innings of relief work against Maryland on Mar. 21, before returning to the starting last week agianst Winthrop where he allowed five runs (all in one inning) in eight innings to earn his third win of the season.
The 6-0 right hander ended the 2002 season as Tech’s No. 2 starter, and he posted an 8-2 record and a 4.41 ERA in 81.2 innings of work. For his career, Goodman is 11-3 with a 4.56 ERA in 120.1 innings, and he has allowed just 2.02 walks per nine innings.
A transfer from NC State following the 2000 season, Goodman made the successful conversion from shortstop to pitcher last season. Goodman pitched one inning of relief in the series at Georgia Southern last year, allowing two runs on three hits in his collegiate pitching debut.
Goodman spent the summer of 2002 with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod League, posting a 2.61 ERA in 20.2 innings of work.
Goodman Game-by-Game in 20032003 Opp. S/R W/L IP H R ER BB SO NP2/15 Ga. Southern S - 4.2 4 3 3 2 1 662/23 Michigan S - 5.0 5 1 1 0 6 673/1 G. Washington S W 5.1 5 1 1 4 3 833/8 Rutgers S - 5.0 5 5 3 1 2 633/16 Kent State R L 4.1 5 4 3 2 2 703/21 Maryland R W 5.1 7 2 2 0 0 503/29 Miami R - 1.0 5 4 4 2 0 364/2 Winthrop S W 8.0 5 5 4 0 7 107
Wednsday: JASON NEIGHBORGALL (RHP) 3-0, 2.96 ERA
Highly heralded freshman Jason Neighborgall will get the starting nod on Wednesday night against Savannah State. Neighborgall has spent the first three weeks of March as Tech’s No. 3 weekend starter before moving to a midweek starting role.
Neighborgall will be making his sixth start and ninth appearance in 2003 on Wednesday night. He made his collegiate debut and his first career start on Feb. 19 at Mercer where he worked three shutout innings in a designated staff day in Tech’s 9-1 win. Neighborgall improved to 2-0 with a five-inning effort against George Washington (Mar. 2) when he allowed just one run.
Neighborgall’s snapped a string of two subpar starts with a fine effort on Mar. 25 against Mecer (6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K). He has been rather impressive thus far this season, holding opponents to a .193 batting average and allowing just two extra base hits in 24.1 innings of work.
The hard-throwing right hander regularly throws in the mid to upper 90’s. Touted as one of the top high school pitchers in the country last season, Neighborgall was a seventh-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in 2002 but elected to enroll in Georgia Tech instead.
Neighborgall Game-by-Game in 20032003 Opp. S/R W/L IP H R ER BB SO NP2/19 Mercer S W 3.0 2 0 0 1 2 452/23 Armstrong Atl. R - 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 63/2 G. Washington S W 5.0 4 1 1 2 1 713/9 Rutgers S - 5.0 3 2 2 5 3 693/16 Kent State S - 3.0 2 1 1 5 5 743/22 Maryland R - 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 103/25 Mercer S W 6.0 4 1 1 2 5 823/29 Miami R - 0.1 1 3 3 1 0 20
OFFENSE HEATS UP IN LAST 11 GAMES
After hitting .277 as a team through the first 19 games of the season, Georgia Tech’s offense has finally started to produce at a level that was expected in the Yellow Jackets’ last 11 games against Maryland, Mercer, Miami, Winthrop and North Carolina.
The Yellow Jackets have hit .331 (134-for-405) in the last 11 games to raise their team batting average nearly 25 points. Tech is averaging 10.5 runs per game over the last 11 games, and the Yellow Jackets scored in 54 of their 93 innings at bat (58.1%).
The Yellow Jackets hit .330 in 2002, .347 in 2001 and .342 in 2000. In fact, Tech has never hit lower than .306 as a team since Danny Hall became the school’s head coach in 1994, and the Yellow Jackets have hit better than .320 as a team in seven of his nine years at the helm of the program.
VERSUS THE STATE OF GEORGIA
Georgia Tech is 5-0 against teams from the state of Georgia in 2003, and Tech posted a 13-1 mark against its in-state rivals during the 2002 season. Tech is 2-0 against Georgia Southern and Mercer, and 1-0 against Armstrong Atlantic State this year.
Since 1999, Georgia Tech owns a 47-8 (.855) record against its in-state foes. The Yellow Jackets are 89-25 (.781) against teams from Georgia in 10 years under head coach Danny Hall.
VERSUS NCAA REGIONAL FOES
Georgia Tech owns an 10-6 record this spring against teams that played in the 2002 NCAA Regionals. The Yellow Jackets are 3-0 against George Washington, 2-0 against Georgia Southern, 2-1 against Kent State and North Carolina, 1-1 against Auburn and 0-3 against Miami. Tech has 11 more games on the regular season schedule against postseason teams.
HOME RUNS COMING AT BLISTERING PACE
Georgia Tech has hit 50 home runs as a team in 30 games in 2003, averaging 1.67 home runs per game. Last season Tech hit 66 home runs in 68 games (0.97 home runs per game). The school record for home runs is 119, which was accomplished in 65 games during the 1987 season (1.83 per game).
Listed below are Tech’s home run totals since the NCAA adopted the current bat rules for the 1999 season.
GEORGIA TECH'S YEARLY HOME RUN TOTALSYear Games HR HR per game1999 58 65 1.122000 66 79 1.202001 61 74 1.212002 68 66 0.972003 30 50 1.67
HOME, SWEET HOME
Georgia Tech has had great success at home in the history of Russ Chandler Stadium, winning better than 80% of its home games since the facility first opened in 1985. The Yellow Jackets are 15-2 at home in 2003.
Tech has been especially formidable at Russ Chandler Stadium over the last two seasons since the facility was torn down and rebuilt at a cost of $9.7 million. The Yellow Jackets won their first 22 games in their new ballpark in 2002, and Tech is 51-6 (.895) in the new Russ Chandler Stadium.
