March 9, 2009
Haniger Receives ACC Postgraduate Scholarship
Complete Release in PDF Format
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech (9-1), which moved to No. 6 in the latest Collegiate Baseball poll, continues its 10-game homestand when it hosts Mercer (5-6) and Kennesaw State (5-5) for midweek games this Tuesday and Wednesday. Mercer will travel from Macon Tuesday afternoon for a 4 p.m. game against the Yellow Jackets before Kennesaw State heads down I-75 for a 6 p.m. matchup Wednesday.
With a 3-0 sweep of Maryland last weekend, the Yellow Jackets extended their winning streak to six games and are looking for their second and third victories against in-state foes this week. (More info on instate matchups available on page three of the game notes).
Georgia Tech was a consensus preseason top-25 team that moved into the top-10 after a three-game sweep of Lipscomb on opening weekend. The Yellow Jackets have been ranked as high as No. 6 this season (this week by Collegiate Baseball) and currently appear among the top-15 in the NCBWA (10), USA Today (11) and Rivals.com (11) polls. Baseball America has the Jackets ranked No. 16 in their latest college baseball poll.
Pitching Matchup (Georgia Tech vs. Mercer/Kennesaw State)
Tuesday: LHP Jed Bradley (0-0, 0.00) vs. Mercer’s RHP John Hoelzer (2-0, 3.86)
Wednesday: RHP Kevin Jacob (1-0, 5.40) vs. Kennesaw State’s LHP Justin Edwards (1-1, 4.97)
Senior C Jason Haniger (.400-2-10-1) is pacing the Yellow Jacket offense early in the season, while junior 1B Tony Plagman (.381-3-11-3) and freshman 3B Matt Skole (.333-3-11-2) are tops among the team in HR and RBI. The Jackets are batting .323 as a team, while all seven players that average more than 2.5 AB per game hitting above .300 in 2009.
Game Coverage: There will be a live video broadcast of both games this week available on ACC Select (www.accselect.com) for a small fee. The live broadcast includes mutliple camera angles and replays available for all of those that purchase the games online. The two games can also be heard on WREK Radio (91.1 FM in Atlanta/www.wrek.org), and live stats for all Georgia Tech baseball games can be found at Ramblinwreck.com.
Tech vs. Mercer/Kennesaw State (Tech leads Mercer, 100-48; Tech leads KSU, 7-2)
The Yellow Jackets will be searching for win No. 101 against the Bears when they come to town Tuesday and hold a 100-48 lead in the series. Tech and Mercer will be meeting for just the third time since the 2003 season and have a 13-game winning streak (dating back to the 1994 season) on the line.
The Jackets are 58-21 against the Bears at home, and hold an 18-3 edge in the series since Danny Hall’s arrival in 1994.
Tech and Kennesaw State will be meeting for just the 10th time in history Wednesday, with the Yellow Jackets winning seven of the previous nine meetings. All but two of the games have occurred since head coach Danny Hall’s arrival in 1994, and the Tech skipper is 6-1 all-time against the Owls.
Tech is 6-1 against the Owls at home, with the lone loss coming in 1989. The Jackets have won all five home games against Kennesaw State since that loss.
Georgia Tech vs. In-State Opponents
Georgia Tech went 11-3 against teams from the state of Georgia in 2008 and has started the season with a 1-1 record against instate foes in 2009. The Jackets have a total of 14 regular season games on the schedule against schools from Georgia this season.
Since 1999, the Yellow Jackets own a 90-30 (.750) record against its in-state foes. In 16 years under head coach Danny Hall, Tech is 134-47 (.740) against teams from Georgia.
