AUBURN, Ala. – Hayden Gliemmo, Levale Speigner and Brandon Luna combined to pitch a four-hit shutout to lead seventh-ranked Auburn (15-1) to a 4-0 victory over top-ranked Georgia Tech (12-3) before 3,428 on Tuesday night at Plainsman Park.
Speigner (4-0) picked up the win in relief after tossing 4.2 scoreless innings. The right hander limited the Yellow Jackets to three hits and one walk while striking out six batters. Gliemmo started for the Tigers and pitched 2.1 shutout innings before being removed after his scheduled 40 pitches. Luna closed out the game with two scoreless innings to earn his second save of the season.
Tech starter Philip Perry (1-1) was the tough luck loser after falling victim to no run support. The sophomore held Auburn to three runs on six hits and one walk in seven innings of work while striking out five batters.
The Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning, helped largely by two Tech errors and three wild pitches. Jonathan Schuerholz led off the frame with a bloop single to right field and then advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt. An RBI single from Jason Moran drove in Schuerholz, and Moran advanced to second base when Tech center fielder Wes Rynders overran the ball. Moran stole third base and came around to score on a wild pitch for the second run of the inning.
A solo home run from Scott Schade, the first of his career, made the score 3-0 in the seventh inning. The Tigers added another insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when Jason Moran led off the inning with an infield single, stole second base, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly from Brett Burnham.
Tech had a chance to score first after loading the bases with no outs in the top of the third inning. But Victor Menocal popped up to short right field before Speigner induced a double play from Richard Lewis to end the threat.
The Yellow Jackets had two men on base with one out in the fifth inning and two on with two outs in the seventh inning, but failed to score in both frames. In all, Tech stranded eight runners on the bases. The Yellow Jackets were shut out for the first time since suffering a 6-0 defeat at Florida State on April 22, 2000.
Georgia Tech will return to Russ Chandler Stadium to open a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series against NC State this weekend. The series begins on Friday at 4 p.m. and continues on Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. each day.
