May 18, 2011
ATLANTA – The eighth-ranked Georgia Tech baseball team will conclude the 2011 regular season with a three-game series at Virginia Tech, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in Blacksburg, Va. The series continues at 5:30 p.m. Friday and rounds out with a 2 p.m. first pitch on Saturday at English Field.
Pitching Matchup (Georgia Tech vs. Virginia Tech)
Thursday: RHP Mark Pope (10-3, 1.46, 98.1 IP, 78 SO) vs. LHP Joe Mantiply (5-7, 4.38, 78.0 IP, 60 SO)
Friday: LHP Jed Bradley (6-2, 3.10, 81.1 IP, 88 SO) vs. RHP Marc Zecchino (5-5, 4.60, 76.1 IP, 90 SO)
Saturday: RHP Buck Farmer (9-2, 2.81, 86.1 IP, 82 SO) vs. RHP Joe Parsons (7-2, 2.76, 71.2 IP, 49 SO)
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.
SERIES PREVIEW
Georgia Tech (37-16) enters the finale weekend of the regularseason ranked as high as No. 8 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaperand Perfect Game USA top-25 polls. The Jackets are also ranked inthe Baseball America (12), USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ (14), andNational Collegiate Baseball Writer’s Association (15) polls. TheJackets are coming off an 8-6 midweek loss to East Tennessee StateTuesday … Prior to Tuesday, Tech grabbed a huge series win overNo. 9 North Carolina on the weekend, and have won six of their lastseven since dropping an ACC road series at Clemson April 29-May 1… GT has won 11 of its 13 weekend series this season … TheJackets remain second place in the ACC Coastal Division, two gamesbehind division leader Virginia. Thursday’s game will mark the 26thall-time meeting between the two school’s … Tech is 16-9 againstthe Hokies. Virginia Tech (29-23) returns 14 letterwinners and fourstarters (three position players) from a 2010 team that went 40-22overall and finished fourth in the ACC Coastal Division. The Hokieslost two of three to Clemson last weekend before their midweek gamewith VMI was cancelled due to inclement weather on Tuesday …Virginia Tech won nine of their previous 11 games prior to theseries loss to the tigers.
SERIES HISTORY
Georgia Tech holds a 16-9 all-time advantage in the series against Virginia Tech … The Jackets are 4-2 in games played at English Field … Head coach Danny Hall is 15-7 against VT since arriving on the Flats in 1994 … The Hokies won three of the four games played in 2010. Last Meeting: Virginia Tech’s Justin Wright recorded a career-high 15 strikeouts in a complete-game performance to lead the 18th-ranked Hokies to a 6-2 victory over No. 6 Georgia Tech on May 28 at the 2010 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships at NewBridge Bank Park. Wright scattered two Georgia Tech runs on four hits, and improved to 8-4 on the year after tossing his second career nine-inning complete game.
QUICK HITS
Georgia Tech currently ranks second in the Atlantic CoastConference in batting (.310) while holding the second lowest ERA at2.77 … Tech’s 579 hits are the eighth-most in the nation … Thepitching staff’s 8.9 strikeouts per nine innings are the fifth bestin the land, while the team’s ERA is 11th and hits allowed per nineinnings (7.6) are 9th. The Jackets are outscoring opponents 355-200this season, and are averaging 10.9 hits and 6.7 runs per game.Tech has recorded multiple hits in 34 of the 53 games on theseason, and in six of the last eight contests. Freshmancenterfielder Kyle Wren leads the ACC in hits (83) while second in battingaverage (.374) and runs scored (51) … Wren has 26 multi-hit gamesthis season, and has reached base safely in 49 of the 53 games …His 83 hits ranked 13th in the nation. Tech’s three weekendpitchers – Mark Pope, Jed Bradley and Buck Farmer – have combined for a 25-7 record and a 2.40 ERA… Pope holds at least a share of the lead in four differentcategories, including wins (10) and innings pitched (98.1) … His1.46 ERA is the fourth lowest in the conference. Farmer has allowedjust four runs and 14 hits in his last three starts (23 IP), andhas lasted eight innings in two of them (Went seven innings in theother). Georgia Tech has won 13 of its last 15 weekend series,including 10 of 12 this season … The team has swept five of them.The Jackets won 16 straight games from March 4 to March 29, theirlongest streak since the 2006 season. Seventeen of Georgia Tech’s34 players on the roster are freshmen … All 17 have played thisseason while 10 have made at least one start.
YELLOW JACKETS IN THE RPI
Georgia Tech is currently ranked No. 8 in the latest NCAA RPIrankings (as of May 17)… The Jackets up to No. 8 in the latestPseudo-RPI (source: BoydsWorld.com). The Atlantic Coast Conferenceis well represented in the RPI, with six teams ranked among the top25 in the nation. Virginia, ranked No. 2 in the country in the RPI,leads all conference teams while North Carolina (3), Florida State(4), Georgia Tech (8), Clemson (9) and Miami (18) all rank in thetop 25.
HALL NABS CONFERENCE WIN NO. 300
Head Coach Danny Hall joined elite company on Sunday when Georgia Tech defeated North Carolina on Sunday, May 15th. The Yellow Jackets skipper recorded his 300th career Atlantic Coast Conference victory, becoming just the fourth coach in conference history to reach the 300 conference wins plateau. He joined Bill Wilhelm of Clemson, the all-time leader at 378, Florida State’s Mike Martin (360), and Clemson’s Jack Leggett (302). Hall, who has never had a losing season in ACC play, has already extended his streak of 15-win seasons to nine.
FARMER EARNS WEEKLY ACC HONORS
Sophomore Buck Farmer was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Co-Pitcher of the Week after winning a pair of starts over Illinois-Chicago and ninth-ranked North Carolina, the conference office announced Monday. Farmer shares the honor with Virginia’s Tyler Wilson.
Farmer won both of his starts over Illinois-Chicago and No. 9 North Carolina, allowing just one run (0.60 ERA) in 15 innings pitched on the week. Farmer yielded the one run over seven innings in a victory over the Flames on Monday, before scattering just four hits over eight shutout innings to lead the Jackets to a huge series victory in a 3-0 win over the Tar Heels on Sunday.
BLANKING THE OPPOSITION
The Tech pitching staff has combined for seven shutouts in 2011, and is one clean sheet shy of tying the school record of eight – Held by the 1906, 1971 and 1997 teams. The Jackets have blanked St. John’s (twice), Rutgers, Maryland, NC State, Boston College and North Carolina. Tech’s 3-0 win against the Tar Heels on Sunday was the first time all season that UNC had been held without a run.
