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No. 8 Jackets Open ACC Tournament With No. 18 Clemson

May 24, 2011

Game Notes

ATLANTA – Georgia Tech (39-17, 22-8 ACC), ranked as high as No. 6 in the nation, enters the 2011 ACC Baseball Championships as the No. 3 seed and will begin tournament play Wednesday at 11 a.m. when it meets sixth-seeded Clemson (39-17, 17-13 ACC) at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C.

The Yellow Jackets will then face No. 7 seed NC State (33-23, 15-15 ACC) on Thursday at 7 p.m., before closing out bracket play with No. 2 seed Florida State (40-15, 19-11 ACC) at 3 p.m. on Friday.

The championship is split into two brackets, with each team playing the other three teams on their side of the bracket through the first four days of the tournament. The winners of the two brackets will meet Sunday at 1 p.m. for the Atlantic Coast Conference title.

Yellow Jackets’ 2010 ACC Baseball Championship Schedule
Thursday, 8 p.m. – No. 3 Georgia Tech vs. No. 6 Virginia Tech
Friday, 8 p.m. – No. 3 Georgia Tech vs. No. 7 NC State
Saturday, 4 p.m. – No. 3 Georgia Tech vs. No. 2 Clemson
Sunday, 1 p.m. – Championship Game

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS:
Wednesday, May 25 (11 a.m.)
Georgia Tech – RHP Mark Pope (11-3, 1.54, 105.1 IP, 85 SO)
Clemson – RHP Dominic Leone (5-2, 3.67, 56.1 IP, 63 SO)
Overall Series: CU leads 100-102-3
2011 Series: CU won 2-1 (2-4, 5-1, 1-3)

Thursday, May 26 (7 p.m.)
Georgia Tech – LHP Jed Bradley (6-3, 3.71, 85.0 IP, 94 SO)
NC State – RHP Rob Chamra (2-3, 5.10, 30.0 IP, 33 SO)
Overall Series: GT leads 69-46
2011 Series: GT won 3-0 (9-2, 12-0, 11-4)

Friday, May 27 (3 p.m.)
Georgia Tech – RHP Buck Farmer (10-2, 2.89, 93.1 IP, 89 SO)
Florida State – RHP Mike McGee (8-2, 4.03, 60.1 IP, 38 SO)
Overall Series: FSU leads 63-40
2011 Series: Did not meet

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. All 13 games of the tournament will be broadcast on the ACC’s Regional Sports Networks (RSN).

SERIES PREVIEW

Georgia Tech (39-17) enters the 2011 ACC Championships rankedas high as No. 6 in the Perfect Game USA top-25 polls. The Jacketsare also ranked in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper (8), BaseballAmerica (11), USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ (15) and National CollegiateBaseball Writer’s Association (17) polls. The Jackets have woneight of their last 11 games, including its last three weekendseries. The Jackets own a 67-50 all-time record at the ACCChampionships, having won seven tournament titles. Tech won ACCtournament titles in 1985-’88, 2000, 2003 and 2005, while advancingto the Championship game in 1984, 1991 and 2004. Only Clemson (9)has won more tournament titles than the Jackets.

QUICK HITS

Georgia Tech finished the 2011 regular season as Co-Championsin the ACC Coastal Division with Virginia … The Jackets lost thetie-breaker with the Cavaliers after Virginia won two of threeearlier this season … Tech’s 22 conference wins tie for the mostin school history with the 2005 squad. Georgia Tech currently rankssecond in the Atlantic Coast Conference in batting (.308) whileholding the second lowest ERA at 2.86 … Tech’s 579 hits are theeighth-most in the nation … The pitching staff’s 8.9 strikeoutsper nine innings are the fifth best in the land, while the team’sERA is 11th and hits allowed per nine innings (7.6) are 9th. TheJackets are outscoring opponents 376-214 this season, and areaveraging 10.9 hits and 6.7 runs per game. Freshman centerfielderKyle Wren leads the ACC in hits (87) while second in battingaverage (.370) and runs scored (54) … Wren has 27 multi-hit gamesthis season, and has reached base safely in 51 of the 56 games …His 83 hits ranked 13th in the nation. Tech’s three weekendpitchers – Mark Pope, Jed Bradley and Buck Farmer – have combined for a 27-8 record and a 2.60 ERA… Pope holds leads the ACC in four different categories,including wins (11) and innings pitched (105.1) … His 1.46 ERA isthe fourth lowest in the conference. Farmer has allowed just sevenruns and 22 hits in his last four starts (30 IP), and has lastedeight innings in two of them (Went seven innings in the other two).Georgia Tech has won 14 of its last 16 weekend series, including 11of 13 this season … The team has swept five of them. The Jacketswon 16 straight games from March 4 to March 29, their longeststreak since the 2006 season. Seventeen of Georgia Tech’s 34players 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 are also 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.

JACKETS EARN SHARE OF COASTAL DIVISION TITLE
On Saturday May 15, Georgia Tech showed why you have to play all 27 outs, rallying for five ninth-inning runs to top North Carolina for an improbable 9-8 win.

Last Sunday, they showed why you play every game on your schedule.

The Yellow Jackets topped Virginia Tech, 5-3 at English Field, to take the series from the Hokies. A few minutes later, the Jackets found that they had earned a share of the top spot in the ACC Coastal Division, as North Carolina edged Virginia, 3-2 at Boshamer Stadium. The win, grouped with Virginia’s loss gave Tech and the Cavaliers identical 22-8 records in conference play, and a share of the regular season title.

22 CONFERENCE VICTORIES TIE SCHOOL RECORD
Tech’s 22 conference wins during the 2011 season tied a school-record, previously set by the 2005 team. Head coach Danny Hall tied the record with the youngest team in his 18 seasons on the Flats, a group consisting of 17 freshmen. The 2005 squad, which won Tech’s last ACC Championship, had just nine freshmen on its roster.

TECH LANDS SIX ON ALL CONFERENCE TEAMS Six Georgia Tech players were named to the 2011 All-Atlantic Coast Conference baseball team, as voted on by the 12 league coaches and announced Monday by Commissioner John Swofford. Junior Mark Pope and freshman Kyle Wren landed a spot on the first team, while juniors Jake Davies, Matt Skole, Jed Bradley and sophomore Buck Farmer were named to the All-ACC second team. Bradley and Skole were each honored for the second time in their careers.

Tech has had four or more players selected to All-ACC teams 16 times in head coach Danny Hall’s 18-year tenure on the Flats.

SKOLE HAVING CAREER SEASON AT THE PLATE Junior third baseman Matt Skole has become a household name in the ACC after starting nearly every game the past three seasons. Skole slugged his way around the conference in 2009 and 2010 with 37 home runs over his first two years. This season the Woodstock, Ga. native’s power numbers are down, but his average (.351) up. Skole batted .302 as a freshman and .335 as a sophomore. His 73 hits are five shy of a personal season high. Skole eight RBI against Georgia (March 22) earlier this season are the most in a single game by an ACC player this season.

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