March 7, 2005
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ATLANTA–Georgia Tech (11-2, 3-0 ACC) opens a nine-game homestand on Tuesday at 4 p.m. against William & Mary. The Yellow Jackets host Georgia Southern on Wedensday at 4 p.m. and face Wake Forest for a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series this weekend.
After posting a 4-0 record last week, including a sweep at Duke in the ACC opener, the Yellow Jackets ascended to No. 8 in the Collegiate Baseball poll.
For the year, Tech is batting .338 as a team, averaging 10.8 runs per game while posting a .451 on base percentage. Since scoring two runs on four hits in the season opener, the Yellow Jackets have scored at least nine runs in each of the last 12 games.
Third basebam Wes Hodges (.490AVG/.565OBP/.961SLG, 6HR, 15RBI) has paced the Tech offense, leading the club in batting, slugging, on base percentage, home runs and hits. Freshman catcher/DH Matt Wieters (.422/.559/.556, 1, 12) is the reigning ACC Player of the Week after going 12-for-14 in the Duke series.
The rest of the Tech lineup features catcher Andy Hawranick (.300/.389/.400, 1, 7), first baseman Whit Robbins (.222/.429/.333, 0, 7), second baseman Mike Trapani (.273/.407/.341, 1, 7), shortstop Tyler Greene (.375/.464/.688, 2, 12), left fielder Steven Blackwood (.333/.444/.485, 1, 19), center fielder Danny Payne (.404/.562/.596, 2, 14), right fielder Jeremy Slayden (.283/.357/.450, 2, 14) and DH Jeff Kindel (.371/.450/.600, 1, 8).
Tech will send sophomore RHP Tim Gustafson (0-1, 3.24) to the mound on Tuesday against William & Mary, and sophomore LHP Ryan Turner (1-0, 0.00) will start on Wednesday against Georgia Southern.
GAME COVERAGE: Live statistics will be available on the internet at www.ramblinwreck.com.
HALL REACHES COACHING MILESTONES
Georgia Tech head coach Danny Hall reached 700 wins for his career in Tech’s 9-1 win over Georgia Southern on Mar. 1. Now in his 18th season as a head coach at Georgia Tech and Kent State, Hall owns a career record of 703-330 (.681).
Hall needs five wins to reach 500 in his career at Georgia Tech, and with 10 wins he will become the school’s all-time leader in career victories. Hall, who has a 495-213 (.699) record in 12 years at Tech, already ranks as the school’s winningest coach by percentage.
Georgia Tech Coaching LeadersCoach Years Record Pct.1. Jim Morris 1982-93 504-244-1 .6742. Danny Hall 1994-05 495-213-0 .6993. Jim Luck 1962-81 320-280-5 .5334. Joe Pittard 1946-61 147-99-5 .6075. John Heisman 1904-17 163-97-5 .627
WIETERS HAS A WEEKEND TO REMEMBER
Freshman Matt Wieters earned ACC Player of the Week honors on Mar. 7 for his performance in four games agasint Duke and Georgia Southern. In Tech’s three-game sweep at Duke, the catcher/DH went 12-for-14 (.857) with a grand slam and nine RBI. Wieters raised his season batting average nearly 200 points, and he finished the weekend with nine consecutive hits.
HODGES POWERS THE OFFENSE
Sophomroe Wes Hodges missed the final 17 games of the 2004 season after being hit by a pitch in the face and suffering several small fractures in his cheekbone. But the third baseman has returned to the lineup in strong fashion in 2005. Hodges leads Tech with six home runs in 12 games, batting a team-leading .490 (25-for-51). He leads the team in hits (25), slugging percentage (.961) and on base percentage (.565).
STREAKING JACKETS
The Yellow Jackets won 16 straight ACC games to finish the 2004 season, a new school record, after starting the year 2-5 in conference play.
Tech has opened the 2005 season with three straight league wins to extended its win streak in conference play to 19 games. The current 19-game streak is the longest since the league expanded to nine members with the addition of Florida State in 1992, and it ranks as the third longest overall in ACC history.
LONGEST CONFERENCE WIN STREAKS IN ACC HISTORY WINS SCHOOL YEAR(S)1. 21 Clemson 1987-88 21 North Carolina 1963-653. 19 Georgia Tech 2004-pres.4. 17 Florida State 19965. 14 Clemson 1975-76 14 Clemson 1993-94
THE BROOM
Georgia Tech swept each of the last five Atlantic Coast Conference series during the 2004 season, and the Yellow Jackets extended the streak to six with a three-game sweep in the 2005 conference opener at Duke.
The Yellow Jackets have swept 52 weekend series since the conference adopted the current three-game round-robin format in 1987. Since 1987 Tech has won 92 of 141 (.652) ACC series, including seven of eight series in 2004.
