April 21, 2011
ATLANTA – Coming off a four-game road trip, the ninth-ranked Georgia Tech baseball team will host Boston College for a three-game series this weekend at Russ Chandler Stadium. The Yellow Jackets and the Eagles will play at 7 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
Pitching Matchup (Georgia Tech vs. Boston College)
Friday: RHP Mark Pope (8-1, 1.14, 71.1 IP, 62 SO) vs. LHP Andrew Lawrence (1-1, 3.50, 18.0 IP, 10 SO)
Saturday:LHP Jed Bradley (3-2, 3.21, 53.1 IP, 72 SO) vs. RHP John Leonard (4-4, 4.08, 57.1 IP, 30 SO)
Sunday:RHP Buck Farmer (6-1, 2.70, 56.2 IP, 62 SO) vs. TBD
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 (27-11, 14-4 ACC) enters the weekend ranked ashigh as No. 9 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll. TheJackets are also ranked in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ (12),Perfect Game Top-25 (12), Baseball America (13) and NationalCollegiate Baseball Writer’s Association (16) polls. The Jacketsare coming off a 6-2 midweek loss at Mercer on Tuesday … Prior tothe midweek, Tech won two of three at Wake Forest last weekend.Friday’s game will mark just the 16th all-time meeting between thetwo schools in a series dating back to 2006. Boston College (14-20,6-11 ACC) returns 21 lettermen and nine starters (six positionplayers) from a 2010 team that went 19-21 (14-16 ACC) and finishedfourth in the ACC Atlantic Division … They are under thedirection of first-year head coach Mike Gambino. The Eagles arecoming off a 6-1 midweek win over Northeastern on Wednesday toadvance to the Beanpot Championship at Fenway Park … BC will lookto rebound after getting swept at home by Clemson last weekend inACC play.
SERIES HISTORY
Georgia Tech holds a 9-5 leads in the all-time series … The two teams have met just 14 times since the Eagles joined the ACC in 2005 … Tech is 3-1 in games played at Russ Chandler Stadium. Last Meeting: John Spatola drove in three runs, while the Boston College pitching staff held then-No. 6 Georgia Tech to just five hits in a 6-3 victory on May 22, 2010 at Commander Shea Field. The Eagles avoided a series sweep by Tech with the win.
QUICK HITS
Georgia Tech currently leads the Atlantic Coast Conference inhitting (.321) while holding the second lowest ERA at 2.76 …Tech’s batting average is the eighth best in the nation, while theteam’s 92 doubles are the third and 437 hits are fourth … Tech’s9.3 K’s per nine innings rank fifth. The Jackets are outscoringopponents 268-150 this season, and average 11.5 hits and 7.1 runsper game. Tech has recorded multiple hits in 26 of the 38 games onthe season, and in six of the last seven. Freshman centerfielderKyle Wren leads the ACC in hits (66) and runs scored (43),while second in batting average (.402) … His 66 hits are thesecond most in the nation entering the weekend. Tech’s threeweekend pitchers – Mark Pope, Jed Bradley and Buck Farmer – have combined for a 17-4 record … Pope is tiedfor the ACC and national lead in wins with eight, and has thesecond lowest ERA in the conference (1.14). Georgia Tech has won 11of its last 12 weekend series, including seven of eight thisseason. The Jackets won 16 straight games from March 4 to March 29,their longest streak since the 2006 season. Seventeen of GeorgiaTech’s 34 players on the roster are freshmen … All 17 have playedthis season while 10 have made at least one start.
TIME CHANGE SATURDAY
Georgia Tech’s game against Boston College on April 23 has been moved up from 6 p.m. to a 3 p.m. start due to the football Spring Game. Fans will be able to stay on the Flats after the noon football scrimmage, and head straight over to baseball.
YELLOW JACKETS IN THE RPI
Georgia Tech is currently ranked No. 7 in the latest NCAA RPIrankings (as of April 19)… The Jackets are No. 7 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. 1 in the country in the RPI,leads all conference teams while North Carolina (5), Georgia Tech(7), Florida State (8), Clemson (16) and Miami (24) all rank in thetop 25.
TOUGH SCHEDULE
According to WarrenNolan.com, Georgia Tech ranks No. 6 in the nation in strength of schedule. The Yellow Jackets are 11-3 against teams in the RPI top-50. Tech’s strength of schedule is the second toughest in the ACC.
UP NEXT
Georgia Tech will meet in-state rivals Georgia for the third and final time this season, when the two teams square off on Tuesday, April 26, in the annual “Spring Classic for Kids” at 7 p.m. at Turner Field. Tech is 2-0 against the Bulldogs this season, and has won five straight against UGA.
HALL CLOSING IN ON 300 ACC VICTORIES
Head coach Danny Hall has won 294 Atlantic Coast Conference games since beginning his tenure at Georgia Tech in 1994. With four conference weekend series (12 games) left on the schedule, Tech’s 18th year skipper has a good chance of passing that mark in 2011. Hall’s 294 conference victories are the third most by an active ACC head coach. FSU’s Mike Martin leads the way with 353.
WEEKEND THREE ARE KEY
Georgia Tech’s weekend rotation of Mark Pope, Jed Bradley and Buck Farmer has keyed the team’s success so far this season. The 1-2-3 punch is a combined 17-4 on the season. Pope leads the crew with a 1.14 earned run average; the second lowest in the ACC. Bradley leads the crew in strikeouts with 72, while Farmer is currently on a six-game win streak.
POPE EARNS ACC/NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
Mark Pope was named the ACC Pitcher of the Week, and a Collegiate Baseball Newspaper National Player of the Week on Monday after tossing a complete-game one-hitter against Wake Forest over the weekend.
Pope, who was named ACC Pitcher of the Week for the third time and a Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week for the second time this season, added eight strikeouts en route to his eighth win of the year.
POPE’S ONE-HITTER IS FIRST SINCE 1997
You’d to go back 14 years to find the last time a Georgia Tech pitcher fired a complete-game (nine innings) one-hitter against an opponent prior to Mark Pope’s entrapment of Wake Forest last Friday. Pope’s feat was the first since former Jacket Kris Wilson held Tennessee Tech to just one hit over nine innings in the 1997 NCAA Mideast Regional in Starkville, Miss. Former hurler Kevin Cameron pitched a one-hitter against Oakland in 2001, but the game lasted just seven innings.
“SPRING BASEBALL CLASSIC FOR KIDS”
On April 26 at 7 p.m., Georgia Tech and Georgia will meet at Turner Field for the ninth consecutive year in the annual “Spring Baseball Classic for Kids.”
All tickets are $12 with proceeds benefitting Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and its Brain and Spinal Cord Tumor Program.
The game has raised more than $200,000 annually for the not-for-profit pediatric healthcare system. Since 2004, there have been more than 20,000 tickets sold annually for each game.
