April 9, 2014
THE FLATS – Connor Justus homered for the second straight night and the rookie drove in a career-high four runs as Georgia Tech won its sixth straight game with a 12-1 rout of Savannah State Wednesday at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Justus led off the fourth inning with a solo shot to left, cleared the bases with a three-run double in the sixth and finished the night 3-for-5 with two runs. Matt Gonzalez stayed hot, going 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles, while A.J. Murray was 3-for-5 with a double and scored twice.
The victory improved Tech to 21-13 overall and its six-game winning streak is its longest post-March win streak since 2010. Savannah State slipped to 12-22.
After pounding out 16 hits in Tuesday’s 13-2 win over Georgia Southern, the Jackets kept their foot on the gas Wednesday night and matched their season-high of 18 hits, including six for extra bases. Freshmen Ryan Peurifoy, Elliott Barzilli and Arden Pabst each had two hits.
“Our guys came out and swung the bats well again tonight,” said head coach Danny Hall. “And I thought Zac (Ryan) did a nice job and I was glad we got five innings out of him. That should give him a lot of confidence moving forward.”
Freshman starter Zac Ryan scattered four hits over his five innings on the mound and set a career-high with seven strikeouts in recording his first career win (1-2). Matthew Gorst, Matt Phillips, Joe Wiseman and Ben Schniederjans each tossed a scoreless inning of relief.
Tech spotted Ryan a three-run cushion in the second inning as Peurifoy’s RBI single drove in Murray, who doubled to lead off the frame. Three batters later, Daniel Spingola hammered his team-leading fourth triple down the line in right to bring home two more Jackets.
The Tigers got one back in the fourth, but Tech went right back to work in the bottom half with three more, including Justus’ homer. Smith and Barzilli had RBI singles and Justus’ bases-clearing three-run double down the left-field line highlighted a five-run, four-hit sixth inning.
An RBI single from Murray in the seventh capped the scoring.
Gonzalez, who was 4-for-4 in Tuesday’s win over Georgia Southern, had doubles in each of his first two at bats tonight. The sophomore is six for his last seven with three doubles, a triple, four RBI and three runs. He leads the club with a .333 average and leads the ACC with 13 two-baggers.
Tech, which is 6-0 on its current 10-game homestand, welcomes No. 2 Florida State to Atlanta this weekend. Friday’s series-opener is set for 7:30 p.m. on CSS.
Saturday’s 2 p.m. game is the ACC Game of the Week on the Regional Sports Networks, including Fox Sports South and Sunday’s finale at 1 p.m. is on CSS.
