April 11, 2009
ATLANTA – A ninth-inning RBI single by Tony Plagman gave No. 8 Georgia Tech (21-7, 10-4 ACC) to a 7-6 win over No. 11 Virginia (27-7, 8-6 ACC) Saturday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium.
The Yellow Jackets scored four runs over the final three innings, capped by Plagman’s one-out single to right field in the bottom of the ninth. Virginia reliever Matt Packer forced a groundout to begin the inning, but back-to-back infield singles from Derek Dietrich and Jason Haniger put runners on first and second for Plagman. The Yellow Jacket first baseman then plated Dietrich for the winning run when he offered at the first pitch he saw off Packer.
Packer (1-3) suffered his third loss of the season after giving up three runs on six hits over the final 1-1/3 innings of the game. Mark Pope (4-0) picked up his fourth win by forcing Phil Gosselin, who finished the game 3-for-5 with two RBI and three runs scored, into an inning-ending ground out in the top of the ninth.
The game originally began Friday night, but was suspended with the Cavaliers leading, 3-2, in the bottom of the fourth. The Yellow Jackets scored once in the fourth and were threatening for more when the game was called due to rain. But Tyler Wilson, who entered to pitch when the game resumed at 3 p.m. Saturday, forced a double play to end the threat.
The Jackets tied the series opener in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single by Haniger, but Virginia re-gained the lead in the sixth when Gosselin tripled and scored on a groundout by Dan Grovatt.
An RBI triple by Dietrich evened the score at 4-4 in the bottom of the seventh.
Run-scoring hits by Gosselin and Tyler Cannon pushed the Cavaliers’ lead to 6-4 in the top of the eighth, but Matt Skole answered with a two-run homer, his eighth of the season, in the bottom of the frame to tie the game at 6-6.
Skole finished with three RBI while going 2-for-4 in the first game of the series. Haniger led the Jackets with three hits, while Dietrich and Chris House both tallied two hits against the Cavaliers.
Deck McGuire re-took the mound when the game resumed Saturday afternoon, working a total of seven innings before exiting with the game tied in the top of the eighth. He yielded just four runs – only one on Saturday – on six hits and struck out seven before being lifted. Jake Davies worked a scoreless inning in relief before turning the ball over to Pope with two outs in the top of the ninth.
Virginia took a 3-1 lead in the top of the fourth inning with a solo home run by Jarrett Parker, a run-scoring triple by Gosselin and an RBI single from Steven Proscia, but Tech narrowed the gap to one in the bottom of the frame.
Haniger led off the fourth with a base hit and moved to second when Luke Murton was hit by a pitch. Skole then plated Haniger with a run-scoring single, making the score 3-2. The game was suspended with a 2-2 count on Jason Garofalo after Georgia Tech’s tornado alert system rang out across campus.
The contest began as a pitcher’s dual, as the first 16 batters of the game were retired in order. McGuire tossed three perfect innings before getting hit in the top of the fourth, and Cavalier ace Danny Hultzen retired the first seven batters he faced in order before Tech scratched for a run in the bottom of the third.
Jay Dantzler reached base on a one-out walk and came around to score on a double by House to give Tech a 1-0 lead in the third inning.
–Ramblinwreck.com.–
