April 13, 2007
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.– – Jeff Ussery’s suicide squeeze in the top of the 11th inning helped Georgia Tech (21-13, 10-6 ACC) to a 2-1 victory over No. 5 Virginia (30-8, 10-6 ACC) Friday night in the ACC series opener at Davenport Field on the campus of the University of Virginia.
With one out in the top of the 11th, Patrick Long doubled down the left field line and moved to third on a single by Chris House. After Ussery fouled his first pitch out of play, the freshman second baseman put down a perfect bunt to the left side which scored Long for the go-ahead run.
Jared Hyatt (6-0) then retired the middle of the Virginia lineup in order in the bottom of the 11th to earn his sixth win of the season. The redshirt senior held the Virginia hitters hitless and scoreless over the final four innings of the game, striking out four and walking one.
Junior Michael Fisher led the Yellow Jacket hitters with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate, while Ussery finished 1-for-2 with two walks and a sacrifice in the series opener.
After collecting a pair of hits in his first two plate appearances, Virginia leadoff hitter Greg Miclat earned a two-out walk in the bottom of the fifth, stole second base, and came around to score on Brandon Marsh’s RBI single up the middle for the first run of the game.
Jacob Thompson held the Yellow Jackets to just five hits over 7.2 innings and was looking to improve to 9-0 on the season before Michael Fisher delivered a two-out RBI single up the middle to tie the game at 1-1 in the top of the eighth inning.
Chris House struck out to lead off the frame, but reached base when Cavalier catcher Beau Seabury couldn’t handle the third-strike wild pitch by Thompson. House advanced to second on a groundout by Danny Payne before scoring on Fisher’s second hit of the game. Matt Wieters then singled to chase Thompson from the contest, and Wally Crancer earned a walk off Virginia reliever Alex Smith to load the bases before Michael Schwimer forced Luke Murton to fly out, ending the Yellow Jacket threat.
Thompson finished with eight strikeouts while walking three, but earned a no-decision for the first time in his last five games. Yellow Jacket starter David Duncan also pitched well, holding the Cavaliers to one run on six hits while striking out three in seven innings of work, but didn’t figure into the decision.
Jake Rule (2-3) took the loss for Virginia, giving up one run on three hits in the 11th inning. Georgia Tech finished with 10 hits in the game, seven of which came off the Cavalier bullpen.
Saturday’s first pitch between the Yellow Jackets and Cavaliers has been moved up to 12 p.m. due to storms entering the area in the afternoon. First pitch for Sunday’s game is still 1 p.m. Live video for the entire series can be followed on ACC Select (gatech.playonsports.tv), while a live radio broadcast can be found on WREK-91.1 FM (www.wrek.org). Live stats for all Georgia Tech baseball games are available at www.ramblinwreck.com.
