Sept. 4, 2007
ATLANTA – With just two weeks of class in the books, the members of the 2008 Georgia Tech baseball team will take the field at Russ Chandler Stadium this Tuesday for their first practice of the fall.
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Practice will run through the middle of October, concluding with the annual three-game White & Gold World Series Oct. 15-18, before the current Yellow Jackets host former Tech standouts in the alumni baseball game, which is scheduled to take place Friday, Oct. 19, as part of Georgia Tech’s Homecoming festivities.
The 2007 Major League Baseball Draft had a major impact on Georgia Tech over the summer as a record-tying 10 players were selected, but head coach Danny Hall welcomes back 21 members of the 2006 squad that finished 32-25, while 11 freshmen will get their first taste of Georgia Tech baseball this week.
Despite losing two starting outfielders (Danny Payne, Supp. 1st Round, San Diego; Wally Crancer, 12th, Orioles), their shortstop (Michael Fisher, 6th, Atlanta) and two-time All-American catcher Matt Wieters (5th, Baltimore), the remainder of the Georgia Tech starting lineup from a year ago remains in tact as infielders Patrick Long (Mechanicsville, Va.), Tony Plagman (Alpharetta, Ga.), Jeff Ussery (Hilton Head, SC) and Brad Feltes (Alpharetta, Ga.) and outfielders Luke Murton (McDonough, Ga.) and Chris House (Marietta, Ga.) all return.
Ussery (.221, 0, 13) served as the Yellow Jackets’ primary second baseman in 2007 until a broken foot sidelined him for the last month of the season, while Feltes (.217, 6, 22) started 31 games at third base despite suffering from a knee problem that was corrected following the ACC Tournament. Long (.299, 5, 31) split time between second base and third base, depending on who was healthy, and also filled in at shortstop in place of Fisher, who missed a pair of weekends late in the season. He started 53 of Georgia Tech’s 57 games in 2007 and is the Yellow Jackets’ top returning hitter in 2008.
The emergence of Plagman (.273, 2, 23) as a talented first baseman allowed OF/DH/1B Murton (.239, 9, 43), the Yellow Jackets’ first baseman the year prior, to focus specifically on right field, which is where he is expected to play in 2008.
Also returning on the infield in 2008 are sophomore Jason Garofalo (Alpharetta, Ga.), who played a key role for the Jackets down the stretch in 2007, and redshirt sophomore Ryan Tinkoff (Alpharetta, Ga.), who has played both shortstop and second base at Georgia Tech.
Tech’s lone returnee behind the plate is junior Jason Haniger (Santa Clara, Calif.), who hit .303 with a home run and five RBI in 2007 and has played in 28 games total for the Yellow Jackets.
House, Murton and Curtis Dupart (Woodinville, Wash.) combined to start 81 games patrolling the outfield for the Yellow Jackets in 2007 and all return for the 2008 season. House (.255, 0, 15) and Dupart (.188, 1, 13) split time in left field in 2007, while Murton platooned with Crancer in right field. House is Tech’s most experienced returning outfielder and will push for the starting role in centerfield, while Jay Dantzler (Alpharetta, Ga.) and Michael Klindt (Roswell, Ga.) will also challenge for more playing time.
Hall returns a wealth of experience on the mound, including weekend starters David Duncan (New Richmond, Ohio) and Eddie Burns (Hiram, Ga.), who elected to return to school despite being drafted in June.
The duo led the Jackets’ weekend starting rotation in 2007 by combining for 10 wins, 174.1 IP and 152 K’s and will again hold down those roles in 2008. Duncan was 7-4 with a 3.72 ERA in 104 IP as Tech’s Friday starter last season while Burns led the squad with a 3.58 ERA, holding opponents to a .256 average.
The Tech pitching corps also returns five other hurlers that made at least 10 appearances last season, including senior righty Brad Rulon (Columbus, Ga.), who led the squad with 29 appearances in 2006, junior righty Chris Hicks (Alpharetta, Ga.), who is expected to vie for the closer’s role that was vacated by Wieters and Payne, and sophomore righty Zach Von Tersch, a candidate for the final starting slot in the weekend rotation.
Michael Hutts (Dunwoody, Ga.) and Elliott Ogawa (Columbus, Ga.) are the Yellow Jackets top returning lefties in the bullpen, while Andrew Robinson (Senoia, Ga.), and Charlie Blackmon (Suwanee, Ga.) are expected to vie for more time on the mound this spring after spending their first season on the Flats in 2007.
Jesse Dubberly, a walk-on catcher that made the team prior to the 2007 season, begins his second season on the squad after spending his first two as the bullpen catcher, while redshirt junior Sean Devine, who made his first appearance as a Yellow Jacket against the Atlanta Braves, returns for his third season.
Tech’s freshman class includes infielders Derek Dietrich (Parma, Ohio), Thomas Nichols (Leesburg, Ga.) and Matt Simonds (Atlanta, Ga.), outfielders Jeff Rowland (Augusta, Ga.) and Chase Burnette (Buford, Ga.), catcher Cole Leonida (Aurora, Colo.) and pitchers Zach Brewster (Murrayville, Ga.), Deck McGuire (Richmond, Va.), Brandon Cumpton (Evans, Ga.), Kevin Jacob (Parkville, Md.) and Taylor Wood (Suwanee, Ga.).
