March 18, 2009
ATLANTA – Tony Plagman’s three-run home run highlighted a seven-run first inning, and Jason Garofalo added a career-high five RBI to help No. 3 Georgia Tech (14-1) to an 11-3 win over Kennesaw State (7-8) Wednesday evening at Russ Chandler Stadium.
The Yellow Jackets swept the three-game season series from Kennesaw State and extended their winning streak to five games against the Owls.
Plagman’s team-leading sixth home run came after Jason Haniger drove in the first run of the game with an RBI single. The Yellow Jackets began the inning with five straight hits before Kennesaw State starter Justin Edwards recorded the first out of the frame. Tech added three more runs after Plagman’s homer, with run-scoring hits by Jay Dantzler and Garofalo.
A sacrifice fly by Cole Leonida pushed the Jackets’ lead to 8-0 in the second.
“We have a lot of guys that can hit,” said head coach Danny Hall. “It’s different guys at different times. Last night, Matt Skole got three hits. Tonight, Jeff Rowland, who hasn’t been been swinging as well, started us off with a hit. Garofalo gets a chance to play and does what he did tonight. It’s just different guys at different times, which you like to see.”
Edwards (1-3) lasted just 1-1/3 innings before being lifted, yielding eight runs on nine hits with three walks in suffering his third loss of the season.
Kevin Jacob (3-0) tossed five scoreless innings in his third start this season, scattering three hits and three walks while fanning three.
The Owls broke up the shutout with three runs in the sixth off Yellow Jacket reliever Jacob Esch, getting run-scoring singles from Curtis Van Wyck and Andrew Martin. But the Jackets answered with three runs in the bottom of the frame when Garofalo hit a bases-loaded triple with two out.
Jake Davies, Andrew Robinson and Zach Brewster each threw one scoreless inning to finish the game.
“I think our bullpen has pitched very well this year. It was nice to get Robinson back in there; he’s thrown well the last two times. Brewster threw the ball well, but we’ve had good contributions from a lot of different guys. All told, I think it’s been very solid.”
The Yellow Jackets take their 11-game winning streak on the road to Blacksburg this weekend, where they face Virginia Tech in a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series.
The two Techs will meet at 5:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday before concluding the series Sunday at 1 p.m. All three games can be followed on ACC Select (www.accselect.com), while WREK (91.1 FM in Atlanta/www.wrek.org) will broadcast the entire series on radio. Live stats for all Tech baseball games are found at Ramblinwreck.com.
