April 25, 2011
GT Baseball Spring Classic vs. Georgia
ATLANTA – No. 9 Georgia Tech (30-11) will face in-state rival Georgia (21-20) for the third time this season when the two teams meet in the ninth annual “Spring Baseball Classic for Kids” Tuesday at Turner Field. The game will be televised live on Fox Sports South with first pitch set to begin at 7 p.m.
More than 20,000 tickets are sold annually to this game at Turner Field making it one of the largest college baseball games each year.
All proceeds from the Kauffman Tire Spring Baseball Classic for Kids benefit the Brain and Spinal Cord Tumor program at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, which treats more than 70 patients annually.
Pitching Matchup (Georgia Tech vs. Georgia)
Tuesday: RHP Matthew Grimes (5-2, 4.01, 49.1 IP, 48 SO) vs. RHP Ben Cornwell (1-3, 5.84, 24.2 IP, 17 SO)
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Tuesday’s game will be televised live on Fox Sports South. Dave Neal (play by play) and Larry Conley (color) will have the call. The GT radio broadcast can be heard over the air on WREK (91.1), the flagship station of Georgia Tech baseball, and online at RamblinWreck.com.
SERIES PREVIEW
Georgia Tech (30-11) enters the week ranked as high as No. 9 inthe Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and Perfect Game USA top-25polls. The Jackets are also ranked in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches'(11), Baseball America (12) and National Collegiate BaseballWriter’s Association (13) polls. Tech is coming off a three-gameseries sweep against Boston College over the weekend … It was thefifth weekend sweep of the season for the Jackets, who have wonnine of their 10 weekend series on the year. Tuesday’s game willmark the 353rd all-time meeting between the two school’s in arivalry that dates back to 1898 … Georgia Tech is 2-0 againstGeorgia this season, and has won five straight over the Bulldogsdating back to the 2009 season. Georgia (21-20) returns 21letterwinners and seven position starters from a 2010 team thatfinished 16-37 overall and sixth in the SEC East. The Bulldogs arecoming off a weekend series win over conference foes Tennessee …Georgia is batting .277 as a team, with 22 home runs, while thepitching staff owns a 4.70 ERA and has whiffed 257 batters in 356innings pitched.
SERIES HISTORY
Georgia holds a 196-154-2 all-time advantage in the series between the two schools … Tech has five in a row over the Bulldogs, its third longest streak against the Athens opponents in school history (Tech won seven straight from 1906-1909 … The Jackets are 37-27 against the Bulldogs since head coach Danny Hall’s arrival on the Flats in 1994 … Georgia holds a 6-2 advantage in games played at Turner Field.
Last Meeting: Freshman Matthew Grimes had a career-high 10 strikeouts to lead Georgia Tech to a 5-3 win over rival Georgia on Tuesday April 12 at Russ Chandler Stadium. Grimes won his fifth game of the year after scattering two runs on eight hits over 6 2/3 innings. The Hoschton, Ga. native did not issue any walks, his second time to do so in a start this season.
QUICK HITS
Georgia Tech currently leads the Atlantic Coast Conference inhitting (.317) while holding the second lowest ERA at 2.76 …Tech’s batting average is tied for the 10th best in the nation,while the team’s 462 hits are tied for sixth … The pitchingstaff’s 371 rank fourth. The Jackets are outscoring opponents288-159 this season, and are averaging 11.3 hits and 7.0 runs pergame. Tech has recorded multiple hits in 27 of the 41 games on theseason, and in seven of the last 10. Freshman centerfielderKyle Wren leads the ACC in hits (68) while second in battingaverage (.386) and third in runs scored (44) … His 68 hits arethe third most in the nation entering Tuesday. Tech’s three weekendpitchers – Mark Pope, Jed Bradley and Buck Farmer – have combined for a 20-4 record … Pope is leadsthe ACC in six different categories, including wins (9) and lowestERA (1.01) … His nine wins tie for the most in the nation, whilehis earned run average is sixth. Georgia Tech has won 12 of itslast 13 weekend series, including nine of 10 this season … Theteam has swept five of them. The Jackets won 16 straight games fromMarch 4 to March 29, their longest streak since the 2006 season.Seventeen of Georgia Tech’s 34 players on the roster are freshmen… All 17 have played this season while 10 have made at least onestart.
YELLOW JACKETS IN THE RPI
Georgia Tech is currently ranked No. 7 in the latest NCAA RPIrankings (as of April 19)… The Jackets are No. 8 in the latestPseudo-RPI (source: BoydsWorld.com). The Atlantic Coast Conferenceis well represented in the RPI, with six teams ranked among the top25 in the nation. Virginia, ranked No. 1 in the country in the RPI,leads all conference teams while North Carolina (5), Georgia Tech(7), Florida State (8), Clemson (16) and Miami (24) all rank in thetop 25.
UP NEXT
Georgia Tech will continue Atlantic Coast Conference by traveling to Clemson over the weekend for three-games at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. First pitch is at 6:30 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. Saturday’s game is the ACC game of the week, and will be televised live by Fox Sports South.
LEFTOVERS FROM LAST WEEKEND
Georgia Tech picked up its fifth weekend series sweep of the season, winning three games against Boston College at Russ Chandler Stadium (2-0, 8-1 and 10-8). All three of Tech’s weekend pitchers recorded wins, as the 1-2-3 punch moved its record to a combined 20-4 … Pope (9-1) highlighted the weekend with his third complete-game shutout of the season in Friday’s 2-0 win … Junior Jed Bradley (7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 6 SO) paced Saturday’s attack with a quality start on the mound, while eight of the team’s nine starter had a hit and six drove in runs for the sweep on Sunday.
WEEKEND THREE ARE KEY
Georgia Tech’s weekend rotation of Mark Pope (Friday), Jed Bradley (Saturday) and Buck Farmer (Sunday) has keyed the team’s success so far this season. The 1-2-3 punch is a combined 20-4, with a collective 2.29 ERA (53 earned runs in 204 innings). Pope leads the crew in wins (9) and ERA (1.01). Bradley leads the crew in strikeouts with 78, while Farmer is currently on a seven-game win streak.
HALL CLOSING IN ON 300 ACC VICTORIES
Head coach Danny Hall has won 297 Atlantic Coast Conference games since beginning his tenure at Georgia Tech in 1994. With three regular season ACC series (9 games) left on the schedule, he has a good chance of passing that mark in 2011. Hall’s 297 conference victories are the third most by an active ACC head coach. Hall, who has never had a losing season in his 18 seasons on The Flats, has averaged 16.3 conference wins per season. He enters the midweek with a career record of 975-456-1, a career .681 win percentage.
POPE SETS MODERN DAY RECORD FOR SHUTOUTS
Junior Mark Pope’s complete-game shutout masterpiece against Boston College on Friday was his third this season, and the fourth of his career. It set a modern day record, surpassing four others that were tied at 3. Craig Day (1903-06) and Ed LaFitte (1906-07) each had six in the early 1900’s.
