COLLEGE PARK, Md. (Apr. 7) — Georgia Tech’s Cory Vance tossed a complete game and third baseman Mark Teixeira homered and drove in two runs to lead the 15th-ranked Yellow Jackets to a 7-3 win over Maryland on Friday afternoon at Shipley Field. With the victroy, Tech’s sixth in a row, the Jackets (24-8, 8-2 ACC) maintained first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings.
Vance (7-1) allowed three runs on six hits and two walks while striking out four batters. He got stronger as th game went along, allowing just three baserunners after the fifth inning and retiring 14 of the final 17 batters of the game. The efortt was Vance’s second complete game of the season.
The Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first when Richard Lewis singled and scored on a groundout and Victor Menocal singled and scored on a RBI single from Derik Goffena. The Terrapins (10-20, 0-7 ACC) trimmed the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the first when Brian Patenaude doubled and came around to score on a Vance wild pitch.
Tech pushed the lead to 5-2 in the third inning with a two-run homer from Bryan Prince, his fourth of the season, and a solo shot from Jason Basil, his third. A fourth-inning sacrifice fly from Teixeira made the score 6-1. In the bottom of the fourth, Maryland’s Craig Munroe doubled and came around to score on a RBI single from Chuck Easter to cut the Georgia Tech lead to 6-2.
A solo homer from Teixeira, his team-leading ninth of the season, made the score 7-2 in the seventh inning. Teixeira finished the afternoon with two hits in four at bats, while Lewis, who extended his hitting streak to 22 games, and Goffena each went 3-for-5 on the day.
Munroe, who went 2-for-3, closed the scoring with a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth to make the score 7-3.
Maryland starter Jamie Hammond (3-6) took the loss, allowing seven runs in 6.1 innings of work.
Georgia Tech and Maryland will continue the three-game series on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Shipley Field.
