March 2, 2008
ATLANTA – Zach Von Tersch, Kevin Jacob and Taylor Wood combined on a three-hit shutout and Tony Plagman drove in four runs to lead No. 22 Georgia Tech (7-1) to a 6-0 win over Rutgers (2-3) Sunday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium.
The shutout was Tech’s fourth of the year, doubling the Yellow Jackets’ total from the 2007 season. It also marks just the fourth time (5-1994, 9-1997, 6-2002) that Tech has posted at least four shutouts in a season since the arrival of head coach Danny Hall in 1994.
Von Tersch (1-0) earned his first win of the year by holding the Rutgers hitters to three hits while striking out seven and walking two. He allowed just two runners past first base and faced only five over the minimum in seven innings of work.
Jacob and Wood each worked scoreless innings in relief. Jacob tossed a perfect eighth inning, striking out all three batters he faced. Wood also faced just three batters, striking out one.
Plagman snapped a scoreless tie in the bottom of the sixth inning when he smacked an opposite-field home run to give Georgia Tech a 3-0 lead. Chris House led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Thomas Nichols. After throwing two balls to Charlie Blackmon, Rutgers starter Matt Giannini intentionally walked the Yellow Jacket right fielder to get to Plagman, who then sent his second home run of the season over the left field wall.
After giving up a two-out double to Luke Murton, Giannini was relieved by Kevin Lillis, who yielded a double to Brad Feltes to plate Murton. Kevin Patterson entered to pitch for Lillis and immediately gave up an RBI single to pinch-hitter Jay Dantzler before forcing a flyout to end the Yellow Jacket threat.
An RBI single by Plagman gave the Jackets a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning. House walked to lead off the frame, moved to second on a groundout by Nichols and advanced to third on a single by Blackmon before scoring on Plagman’s second hit of the game.
Plagman finished the day 2-for-4 with a run and four RBI while House went 2-for-3 with a pair of walks and two runs scored.
Giannini (0-2) took the loss, giving up four runs on six hits in 5.2 innings.
The Jackets will have Monday off before welcoming back former pitching coach and first-year Catamount head coach Bobby Moranda Tuesday afternoon when Georgia Tech hosts Western Carolina at 4 p.m. Live stats for the game can be found at Ramblinwreck.com while WREK Radio will provide the broadcast.
–GT–
