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Baseball
Georgia Tech Evens Series, Forces Sunday Rubber Match
ATLANTA, Ga. – Georgia Tech (12-7, 2-3 ACC) starting pitcher Connor Thomas limited Virginia (9-9, 2-3 ACC) to two runs over 7.1 innings in a 7-3 victory on Saturday (March 16) at Russ Chandler Stadium.
The Yellow Jackets never trailed in the contest and collected 12 hits over the first six innings. A pair of three-run frames paced the Georgia Tech attack, with four of the seven runs coming with two outs.
Senior Cameron Simmons (Royersford, Pa.) provided the offense for the Cavaliers and went 2-for-4 with a double and home run. Simmons scored the first Virginia run of the day, coming in on an RBI groundout from Alex Tappen (Lower Gwynedd, Pa.) to make the score 4-1. Tappen has driven in a run in seven of the last eight games.
Georgia Tech responded in the bottom half with three runs to ultimately put the game out of reach. Kyle McCann hit his second home run in as many days and his 12th of the season to start the three-run frame. The Yellow Jackets tacked on two more to make the score 7-1 after six complete.
Simmons began the eighth with a solo home run to the opposite field, his third long ball of the season. In the first two games of the series, Simmons is 5-for-8 with a double, home run, four runs and three RBI.
Freshman Zack Gelof (Rehoboth Beach, Del.) extended his reached base streak to 18 games with a 2-for-5 effort at the plate. Classmate Drew Hamrock (Roswell, Ga.) came on as a late game substitution and went 1-for-2 and scored the team’s third run of the game in the top of the ninth inning.
Cavalier relievers Riley Wilson (Midlothian, Va.), Blake Bales (Schoolcraft, Mich.) and Billy Price (Morristown, N.J.) combined for 2.1 innings of scoreless relief.
The series finale is scheduled for a 1 p.m. first pitch on Sunday (March 17) at Russ Chandler Stadium. The Cavaliers will send freshman Mike Vasil to the mound who will be opposed by lefty Brant Hurter.
Additional Notes
• Logan Michaels (DeForest, Wis.) cut down Nick Wilhite attempting to steal second base in the bottom of the fifth. As a team, Georgia Tech had been successful in all 17 of their previous stolen base attempts this season until that point.
• Nic Kent (Charlottesville, Va.) had a single in seventh inning to extend his hit streak to eight games.
• Thomas pitched a complete game six-hitter against Virginia last season allowing only an unearned run while striking out seven.