February 18, 2007

Crancer leads Tech past UIC 6-3

ATLANTA -- Wally Crancer returned to the lineup and had three hits, including a home run, and Michael Hutts allowed just two hits in four innings of relief to lead No. 14 Georgia Tech (3-3) to a 6-3 victory over Illinois-Chicago Sunday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium.

Hutts (1-1) earned the first win of his collegiate career after entering in the fourth inning. Matt Wieters picked up his first save of the season by retiring the final four batters of the game.

Crancer, who injured his hamstring last Sunday at Georgia Southern, went 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI in the game. Chris House also collected three hits, while preseason All-Americans Danny Payne and Wieters added two hits each.

The Flames took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Chad Schroeder was hit by a pitch to lead off the game, moved to second when Tyler Moore was hit by a pitch, advanced to third on a double steal, and scored on a fielder’s choice by Larry Gempp, Jr. Tech starter Chris Hicks then escaped the bases-loaded jam when Ben Trotter hit into a double play to end the inning.

Tech responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game at 1-1 after Danny Payne led off with a triple and scored on an RBI single by Matt Wieters.

The Jackets added a run in the third inning after Wally Crancer hit a two-out single through the left side, advanced to second on a single by Chris House, and scored on an error by UIC third baseman Nick Rainwater.

Jason Haniger and Payne hit back-to-back doubles to lead off the fourth inning and the Yellow Jackets scored four runs in the frame to push the score to 6-1. Payne’s double plated Haniger, and the junior center fielder scored from third on a sacrifice fly by Wieters. Luke Murton then hit a two-out double to center field before a two-run home run by Crancer, his second of the season, capped Tech’s scoring in the frame.

Hutts retired seven straight from the fourth through the sixth innings until Illinois-Chicago added a pair of runs in the top of the seventh on an RBI single by Gempp, Jr. and a double-steal that plated Moore to pull the Flames to within three runs at 6-3.

Hicks allowed just one run on one hit in 3.2 innings of work, but did not factor into the decision. Joe Skinner (1-1) took the loss for Illinois-Chicago, giving up six runs on 11 hits in 3.2 innings.

The Jackets will return to action Wednesday when they host cross-town rival Georgia State at 4 p.m. at Russ Chandler Stadium.

-30-
                              2007 GEORGIA TECH BASEBALL
                           Illinois Chicago at Georgia Tech
                  Feb 18, 2007 at Atlanta, Ga. (Russ Chandler Stadium)

 Illinois-Chicago 3 (2-4)                      Georgia Tech 6 (3-3)
 Player                      AB  R  H BI       Player                      AB  R  H BI
 ---------------------------------------       ---------------------------------------
 SCHROEDER, Chad 2b.........  3  2  1  0       Danny Payne cf.............  4  2  2  1
 MOORE, Tyler lf............  1  1  0  0       Jeff Ussery 2b.............  5  0  0  0
 SCHAEFER, Brett 1b.........  4  0  0  0       Matt Wieters dh/p..........  4  0  2  2
 GEMPP JR., Larry cf........  5  0  1  2       Luke Murton 1b.............  5  1  1  0
 TROTTER, Ben dh............  3  0  0  0        Tony Plagman 1b...........  0  0  0  0
 CALES, David ss............  4  0  0  0       Wally Crancer rf...........  4  2  3  2
 KAFFEL, Mike rf............  1  0  1  0       Chris House lf.............  4  0  3  0
  PINGREE, Micky ph/rf......  2  0  0  0       Michael Fisher ss..........  3  0  1  0
 RAINWATER, Nick 3b.........  2  0  0  0       Patrick Long 3b............  4  0  0  0
 WHINERY, Erik c............  4  0  0  0       Jason Haniger c............  4  1  1  0
 SKINNER, Joe p.............  0  0  0  0       Chris Hicks p..............  0  0  0  0
  RIEGLER, Brad p...........  0  0  0  0        Michael Hutts p...........  0  0  0  0
  DAVIS, Andrew p...........  0  0  0  0
 Totals..................... 29  3  3  2       Totals..................... 37  6 13  5

 Score by Innings                    R  H  E
 -------------------------------------------
 Illinois-Chicago.... 100 000 200 -  3  3  2
 Georgia Tech........ 101 400 00X -  6 13  1
 -------------------------------------------

 E - CALES(1); RAINWATER(4); Ussery, J.(2). DP - Georgia Tech 1. LOB - UIC 10;
 Georgia Tech 10. 2B - Payne, D.(3); Wieters, M.(2); Murton, L.(3); Haniger, J.(1).
 3B - Payne, D.(2). HR - Crancer, W.(2). HBP - SCHROEDER; MOORE; Payne, D.. SH -
 RAINWATER(2). SF - Wieters, M.(1). SB - SCHROEDER(2); MOORE 2(2); GEMPP JR.(1).

 Illinois-Chicago               IP  H  R ER BB SO  WP BK HP IBB  AB BF  FO GO  NP
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 SKINNER, Joe  L,1-1........   3.2 11  6  5  1  3   0  0  1  0   22 25   5  3  90
 RIEGLER, Brad .............   3.1  1  0  0  0  4   0  0  0  0   11 11   3  3  47
 DAVIS, Andrew .............   1.0  1  0  0  0  1   0  0  0  0    4  4   0  1  13

 Georgia Tech                   IP  H  R ER BB SO  WP BK HP IBB  AB BF  FO GO  NP
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Chris Hicks ...............   3.2  1  1  1  6  3   1  0  2  0   10 19   1  6  78
 Michael Hutts  W,1-0.......   4.0  2  2  2  2  1   0  0  0  0   15 17   6  5  60
 Matt Wieters  S,1..........   1.1  0  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0    4  4   3  1  16

 WP - Hicks, C.(1). HBP - by Hicks, C. (SCHROEDER); by Hicks, C. (MOORE); by SKINNER
 (Payne, D.). PB - Haniger, J.(1). Inherited runners/scored: RIEGLER 2/0; Hutts, M. 2/0;
 Wieters, M. 1/0. Pitches/strikes: SKINNER 90/62; RIEGLER 47/35; DAVIS 13/10; Hicks, C.
 78/37; Hutts, M. 60/36; Wieters, M. 16/10.

 Strikeouts - SCHAEFER; CALES 2; WHINERY; Payne, D.; Ussery, J. 2; Murton, L.; House,
 C.; Long, P. 2; Haniger, J.. Walks - SCHROEDER; MOORE 3; SCHAEFER; TROTTER; KAFFEL;
 RAINWATER; Fisher, M..

 Umpires - HP: David Savage  1B: Jason Bradley  3B: Craig Miss
 Start: 1:00 pm   Time: 2:55   Attendance: 821