March 9, 2007

Virginia Tech Stops Georgia Tech 5-3 in ACC Opener

ATLANTA-Greg Fryman held the Yellow Jackets to just two runs on five hits through 6.2 innings and Bryan Thomas added a three-run home run to lead Virginia Tech (9-5, 1-0 ACC) to a 5-3 victory over Georgia Tech (8-7, 0-1 ACC) in the series opener Friday evening at Russ Chandler Stadium.

Fryman (2-1) allowed just two runners past first base through the first six innings, and gave up only one earned run while striking out five and walking two to earn his second win of the season. Rhett Ballard recorded his first save by tossing the final 2.1 innings, allowing no runs on two hits while striking out three.

David Duncan (3-2) took the loss, giving up five runs on eight hits in seven innings of work. Relievers Jared Hyatt, Tim Ladd and Brad Rulon tossed the final two innings, giving up just one hit while striking out two.

A three-run home run by Bryan Thomas gave the Hokies a 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning. Nate Parks led off the frame with a double down the third base line and moved to second when Matt Hacker reached on a sacrifice bunt which resulted in a throwing error by Duncan. Thomas then hit sent his first home run of the season over the left field wall to break the scoreless tie.

Virginia Tech added a run in the fifth inning to make the score 4-0 when Matt Foley hit a one-out double down the left field line, advanced to third on a single by Parks, and scored on a wild pitch. A solo home run by Warren Schaeffer in the sixth inning pushed the score to 5-0 in favor of the Hokies.

The Jackets’ offense came alive in the seventh inning when Patrick Long led off the frame with a triple and scored on an RBI groundout by Curtis Dupart. After Chris House reached base on an error and Danny Payne earned a two-out walk, both Michael Fisher and Matt Wieters hit RBI singles to plate House and Payne, pulling Georgia Tech to within two runs at 5-3.

First pitch for the second game of the series between the Hokies and Yellow Jackets will be at 1 p.m. Saturday.

-30-
                              2007 GEORGIA TECH BASEBALL
                          Virginia Tech at #21 Georgia Tech
                  March 9, 2007 at Atlanta, Ga. (Russ Chandler Stadium)

 Virginia Tech 5 (9-5,1-0 ACC)                 Georgia Tech 3 (8-7,0-1 ACC)
 Player                      AB  R  H BI       Player   AB  R  H BI
 ---------------------------------------       ---------------------------------------
 Nate Parks cf..............  5  1  2  0       Danny Payne cf.............  3  1  1  0
 Matt Hacker 2b.............  4  1  0  0       Michael Fisher ss..........  3  0  1  1
 Bryan Thomas 3b............  4  1  1  3       Matt Wieters c.............  4  0  1  1
 Sean O'Brien 1b............  4  0  1  0       Wally Crancer dh...........  4  0  1  0
 Jose Cueto lf..............  4  0  1  0       Luke Murton 1b.............  4  0  1  0
  Steve Bumbry pr...........  0  0  0  0       Patrick Long 2b............  4  1  1  0
 Warren Schaeffer ss........  4  1  2  1       Curtis Dupart rf...........  4  0  0  1
 Luke Padgett dh............  4  0  0  0       Chris House lf.............  4  1  1  0
 Sean Ryan rf...............  3  0  1  0       Brad Feltes 3b.............  3  0  0  0
 Matt Foley c...............  3  1  1  0        Tony Plagman ph...........  1  0  1  0
 Greg Fryman p..............  0  0  0  0        Jay Dantzler pr...........  0  0  0  0
  Josh Canova p.............  0  0  0  0       David Duncan p.............  0  0  0  0
  Rhett Ballard p...........  0  0  0  0        Jared Hyatt p.............  0  0  0  0
                                                Tim Ladd p................  0  0  0  0
                                                Brad Rulon p..............  0  0  0  0
 Totals..................... 35  5  9  4       Totals..................... 34  3  8  3

 Score by Innings                    R  H  E
 -------------------------------------------
 Virginia Tech....... 000 311 000 -  5  9  2
 Georgia Tech........ 000 000 300 -  3  8  2
 -------------------------------------------

 E - Hacker, M(4); Ballard, R(1); Fisher, M.(4); Duncan, D.(1). LOB -Va. Tech 6;
 Georgia Tech 8. 2B - Parks, N(3); Foley, M(1); Payne, D.(6). 3B - Long, P.(1). 
 HR - Thomas, B(1); Schaeffer, W(2). HBP - Ryan, S. SH - Hacker, M(1); Foley, M(5);
 Fisher, M.(2). SB - Parks, N 2(14); Schaeffer, W(2); House, C.(3).

 Virginia Tech                  IP  H  R ER BB SO  WP BK HP IBB  AB BF FO GO  NP
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Greg Fryman  W,2-1.........   6.2  5  2  1  2  5   0  0  0  0   24 27  8  6 104
 Josh Canova ...............   0.0  1  1  1  1  0   0  0  0  0    1  2  0  0  10
 Rhett Ballard  S,1.........   2.1  2  0  0  0  3   0  0  0  0    9  9  2  2  39

 Georgia Tech                   IP  H  R ER BB SO  WP BK HP IBB  AB BF FO GO  NP
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 David Duncan  L,3-2........   7.0  8  5  4  0  3   1  0  0  0   27 29  7 10  89
 Jared Hyatt ...............   0.0  0  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0    1  1  0  0   1
 Tim Ladd ..................   0.2  1  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0    3  3  0  2   4
 Brad Rulon ................   1.1  0  0  0  0  2   0  0  1  0    4  5  0  2  21

 WP - Duncan, D.(1). HBP - by Rulon, B. (Ryan, S). Inherited runners/scored: Canova, J
 1/1; Ballard, R 2/1; Ladd, T. 1/0; Rulon, B. 2/0. Pitches/strikes: Fryman, G 104/66;
 Canova, J 10/6; Ballard, R 39/26; Duncan, D. 89/57; Hyatt, J. 1/1; Ladd, T. 4/3; Rulon,
 B. 21/13.

 Strikeouts - Hacker, M 2; O'Brien, S; Schaeffer, W; Padgett, L; Payne, D.; Fisher,
 M. 2; Long, P. 2; Dupart, C. 3. Walks - Payne, D. 2; Fisher, M..

 Umpires - HP: Tony Walsh  1B: Scott Erby  3B: Morris Hodges, Jr.
 Start: 4:02 pm   Time: 2:24   Attendance: 1802