April 19, 2009

Box Score | Box Score in PDF Format

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Four Yellow Jacket pitchers combined for a five-hit shutout as No. 12 Georgia Tech completed a three-game sweep of Wake Forest by winning 6-0 on Sunday afternoon at Wake Forest Baseball Park.

Wake Forest drops to 20-19 and 6-15 in Atlantic Coast Conference play, while Georgia Tech improves to 26-8-1 and 13-5-1 in conference play.

The Wake Forest bats stayed quiet for a third straight game. The Deacs only managed five hits off the Georgia Tech pitching staff and put multiple runners on base in just two different innings. Wake was shutout for the first time since May 23, 2008, when North Carolina beat the Deacs 2-0.

Brandon Cumpton started the game for Georgia Tech and earned the win to improve to 2-0 on the season. Cumpton threw seven scoreless innings, allowing just four hits and striking out seven batters. Zach Brewster, Andrew Robinson and Mark Pope also combined on the shutout for the Yellow Jackets.

Austin Stadler pitched well for Wake Forest, but suffered the loss to drop to 4-4 on the year. Stadler allowed two unearned runs on two hits in four innings and added three strikeouts. Michael Dimock tossed 2 2/3 innings in relief and gave up a run on four hits.

Steven Brooks led Wake Forest offensively with two hits. Shane Kroker, Dustin Hood and Carlos Lopez each had a hit.

Jeff Rowland led the Yellow Jackets with a 3-for-5 day at the plate with an RBI and a run scored. Jason Garofalo went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. Luke Murton hit his 11th home run of the season for Georgia Tech.

The Yellow Jackets struck first with two unearned runs in the top of the first. Rowland led off the game with a double into the right-center field gap. Derek Dietrich hit a line drive to left field, which was misplayed by Weldon Woodall and hit off the top of his glove for an error, allowing Dietrich to reach second and scoring Rowland for the first run of the game. A wild pitch moved Dietrich to third. Jason Haniger grounded out to shortstop to plate Dietrich to make the score 2-0.

Georgia Tech attempted to add on to the 2-0 lead in the top of the sixth, but clutch pitching from Dimock kept the advantage at two. Cole Leonida doubled to lead off the inning and moved to third on a single by Rowland. Dimock struck out Dietrich and Haniger for the first two outs of the inning. After Plagman was intentionally walked to load the bases, Murton flied out to Brooks in left-center field to leave the bases loaded.

Wake Forest was able to get its first offensive threat of the game in the bottom of the sixth. After the first two batters were retired, Brooks hit a single through the left side and moved to third when Kroker singled to center field. Hood grounded into a fielder's choice to short as Kroker was retired at second to end the inning.

Georgia Tech stretched its lead to 3-0 with a run in the top of the seventh. Garofalo hit a two-out triple off the wall in right-center field. Leonida singled to center to bring home Garofalo.

The Demon Deacons were able to put together a rally in the eighth, but were kept off the scoreboard. Lopez led off the inning with a single to left field. After Evan Ocheltree and Tyler Smith were retired, Brooks singled to left field to move Lopez to second. Kroker grounded into a fielder's choice to short to end the rally.

The Yellow Jackets closed the scoring with three runs in the ninth. Murton led off the inning with a home run to center field, his 11th round-tripper of the season. Matt Skole walked but was picked off at first for the first out of the inning. Chris House drew a one-out walk and came around to score when Garofalo doubled down the left-field line. Garofalo advanced to third when Leonida grounded out to second. Rowland singled to center to score Garofalo to make the score 6-0.

Wake Forest returns to the diamond on Tuesday when it travels to High Point. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the game will be available on WakeForestSports.com.