June 1, 2008

Feltes' two-run double in eighth lifts Tech over Lipscomb

By Phil Stanton

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder

ATHENS, Ga. – Brad Feltes is second on the team with 62 RBI, and none were bigger than the two he picked up Saturday night.

Feltes had a two-run double with two outs in the top of the eighth that snapped a 3-3 tie and led second-seeded Georgia Tech to a 6-3 victory over No. 4 Lipscomb in the second round of the Athens Regional at Foley Field.

The Bisons (33-29) face top-seeded Georgia on Sunday at 2 p.m. in an elimination game. The Yellow Jackets (41-19) meet the winner at 6 p.m. with a chance to capture the regional title.

"I thought it was a great ballgame." said Georgia Tech head coach Danny Hall. "We were able to get some runs early, felt like we were in pretty good shape. But their guy really settled in, did a great job of mixing his pitches, really doesn’t throw anything straight, everything moves. He can throw any of his pitches when he wanted them. We hit some balls hard, couldn’t find the hole. To their credit, they battled back, got back in the game.

"I felt real good when Feltes came up to the plate. There’s not a guy I’d rather see up there more than him because I think he's a great clutch hitter and has been all season. It was all good for the Yellow Jackets. I tip my cap to Lipscomb. I thought they played extremely well."

The Jackets got a three-run homer from Jason Haniger in the top of the second, his 10^th of the season and second of the regional.

The Bisons answered in the bottom of the frame as Blake Bratcher drew a leadoff walk and scored on a groundout by Branden Cadavid to make it 3-1.

Lipscomb evened it in the fifth as Jorge Guitierrez and Allen Bolden had consecutive one-out singles and both scored on a two-out double by Bratcher to make it 3-3.

The Bisons threatened to take the lead in the seventh as Gutierrez ripped a leadoff double to left center. Tech starter Deck McGuire struck out the next two batters to complete his night’s work. Taylor Wood (3-0) came in from the pen and struck out Bratcher looking to end the threat. McGuire pitched 6.2 innings with six hits, three runs, three walks and six strikeouts.

"They’re an aggressive team," McGuire said. "We got to watch them play Georgia yesterday. My approach was to still try to get ahead but not give them anything too good. At times it worked, at times it didn’t. I credit my defense because they made a couple really good plays in spots where I definitely needed it."

LU starter Brandon McClurg allowed back-to-back hits to Luke Murton and Derek Dietrich with one out in the eighth. He got Tony Plugman to line out to center and his night was done. Kyle Tognazzini came on and Feltes lined a double to right center to bring home both runners and give the Jackets a 5-3 advantage. McClurg (6-6) went 7.2 innings with eight hits, five runs, one walk and six strikeouts.

"I was trying to take the first pitch," Feltes said, "get a good look at the guy, how he was throwing, the angle he was throwing at. After he threw strike one I knew I had to get it going soon. I didn’t want to get too far behind in the count. He threw me a pitch that I was able to hit in the gap."

Tech added an insurance run in the ninth on an RBI single by Charlie Blackmon.

Lipscomb had its leadoff man on in each of the final three innings, but could not get any of them home.

"They have a good team," said Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand. "Our game plan again was we just want to be in the game in the late innings and Brandon gave us a chance to do that. He gave up that one bad pitch early, the guy hit a three-run homer, but after that we settled down and got ourselves back in the game. They got the big hit when they needed to."

Brad Rulon allowed one hit over the final 1.2 innings for the Jackets to record his seventh save.