Murton went 3-for-4 with a pair of triples and a sacrifice fly while driving in four runs on the afternoon, while Michael Fisher and Wally Crancer added two hits each.
Tech starter Ryan Turner (2-3) earned the win by holding the Blue Devils to one run on seven hits while striking out four in six innings of work. Brad Rulon tossed perfect seventh and eighth innings before Danny Payne closed out the game with a pair of strikeouts in the ninth inning.
The Jackets stung the Blue Devils early, taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a pair of extra-base hits by Murton and Fisher. Danny Payne was hit by the first pitch of the game and scored when Murton hit the first triple of his career to the outfield wall. Fisher then followed with an RBI double to plate Murton for the second run of the game.
Tech tacked on another run in the second inning when Patrick Long led off the frame with a single, stole second and third bases, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Murton.
Murton gave the Yellow Jackets a 5-0 lead in the sixth inning when he drove in Jeff Ussery and Jay Dantzler with his second triple of the game. Ussery led off the inning with a single and stole second base before Dantzler was issued a one-out walk. After Duke reliever Andrew Wolcott forced Payne to fly out in his first official at bat of the afternoon, Murton then sent a 2-2 pitch back to the outfield wall for his third and fourth RBI's of the game.
Christopher Manno (0-1) took the loss for Duke, lasting just over one inning while giving up three runs on two hits while walking four.
The Yellow Jackets will return to Atlanta to host Georgia Southern in a pair of midweek games beginning Tuesday at 7 p.m. and continuing Wednesday at 3 p.m., which is a change from previously-published schedules.
2007 GEORGIA TECH BASEBALL
Georgia Tech at Duke
March 25, 2007 at Durham, NC (Jack Coombs Field)
Georgia Tech 5 (14-11,5-4 ACC)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg.
------------------------------------------------------------
Danny Payne cf/p......... 2 1 0 0 2 1 1 1 0 .398
Luke Murton 1b........... 4 1 3 4 0 1 7 0 0 .270
Michael Fisher ss........ 5 0 2 1 0 1 1 1 3 .330
Matt Wieters c........... 4 0 0 0 1 2 9 1 2 .313
Wally Crancer dh......... 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .375
Tony Plagman ph......... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .288
Chris House cf.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .200
Curtis Dupart rf......... 3 0 0 0 1 2 4 0 0 .224
Jeff Ussery 2b........... 4 1 1 0 0 2 1 4 2 .211
Patrick Long 3b.......... 3 1 0 0 1 1 0 2 2 .257
Jay Dantzler lf.......... 2 1 0 0 2 1 4 0 0 .111
Ryan Turner p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Brad Rulon p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Totals................... 31 5 8 5 7 12 27 9 9
Duke 1 (18-9,1-8 ACC)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg.
------------------------------------------------------------
Jimmy Gallagher rf....... 4 0 0 0 0 3 1 1 2 .354
Jonathan Anderson cf..... 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 .340
Alexander Hassan lf...... 4 0 1 0 0 0 5 0 0 .349
Nate Freiman 1b.......... 4 0 1 0 0 0 6 0 0 .345
Brett Bartles 3b......... 3 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 .321
Michael Ghizzoni dh...... 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 .375
Jonathan Nicolla ph/dh.. 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 .347
Matt Williams c.......... 3 0 1 0 1 0 11 1 3 .325
Kyle Butler 2b........... 4 0 1 0 0 1 2 1 1 .250
Ryan McCurdy ss.......... 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .238
Gabriel Saade ph/ss..... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .272
Christopher Manno p...... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .286
Andrew Wolcott p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Michael Ness p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Totals................... 33 1 7 1 2 8 27 5 7
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Georgia Tech........ 210 002 000 - 5 8 1
Duke................ 000 001 000 - 1 7 0
-------------------------------------------
E - Ussery, J.(7). DP - Duke 2. LOB - Georgia Tech 9; Duke 7.
2B - Fisher, M.(11); Crancer, W.(6). 3B - Murton, L. 2(2). HBP - Payne, D..
SH - Crancer, W.(2). SF - Murton, L.(3). SB - Ussery, J.(1); Long, P. 2(6).
CS - Butler, K.(1).
Georgia Tech IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP ERA
--------------------------------------------------------
Ryan Turner......... 6.0 7 1 1 1 4 24 25 92 3.89
Brad Rulon.......... 2.0 0 0 0 0 2 6 6 23 5.95
Danny Payne......... 1.0 0 0 0 1 2 3 4 13 0.00
Duke IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP ERA
--------------------------------------------------------
Christopher Manno... 1.0 2 3 3 4 2 4 10 40 6.75
Andrew Wolcott...... 5.0 4 2 2 2 5 17 20 79 5.74
Michael Ness........ 3.0 2 0 0 1 5 10 11 45 2.80
Win - Turner, R. (2-3). Loss - Manno, C. (0-1). Save - None.
HBP - by Manno, C. (Payne, D.). Inherited runners/scored: Wolcott, A. 3/1.
Pitches/strikes: Turner, R. 92/55; Rulon, B. 23/16; Payne, D. 13/7; Manno, C.
40/19; Wolcott, A. 79/45; Ness, M. 45/28.
Umpires - HP: Phelps Prescott 1B: Scott Graham 3B: Joe Marion
Start: 1:00 pm Time: 2:30 Attendance: 362