Burns (3-1) earned his third win of the season by holding the Blue Devils to two runs, only one of which was earned, on four hits while recording four strikeouts in seven-plus innings.
Rowland, Derek Dietrich and Jay Dantzler each had two hits for the Yellow Jackets while Duke’s offense was led by Ryan McCurdy, who went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Brad Rulon picked up his first save of the season, and fifth of his career, by working out of a jam in the eighth inning and tossing a 1-2-3 ninth.
Rowland’s home run, his second of the year, led off the fifth inning for Tech after Duke had tied the game 1-1. He also started a two-run rally for Tech in the seventh, drawing a walk and coming around to score on an error, and Brad Feltes extended the lead to 4-1 with a sacrifice fly.
Duke got within a run in the eighth after Matt Williams was hit by a Burns pitch to lead off, went to third on Rowland’s dropped fly ball in center field and scored on Kyle Kreick’s single. But Rulon, who gave up the hit in relief of Burns, got a strikeout and a double play to end the threat and retired the Blue Devils in order in the ninth.
Charlie Blackmon was hit by a pitch and came around to score on a two-out, RBI double by Dietrich to get Georgia Tech on the board in the bottom of the first inning. Duke tied the game in the fifth after McCurdy broke up Burns’ no-hitter with a two-out infield single. He scored on an RBI single by Alex Hassan.
The Jackets and Blue Devils will conclude the three-game ACC series Sunday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m., with Tech’s RHP Zach Von Tersch (2-0, 1.88) squaring off against Duke’s RHP Grant Monroe (3-1, 3.00).
2008 GEORGIA TECH BASEBALL
Duke at #17 Georgia Tech
March 22, 2008 at Atlanta, Ga. (Russ Chandler Stadium)
Duke 2 (18-5,3-5 ACC)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg.
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Alex Hassan cf........... 4 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 1 .413
Matt Williams c.......... 1 1 0 0 1 0 6 1 2 .366
Jeremy Gould lf.......... 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 .420
Kyle Kreick 1b........... 4 0 1 1 0 1 7 1 1 .322
Gabriel Saade 2b......... 4 0 1 0 0 2 0 3 1 .270
Jonathan Nicolla dh...... 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 .314
Jake Lemmerman ss........ 4 0 1 0 0 0 3 2 0 .261
Ryan McCurdy 3b.......... 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 .319
Tim Sherlock rf.......... 3 0 0 0 1 0 4 0 0 .196
Will Currier p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Ryan Perry p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Dennis O'Grady p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .160
Totals................... 32 2 6 2 2 5 24 8 7
Georgia Tech 4 (17-4,5-3 ACC)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg.
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Jeff Rowland cf.......... 3 2 2 1 1 0 5 0 0 .421
Thomas Nichols 2b........ 4 1 1 0 0 1 5 4 0 .302
Charlie Blackmon rf...... 2 1 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 .342
Derek Dietrich ss........ 4 0 2 1 0 0 1 5 1 .325
Brad Feltes 3b........... 2 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 .288
Luke Murton 1b........... 3 0 0 0 1 1 6 0 3 .240
Tony Plagman 1b......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 .238
Chase Burnette dh........ 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .357
Jay Dantzler lf.......... 4 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 .345
Jason Haniger c.......... 4 0 0 0 0 2 5 0 3 .261
Eddie Burns p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Brad Rulon p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Totals................... 29 4 8 3 4 6 27 10 8
Score by Innings R H E
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Duke................ 000 010 010 - 2 6 1
Georgia Tech........ 100 010 20X - 4 8 1
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E - Lemmerman, J(2); Rowland, J.(2). DP - Duke 1; Georgia Tech 2. LOB - Duke
7; Georgia Tech 8. 2B - Dietrich, D.(6). 3B - Dantzler, J.(1). HR - Rowland,
J.(2). HBP - Williams, M. 2; Blackmon, C.; Burnette, C.. SF - Feltes, B.(2).
SB - Rowland, J.(10); Dietrich, D.(3). CS - Burnette, C.(1).
Duke IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP ERA
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Will Currier........ 6.0 7 2 2 2 6 23 27 80 4.50
Ryan Perry.......... 0.0 1 2 2 2 0 1 3 17 5.27
Dennis O'Grady...... 2.0 0 0 0 0 0 5 6 21 0.00
Georgia Tech IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP ERA
--------------------------------------------------------
Eddie Burns......... 7.0 4 2 1 2 4 26 30 94 2.12
Brad Rulon.......... 2.0 2 0 0 0 1 6 6 29 4.50
Perry, R. faced 3 batters in the 7th.
Burns, E. faced 2 batters in the 8th.
Win - Burns, E. (3-1). Loss - Currier, W. (2-3). Save - Rulon, B. (1).
HBP - by Burns, E. (Williams, M.); by Currier, W. (Blackmon, C.); by Currier, W.
(Burnette, C.); by Burns, E. (Williams, M.). Inherited runners/scored: O'Grady,
D. 2/1; Rulon, B. 2/1. Pitches/strikes: Currier, W. 80/49; Perry, R. 17/7;
O'Grady, D. 21/14; Burns, E. 94/63; Rulon, B. 29/20.
Umpires - HP: Doug Lee 1B: Tim O'Toole 3B: Frank Sylvester
Start: 2:05 pm Time: 2:27 Attendance: 1637
Weather: Sunny, 67 deg, Wind WNW-11mph