May 24, 2007

Championship Site | Box Score | Quotes

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Virginia's Brandon Marsh had two hits and scored twice as the Cavaliers moved to within one win of reaching the championship game of the Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Tournament following a 4-1 win over Georgia Tech on Thursday.

A win over North Carolina on Saturday will put Virginia in Sunday's finals for the second time in three years. The Cavs lost to Georgia Tech 4-3 in the 2005 ACC title game.

Virginia (43-13, 19-9) broke a 1-1 tie in the eighth inning when Marsh singled, stole second and scored on a single by Brandon Guyer. The Cavaliers added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth inning on a double by John Scaglione followed by singles from Pat Wingfield and Mike Mitchell coupled with a Tech error.

Virginia starting pitcher Sean Doolittle went 5 1/3 innings, allowing four hits and one run. Following a 39-minute rain delay during the sixth inning, he walked the first batter to load the bases. Doolittle was replaced by Jake Rule who induced Tech's Luke Murton to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Rule (6-4) tossed 2 1/3 innings to get the win while Jared Hyatt (8-1) suffered his first loss of the year after allowing three runs in two innings.

Georgia Tech (32-24, 15-14) was officially eliminated from the championship game consideration as the Yellow Jackets would lose out in either a two-team or three-team tie in the round-robin format of the tournament.

Rain delayed the start of the second game Thursday evening between North Carolina and North Carolina State.