The Yellow Jackets improved to 8-1 with the win, while the Catamounts dropped to 3-5 on the season.
McGuire (2-0) faced just three batters over the minimum. He allowed a leadoff home run in the second inning to J.C. Lyons, but settled in after that, allowing just one run past first base over his final six innings of work.
Brad Rulon pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Chris Hicks worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth to pick up his second save of the season.
Tech got on the board in the second inning when Derek Dietrich hit a two-run home run, the first of his career, over the right field wall. The Jackets added another run in the third inning when Jason Haniger hit a leadoff double, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Chris House, and scored on an RBI groundout by Thomas Nichols.
Haniger went 3-for-3 with two doubles and two runs scored to pace the Yellow Jacket offense. Brad Feltes added two hits for Georgia Tech.
Haniger again ignited Tech’s offense in the eighth inning with a leadoff single. He moved to second when House worked a walk off Catamount reliever Chris Masters and advanced to third on a groundout by Charlie Blackmon before scoring on a wild pitch by Masters.
Western Carolina starter Drew Saberhagen (0-1) suffered his first loss of the season by giving up three runs, only one of which was earned, on three hits in seven innings of work.
Georgia Tech returns to action Wednesday afternoon when it hosts Kennesaw State at 4 p.m. The game is scheduled to be aired on ACC Select, and live stats will be available at Ramblinwreck.com.
2008 GEORGIA TECH BASEBALL
Western Carolina at #19 Georgia Tech
March 4, 2008 at Atlanta, Ga. (Russ Chandler Stadium)
Western Carolina 1 (3-5)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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Nick Liles 3b............ 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0
Barrett Shaft lf......... 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 3
Blake Murphy c........... 4 0 0 0 0 2 6 1 1
J.C. Lyons cf............ 3 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0
Brent Greer ss........... 4 0 1 0 0 0 3 5 0
Ryan Mathews rf.......... 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0
Tyler Kirkpatrick 1b..... 4 0 2 0 0 2 8 4 0
Andy John dh............. 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
Adam Baker ph........... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Dylan de Graaf ph....... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3
Matt Johns 2b............ 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0
Drew Saberhagen p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 0
Chris Masters p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Totals................... 30 1 5 1 4 10 24 16 7
Georgia Tech 4 (8-1)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Chris House lf........... 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0
Thomas Nichols 2b........ 3 0 0 1 0 0 2 2 1
Jason Garofalo ph/2b.... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Charlie Blackmon rf...... 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Luke Murton dh........... 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Tony Plagman 1b.......... 3 1 0 0 0 2 9 2 0
Brad Feltes 3b........... 3 0 2 0 0 1 0 3 0
Derek Dietrich ss........ 3 1 1 2 0 1 1 3 1
Jay Dantzler cf.......... 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0
Jason Haniger c.......... 3 2 3 0 0 0 10 0 0
Deck McGuire p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0
Brad Rulon p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Chris Hicks p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 28 4 7 3 1 6 27 11 3
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Western Carolina.... 010 000 000 - 1 5 1
Georgia Tech........ 021 000 01X - 4 7 0
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E - Johns (1). DP - W. Carolina 1; Georgia Tech 1. LOB - W. Carolina 7;
Georgia Tech 3. 2B - Haniger 2 (3). HR - Lyons (3); Dietrich (1).
HBP - Blackmon. SH - Liles House (2). SB - Feltes (1). CS - Blackmon (1).
Western Carolina IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP
--------------------------------------------------
Drew Saberhagen..... 7.0 6 3 1 0 5 24 26 99
Chris Masters....... 1.0 1 1 1 1 1 4 5 28
Georgia Tech IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP
--------------------------------------------------
Deck McGuire........ 7.0 1 1 1 3 8 20 24 92
Brad Rulon.......... 1.0 1 0 0 1 1 4 5 20
Chris Hicks......... 1.0 3 0 0 0 1 6 6 13
Win - McGuire, D. (2-0). Loss - Saberhagen (0-1). Save - Hicks, C. (2).
WP - Masters(1). HBP - by Saberhagen (Blackmon). Inherited runners/scored:
None. Pitches/strikes: Saberhagen 99/64; Masters 28/14; McGuire, D. 92/56;
Rulon, B. 20/13; Hicks, C. 13/10.
Umpires - HP: Darion Padgett 1B: Arthur Schmidt 3B: Steve Manders
Start: 4:15 pm Time: 2:11 Attendance: 806
Weather: Cloudy, 57 degrees, wind SW-16 mph