Tech's victory was the Yellow Jackets' 16th-straight win over Georgia Southern dating back to 1998. The Yellow Jackets have swept the four-game series from the Eagles in each of the last four years.
Watchko (3-1), making his first start since Mar. 16, held the Eagles to one run on eight hits in seven innings of work. He did not walk a batter and struck out two. The win was Watchko's first victory since Feb. 23.
Tech took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning with an RBI double from Patterson and a sacrifice fly from Jeremy Slayden. Georgia Southern's A.J. Zickgraf doubled and scored on an RBI groundout from Chad Hall, trimming the lead to 2-1 in the top of the fifth inning.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Patterson scored on a passed ball and Matthew Boggs came home on Victor Menocal's RBI single to make the score 4-1. Menocal's hit extended his career-long hitting streak to 26 games, two games shy of matching the all-time Georgia Tech record.
The Yellow Jackets broke the game open with three runs in the sixth inning to push the lead to 7-1. Patterson and Mike Nickeas each delivered RBI doubles in the frame, while Brandon Boggs added an RBI single. Tech added two more runs in the seventh, making the score 9-1, on RBI singles from Matt Murton and Wes Rynders.
The Eagles scored two unearned runs in the top of the ninth inning to provide the final 9-3 margin.
Patterson led the Georgia Tech offense with three hits and two RBI, while Murton and Nickeas added two hits apiece.
The Eagles' Grant Burress went 3-for-4 in the loss. Georgia Southern starter Brett Lewis (5-4) took the loss, allowing three runs in 4 1/3 innings.
Georgia Tech will return to action when the Yellow Jackets open a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series against Duke at Russ Chandler Stadium at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
2002 GEORGIA TECH BASEBALL
GEORGIA SOUTHERN at GEORGIA TECH
April 3, 2002 at Atlanta, Ga. (Russ Chandler Stadium)
GEORGIA SOUTHERN 3 (21-12) GEORGIA TECH 9 (24-4)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
Chris Walker cf............ 5 0 2 0 Eric Patterson 2b.......... 4 1 3 2
Brendan Gilligan rf........ 3 0 0 0 Jake Hall ph/3b........... 1 0 0 0
Brandon Williams ph/rf.... 1 0 0 0 Victor Menocal ss.......... 3 0 1 1
Jemel Spearman ss.......... 4 0 0 0 Davis Myers ph/ss......... 1 0 0 0
Grant Burruss 1b........... 4 0 3 0 Jeremy Slayden dh.......... 3 0 1 1
Matt Hammond dh............ 3 0 1 0 Garrett Groce pr/dh....... 1 1 0 0
Brandon Burnsed ph........ 1 1 0 0 Tyler Parker 1b............ 3 0 0 0
Rocky Baker 3b............. 4 1 1 1 Clifton Remole ph/1b...... 0 1 0 0
A.J. Zickgraf c............ 4 1 2 0 Jason Perry rf............. 4 0 0 0
J.R. Revere lf............. 4 0 0 0 Matt Murton lf............. 4 1 2 1
Chad Hall 2b............... 4 0 1 2 Matthew Swain lf.......... 0 0 0 0
Brett Lewis p.............. 0 0 0 0 Brandon Boggs cf........... 3 1 1 1
Mike Thompson p........... 0 0 0 0 Wes Rynders ph/cf......... 1 0 1 1
Brian Harrison p.......... 0 0 0 0 Mike Nickeas c............. 4 2 2 1
Michael Thigpen p......... 0 0 0 0 Cameron Lane c............ 0 0 0 0
Matthew Boggs 3b/2b........ 1 2 0 0
Jeff Watchko p............. 0 0 0 0
Jordan Crews p............ 0 0 0 0
Drew Taylor p............. 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 37 3 10 3 Totals..................... 33 9 11 8
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
GEORGIA SOUTHERN.... 000 010 002 - 3 10 2
GEORGIA TECH........ 002 023 20X - 9 11 2
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E - Lewis; Thompson; Myers, D.(2); Boggs, B.(3). LOB - GSU 7; GEORGIA TECH 6. 2B -
Walker(6); Burruss(5); Zickgraf(6); Patterson, E 2(5); Nickeas, M.(3). HBP - Boggs,
M.. SF - Slayden, J.(3). SB - Menocal, V.(5); Groce, G. 2(2); Remole, C.(2). CS -
Burruss(1); Murton, M.(4).
GEORGIA SOUTHERN IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO NP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brett Lewis L,5-4......... 4.1 2 3 3 2 3 0 0 1 0 14 18 4 5 74
Mike Thompson ............. 1.1 5 4 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 8 9 1 0 36
Brian Harrison ............ 1.1 4 2 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 8 9 2 1 47
Michael Thigpen ........... 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 3 2 0 9
GEORGIA TECH IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO NP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeff Watchko W,3-1........ 7.0 8 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 28 28 6 12 79
Jordan Crews .............. 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 3 16
Drew Taylor ............... 1.0 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6 6 1 2 17
HB - Lewis. BK - Taylor, D.(1). PB - Zickgraf(3). Inherited runners/scored: Thompson
1/1; Harrison 2/1. Pitches/strikes: Lewis 74/42; Thompson 36/20; Harrison 47/28; Thigpen
9/5; Watchko, J. 79/56; Crews, J. 16/10; Taylor, D. 17/13.
Strikeouts - Spearman; Baker; Slayden, J.; Groce, G.; Parker, T.; Perry, J. 3;
Boggs, B.. Walks - Menocal, V.; Remole, C.; Boggs, M. 2.
Umpires - HP: Danny Everett 1B: Tony Thompson 3B: Ken Couch
Start: 4:05 pm Time: 2:43 Attendance: 1009
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