Tech ran its streak to 16 consecutive wins over Georgia Southern in Statesboro since the 1997 season.
IN GAME ONE, a grand slam from freshman Wes Hodges highlighted a nine-run seventh inning as the Yellow Jackets broke open a 3-1 game and cruised to a 15-6 victory.
Micah Owings (1-0) earned the win in his first start of the year by tossing seven strong innings. The right-hander allowed just one earned run on seven hits while striking out five and not issuing a walk. Freshman Ryan Turner made his collegiate debut and struck out the side in one inning of work in relief.
The game remained scoreless until Steven Blackwood gave Tech a 1-0 led with a solo home run in the top of the fourth inning. But Georgia Southern's Grant Burruss tied the game with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning.
Two runs in the fifth inning, including a RBI single from Blackwood, made the score 3-1 before the Yellow Jackets put the game away with the big seventh inning.
Tech sent 14 hitters to the plate in the seventh inning, which included a two-run single from Clifton Remole and RBI hits from Blackwood and Tyler Greene. Hodges grand slam, the first home run of his collegiate career, capped the scoring in the inning.
The Yellow Jackets added three more runs in the top of the ninth inning on a two-run double from Cameron Lane and a RBI groundout by Mike Nickeas.
Blackwood led the Tech offense with three hits and three RBI, while Remole, Hodges and Greene each had two hits in the game. Eight of Tech's nine starters had at least one hit in the game. Greg Dowling, Brandon Long and Brandon Ponder each had two hits for the Eagles.
Georgia Southern starter Brian Harrison (1-1) took the loss, allowing six runs on eight hits in six-plus innings of work.
WITH TECH TRAILING 4-2 IN THE NIGHTCAP, Brandon Boggs blasted a two-run homer with one out in the top of the ninth inning to tie the score at 4-4. Jeremy Slayden drew a one-out walk before Boggs battled back from an 0-2 count to tie the game with a blast over the right field fence.
The Eagles immediately mounted a rally in the bottom of the ninth inning when Flint Wipke led off the inning with a single and Brandon Burnsed advanced him to second base with a sacrifice bunt. But Tech reliever John Goodman came out of the bullpen to retire Logan Phillips with a ground ball and strike out Brandon Ponder to escape the trouble.
Tech's Tyler Greene led off the top of the tenth with a single through the left side and then moved to second base on a balk. A groundout from Blackwood moved Greene to third base, and Micah Owings drew a walk to put runners on the corners with only one out. GSU reliever Dustin Evans struck out Remole for the second out of the inning, but Hodges delivered a two-out RBI single to give the Yellow Jackets a 5-4 lead.
The Eagles again mounted a rally in the bottom of the 10th inning when James Payne laced a one-out single to left field. But Goodman retired Dowling on a pop up and Ryan Self retired Burruss on a deep fly ball to center field to preserve the 5-4 Tech victory.
Goodman (1-0) earned the win in his first collegiate appearance after escaping a jam in the bottom of the ninth inning. Self, who recorded the final out of the game, earned his first career save.
Georgia Southern reliever Dustin Evans (0-2) took the loss, allowing three runs in three innings of work.
Georgia Southern jumped to a 4-0 lead after the first three innings of the game. The Eagles put three runs on the board in the first inning with a pair of home runs, a solo shot from Long to lead off the frame and a two-run blast from Burruss, his second of the day. Georgia Southern put an unearned run on the board in the third inning when James Payne walked and scored on shortstop Tyler Greene's throwing error.
Meanwhile, Georgia Southern starter John Carroll held the Tech offense at bay as he faced just two batters over the minimum over the first five innings. The right-hander held the Yellow Jackets to two runs on seven hits in seven innings but got no decision in the game.
Tech broke through in the seventh inning with two runs to cut the lead to 4-2. Remole led off the inning with a single, and a single from Jeremy Slayden put runners on first and second with one out. After a wild pitch advanced both baserunners, Remole scored when Brandon Boggs legged out an infield hit to second base. Hawranick was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Patterson drove in the second run of the inning with a sacrifice fly, but Carroll retired Greene on a fly out to end the rally.
Tech starter Brian Burks allowed four runs on six hits in four-plus innings but did not figure in the decision. Reliever Andrew Kown held Georgia Southern scoreless for four innings, striking out four.
Georgia Tech will host Savannah State on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in the Yellow Jackets' home opener at Russ Chandler Stadium.
2003 GEORGIA TECH BASEBALL
#4 GEORGIA TECH at GEORGIA SOUTHERN (Game 1)
Feb 15, 2004 at Statesboro, Ga. (J.I. Clements)
GEORGIA TECH 15 (1-0) GEORGIA SOUTHERN 6 (2-2)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
Eric Patterson 2b.......... 5 1 1 0 Brandon Long cf............ 5 1 2 1
Jake Hall 2b.............. 1 1 1 0 James Payne lf............. 5 0 1 0
Tyler Greene ss............ 4 1 2 1 Greg Dowling 1b............ 5 0 2 1
Mike Trapani ss........... 0 1 0 0 Grant Burress dh........... 4 1 1 1
Steven Blackwood lf........ 4 3 3 3 Jason Hurst rf............. 5 0 0 0
Mike Nickeas c............. 4 1 0 1 Flint Wipke c.............. 4 0 1 0
Clifton Remole 1b.......... 5 1 2 2 Logan Phillips ss.......... 3 2 1 0
Whit Robbins ph/1b........ 1 0 0 0 Brandon Ponder 3b.......... 3 1 2 0
Micah Owings p............. 3 0 1 0 Luke Gordon ph............ 1 1 1 2
Cameron Lane ph/dh........ 2 0 1 2 Brandon Burnsed 2b......... 3 0 0 1
Jeremy Slayden rf.......... 5 1 0 0 Brian Harrison p........... 0 0 0 0
Brandon Boggs cf........... 3 2 1 0 Everett Teaford p......... 0 0 0 0
Wes Hodges 3b.............. 5 3 2 4 Thomas Turner p........... 0 0 0 0
Ryan Turner p............. 0 0 0 0 Rhett Barber p............ 0 0 0 0
Blake Wood p.............. 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 42 15 14 13 Totals..................... 38 6 11 6
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
GEORGIA TECH........ 000 120 903 - 15 14 3
GEORGIA SOUTHERN.... 000 100 203 - 6 11 3
-------------------------------------------
E - Greene, T.(1); Trapani, M.(1); Turner, R.(1); Dowling, G. 2(3); Burnsed, B.(2).
DP - GA. SOUTHERN 1. LOB - GEORGIA TECH 10; GA. SOUTHERN 8. 2B - Hall, J.(1);
Greene, T.(1); Remole, C.(1); Lane, C.(1); Boggs, B.(1); Hodges, W.(1); Dowling,
G.(3). HR - Blackwood, S(1); Hodges, W.(1); Burress, G.(1); Gordon, L.(2).
HBP - Burress, G.. SF - Burnsed, B.(1). SB - Greene, T.(1); Blackwood, S(1); Burress,
G.(2). CS - Greene, T.(1).
GEORGIA TECH IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO NP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Micah Owings W,1-0........ 7.0 7 3 1 0 5 0 0 1 0 27 29 9 7 91
Ryan Turner ............... 1.0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 4 4 0 0 18
Blake Wood ................ 1.0 4 3 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 7 8 0 1 30
GEORGIA SOUTHERN IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO NP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian Harrison L,1-1...... 6.0 8 6 4 3 3 1 0 0 0 26 29 8 5 106
Everett Teaford ........... 0.1 2 5 4 2 1 0 0 0 0 4 6 0 0 31
Thomas Turner ............. 1.2 2 1 1 3 2 0 0 0 0 7 10 2 1 36
Rhett Barber .............. 1.0 2 3 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 5 7 1 1 25
WP - Harrison, B.(1). HBP - by Owings, M. (Burress, G.). BK - Turner, R.(1). Inherited
runners/scored: Teaford, E. 2/2; Turner, T. 3/3. Pitches/strikes: Owings, M. 91/69;
Turner, R. 18/13; Wood, B. 30/17; Harrison, B. 106/67; Teaford, E. 31/16; Turner, T.
36/19; Barber, R. 25/11.
Strikeouts - Patterson, E 2; Greene, T.; Remole, C.; Robbins, W.; Owings, M.; Lane,
C.; Dowling, G.; Burress, G. 3; Hurst, J. 2; Wipke, F. 3; Burnsed, B..
Walks - Greene, T.; Trapani, M.; Blackwood, S 2; Nickeas, M. 2; Owings, M.; Slayden, J.;
Boggs, B. 2; Phillips, L..
Umpires - HP: Arthur Schmidt 1B: David Savage 3B: Jason Bradley
Start: 12:29 pm Time: 3:12 Attendance: 1310
2003 GEORGIA TECH BASEBALL
#4 GEORGIA TECH at GEORGIA SOUTHERN (Game 2)
Feb 15, 2004 at Statesboro, Ga. (J.I. Clements)
GEORGIA TECH 5 (2-0) GEORGIA SOUTHERN 4 (2-3)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
Eric Patterson 2b.......... 4 0 1 1 Brandon Long cf............ 4 1 1 1
Tyler Greene ss............ 5 1 2 0 Luke Gordon ph............ 1 0 0 0
Steven Blackwood lf........ 4 0 0 0 James Payne lf............. 3 1 2 0
Micah Owings dh............ 4 0 0 0 Greg Dowling 1b............ 5 1 2 0
Clifton Remole 1b.......... 5 1 2 0 Grant Burress dh........... 5 1 2 2
Wes Hodges 3b.............. 5 0 1 1 Jason Hurst rf............. 3 0 0 0
Jeremy Slayden rf.......... 3 1 1 0 Trey Hunter rf............ 0 0 0 0
Cameron Lane pr/rf........ 1 1 0 0 Flint Wipke c.............. 4 0 1 0
Brandon Boggs cf........... 4 1 2 3 Travis Adkinson 3b......... 3 0 0 0
Andy Hawranick c........... 2 0 1 0 Brandon Burnsed ph/2b..... 0 0 0 0
Mike Nickeas ph/c......... 1 0 0 0 Logan Phillips ss.......... 4 0 0 0
Brian Burks p.............. 0 0 0 0 Brandon Ponder 2b/3b....... 4 0 1 0
Andrew Kown p............. 0 0 0 0 John Carroll p............. 0 0 0 0
Jordan Crews p............ 0 0 0 0 Dustin Evans p............ 0 0 0 0
John Goodman p............ 0 0 0 0
Ryan Self p............... 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 38 5 10 5 Totals..................... 36 4 9 3
Score by Innings R H E
---------------------------------------------
GEORGIA TECH........ 000 000 202 1 - 5 10 1
GEORGIA SOUTHERN.... 301 000 000 0 - 4 9 0
---------------------------------------------
E - Greene, T.(2). DP - GEORGIA TECH 1. LOB - GEORGIA TECH 8; GA. SOUTHERN 6.
2B - Remole, C.(2); Dowling, G.(1). HR - Boggs, B.(1); Long, B.(1); Burress, G.(2).
HBP - Blackwood, S; Hawranick, A. SH - Burnsed, B.(1). SF - Patterson, E(1).
CS - Patterson, E(1); Payne, J.(1).
GEORGIA TECH IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO NP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian Burks ............... 4.0 6 4 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 18 20 1 9 71
Andrew Kown ............... 4.0 1 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 11 12 3 3 45
Jordan Crews .............. 0.1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 3
John Goodman W,1-0........ 1.1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 5 5 1 2 22
Ryan Self S,1............. 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 3
GEORGIA SOUTHERN IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO NP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Carroll .............. 7.0 7 2 2 0 5 1 0 2 0 26 29 11 4 104
Dustin Evans L,0-2........ 3.0 3 3 3 2 2 0 1 0 0 12 14 1 6 55
WP - Carroll, J.(1). HBP - by Carroll, J. (Blackwood, S); by Carroll, J. (Hawranick, A).
BK - Evans, D.(1). Inherited runners/scored: Kown, A. 1/0; Goodman, J. 1/0; Self, R.
1/0. Pitches/strikes: Burks, B. 71/41; Kown, A. 45/30; Crews, J. 3/2; Goodman, J. 22/13;
Self, R. 3/3; Carroll, J. 104/68; Evans, D. 55/29.
Strikeouts - Patterson, E; Owings, M. 2; Remole, C.; Slayden, J. 2; Boggs, B.;
Dowling, G.; Hurst, J.; Wipke, F.; Phillips, L. 2; Ponder, B. 2. Walks - Owings, M.;
Slayden, J.; Payne, J. 2; Hurst, J..
Umpires - HP: David Savage 1B: Jason Bradley 3B: Arthur Schmidt
Start: 4:15 pm Time: 3:06 Attendance: 1310