Slayden went 4-for-5 with two home runs, his third and fourth of the season, and a career-high six RBI. Danny Payne, Andy Hawranick and Michael Fisher each hit their second home runs of the year, and Whit Robbins hit his first home run of the campaign.
Payne went 4-for-5 with five runs scored and Wes Hodges had three hits in six at bats. Robbins, Fisher, Tyler Greene and Steven Blackwood each had two hits as Tech outhit William & Mary 20-11.
Tim Gustafson (1-1) earned the win in his first career start, working five innings and allowing four earned runs. After a rough second inning in which the Tribe scored seven runs, including four unearned thanks to three Yellow Jacket errors, Gustafson worked the next three innings and allowed one run.
Freshman Tim Ladd earned his first save by working the final four innings, allowing one run on two hits.
The Yellow Jackets jumped to a 5-0 lead in the first inning, including home runs from Slayden and Payne and an RBI single from Steven Blackwood, but the Tribe answered with seven runs in the second to take a 7-5 lead. Terry Revere hit a grand slam and the Jackets committed three errors that led to four unearned runs.
Tech tied the game at 7-7 in the bottom of the second inning on a two-run homer from Slayden. A three-run third inning, highlighted by a homer from Robbins, gave the Yellow Jackets a 10-7 lead.
After the Tribe pulled within 10-8 on Jon Rhymes' RBI single in the top of the fifth, the Yellow Jackets answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning on a home run from Hawranick and an RBI single from Slayden.
A four-run sixth inning made the score 16-8. Fisher hit a two-run homer, his second in as many games, Wes Hodges had an RBI double and Tyler Greene had an RBI single. An RBI double from Robbins in the seventh and an RBI single from William & Mary's Chris Rahl in the eighth provided the final 17-9 margin.
Revere, Rahl, Greg Sexton and Jeff Lunardi each had two hits for the Tribe.
William & Mary starter Joe Kontakevich (1-1) allowed seven runs in 1.2 innings and was charged with the loss.
Georgia Tech will host Georgia Southern on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
2005 GEORGIA TECH BASEBALL
William & Mary at #8 Georgia Tech
March 8, 2005 at Atlanta, Ga. (Russ Chandler Stadium)
William & Mary 9 (9-5) Georgia Tech 17 (12-2)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
Rhymes, Jon c.............. 5 1 1 1 Danny Payne cf............. 5 5 4 2
McWhorter, Brent lf........ 3 0 0 0 Tyler Greene ss............ 3 2 2 1
Murray, Chad ph........... 1 1 1 0 Jeremy Slayden rf.......... 5 2 4 6
Grieve, Sean lf........... 0 0 0 0 Wes Hodges 3b.............. 6 1 3 1
Rahl, Chris rf............. 5 1 2 1 Matt Wieters dh............ 3 1 0 0
Decarlo, Mike dh........... 5 0 0 0 Steven Blackwood lf........ 6 1 2 1
Rhymes, Will 2b............ 4 1 1 2 Whit Robbins 1b............ 4 1 2 3
Morosky, Bryan ph......... 1 0 0 0 Andy Hawranick c........... 4 2 1 1
Lunardi, Jeff 1b........... 5 1 2 1 Michael Fisher 2b.......... 4 2 2 2
Padgett, Kyle ss........... 5 1 0 0 Tim Gustafson p............ 0 0 0 0
Sexton, Greg 3b............ 4 2 2 0 Tim Ladd p................ 0 0 0 0
Revere, Terry cf........... 4 1 2 4
Kantakevich, Joe p......... 0 0 0 0
Vernon, Pete p............ 0 0 0 0
Roberts, Devin p.......... 0 0 0 0
Roenker, Joe p............ 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 42 9 11 9 Totals..................... 40 17 20 17
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
William & Mary...... 070 010 010 - 9 11 2
Georgia Tech........ 523 024 10X - 17 20 5
-------------------------------------------
E - J. Rhymes; McWhorter; Greene, T. 2(4); Hodges, W. 2(5); Gustafson, T(1). DP -
Wm. & Mary 1. LOB - Wm. & Mary 7; Georgia Tech 10. 2B - Murray; Payne, D.(3);
Hodges, W.(7); Robbins, W.(6). 3B - Lunardi. HR - Revere; Payne, D.(3); Slayden, J.
2(4); Robbins, W.(1); Hawranick, A(2); Fisher, M.(2). SH - McWhorter; Greene, T.(2).
SF - Robbins, W.(2). SB - Sexton; Greene, T. 2(9); Blackwood, S(1); Fisher, M.(1).
CS - Slayden, J.(1).
William & Mary IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO NP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kantakevich, Joe L,1-1.... 1.2 7 7 7 2 1 0 0 0 0 10 14 2 2 62
Vernon, Pete .............. 4.0 8 8 7 4 1 0 2 0 0 19 23 3 6 90
Roberts, Devin ............ 1.1 4 2 2 3 4 0 0 0 0 8 11 0 0 46
Roenker, Joe .............. 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 2 14
Georgia Tech IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO NP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tim Gustafson W,1-1....... 5.0 9 8 4 0 3 0 0 0 0 28 29 7 5 95
Tim Ladd S,1.............. 4.0 2 1 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 14 14 7 3 36
WP - Ladd, T.(3). BK - Vernon 2. Inherited runners/scored: Vernon 1/0; Roberts 1/1.
Pitches/strikes: J. Kantakevi 62/37; Vernon 90/44; Roberts 46/25; Roenker 14/8;
Gustafson, T 95/67; Ladd, T. 36/23.
Strikeouts - Rahl; DeCarlo; W. Rhymes; Padgett; Revere; Greene, T.; Slayden, J.;
Wieters, M. 2; Blackwood, S; Hawranick, A 2. Walks - Payne, D.; Greene, T. 2;
Slayden, J.; Wieters, M. 3; Hawranick, A; Fisher, M..
Umpires - HP: Ken Couch 1B: Steve Manders 3B: Tony Thompson
Start: 4:05 pm Time: 2:50 Attendance: 787