The Volunteers’ right-handed starter Luke Hochevar (15-2) and Tech’s starting right-hander Blake Wood (10-1) each threw seven innings but were not involved in the decision. Hochevar struck out 11, allowing five hits, two runs and one earned run, while Wood gave up just one hit, one run, no earned runs and struck out three.
Freshman right-handed hurler Matt Wieters (3-3) took the loss for the Yellow Jackets, throwing two innings, allowing three hits and two earned runs. Five different Yellow Jackets and four different Volunteers had hits in the game.
The Volunteers scored an unearned run with two outs in the top of the first inning on a strikeout that got away from Tech catcher Andy Hawranick and was thrown in to right field to allow UT’s Eli Iorg to score.
Junior Jeremy Slayden singled up the middle with two outs and advanced to second base on freshman Matt Wieter’s walk in the bottom of the fourth inning. Sophomore Wes Hodges then hit a ground ball to the shortstop, which looked like the third out of the inning, but the Tennessee second baseman dropped the throw at second and allowed the inning to continue. Slayden then scored on a passed ball to even the score at 1-1.
Hodges singled up the middle and junior Steven Blackwood doubled to right-center field in the bottom of the sixth inning to put Jackets at second and third with two outs. Hodges then scored the go ahead run for the Jackets on a balk by the Vols’ Hochevar to give Tech its first lead, 2-1.
The Volunteers responded with a rally in the top of the ninth inning on a two-run home run by Fitzgerald with one out and held off the Jackets in the bottom half of the inning for a 3-2 victory.
The Yellow Jackets and Vols will play game two of the best-of-three series on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Russ Chandler Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN 2.
NCAA ATLANTA SUPER REGIONAL - GAME ONE
Tennessee at Georgia Tech
June 10, 2005 at Atlanta, Ga. (Russ Chandler Stadium)
Tennessee 3 (45-19)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg.
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Josh Alley cf............ 5 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 .326
Eli Iorg dh.............. 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .387
J.P. Arencibia c......... 4 0 1 0 0 0 12 2 0 .331
Chase Headley 3b......... 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 .384
Eric King ss............. 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 4 2 .322
Julio Borbon lf.......... 2 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 2 .357
Daniel Beasley lf....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .238
Kelly Edmundson ph...... 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .329
Joey Andrews pr/lf...... 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .222
Michael Rivera 2b........ 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 .329
Rob Fitzgerald rf........ 3 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 .312
Alex Suarez 1b........... 4 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 2 .246
Luke Hochevar p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 -
Sean Watson p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Totals................... 32 3 4 2 3 4 27 8 7
Georgia Tech 2 (45-18)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg.
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Danny Payne cf........... 4 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 1 .287
Tyler Greene ss.......... 5 0 1 0 0 2 1 5 0 .370
Jeff Kindel rf........... 5 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 2 .355
Jeremy Slayden dh........ 4 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 1 .359
Whit Robbins 1b......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 .265
Matt Wieters 1b/p........ 2 0 1 0 1 1 9 1 0 .371
Wes Hodges 3b............ 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 .399
Steven Blackwood lf...... 3 0 1 0 1 2 4 0 0 .340
Andy Hawranick c......... 3 0 0 0 0 1 4 1 4 .293
Mike Trapani 2b.......... 2 0 0 0 1 1 3 1 2 .325
Blake Wood p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 -
Totals................... 31 2 5 0 4 13 27 12 10
Score by Innings R H E
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Tennessee........... 100 000 002 - 3 4 1
Georgia Tech........ 000 101 000 - 2 5 3
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E - Rivera(11); Greene, T.(20); Hawranick, A(6); Wood, B.(1).
DP - Tennessee 1; Georgia Tech 1. LOB - Tennessee 7; Georgia Tech 10.
2B - Blackwood, S(13). HR - Fitzgerald(6).
HBP - Fitzgerald; Wieters, M.; Hawranick, A; Trapani, M..
SH - Rivera(8); Hodges, W.(1).
Tennessee IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP ERA
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Luke Hochevar....... 7.0 5 2 1 3 11 26 31 135 2.09
Sean Watson......... 2.0 0 0 0 1 2 5 8 31 3.04
Georgia Tech IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP ERA
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Blake Wood.......... 7.0 1 1 0 2 3 24 27 104 3.13
Matt Wieters........ 2.0 3 2 2 1 1 8 10 36 2.85
Win - Watson (7-3). Loss - Wieters, M. (3-3). Save - None.
WP - Hochevar(11); Wood, B.(2). HBP - by Wood, B. (Fitzgerald); by Hochevar
(Trapani, M.); by Hochevar (Hawranick, A); by Watson (Wieters, M.).
BK - Hochevar(3). PB - Arencibia(6). Inherited runners/scored: None.
Pitches/strikes: Hochevar 135/78; Watson 31/17; Wood, B. 104/63; Wieters, M. 36/21.
Umpires - HP: Bill Davis 1B: Jeff Henrichs 2B: Randy Bruns 3B: David Rogers
Start: 4:07 pm Time: 2:59 Attendance: 3578