“Certainly we’re disappointed in the outcome today, but give Tennessee a lot of credit” said Georgia Tech head coach Danny Hall. “We didn’t have any answers for Adkins. He pitched very well.”
With the win, the Volunteers (46-19) win the NCAA Atlanta Super Regional and advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., to face the winner of the NCAA Gainesville Super Regional between Florida and Florida State. The Yellow Jackets conclude the season with a 45-19 record.
“This is probably the best team I’ve ever been on and coached,” said Tennessee head coach Rod Delmonico. “I’m very lucky and blessed to have the opportunity to coach these young men this year.”
Adkins (10-4) surrendered seven hits, allowing three runs, three earned runs, and struck out 11 for the Volunteers. Left-hander Lee Hyde (7-4) worked 2.2 innings as the starting pitcher for Tech, allowing four hits, five runs, four earned runs and struck out two.
Tennessee’s Eric King, J.P. Arencibia and Julio Borbon each drove in two runs. Junior Jeff Kindel led Tech offensively, with a 2-for-3 performance, and one RBI. Junior Tyler Greene finished the game 2-for-4, reaching the 100-hit plateau for the Jackets (13th player in school history to reach that feat).
The Volunteers threatened early with runners at second and third with one out in the bottom of the first inning. Tech’s Hyde pitched his way out of the jam with a strikeout and a fly out to left field to keep the Tennessee off the scoreboard.
The Vols broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the third inning with six runs, highlighted by a three-run home run by Rivera, his first of the season, for a 6-0 lead.
Rob Fitzgerald drove in a run and Borbon drove in two more for Tennessee in the bottom of the fourth inning to increase the advantage to 9-0 after four innings.
Junior Mike Trapani drove in Tech’s first run of the game in the top of the fifth inning with a single up the middle to make the score 9-1.
Rivera drove in his fourth run of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning with two outs on a single to right field to push the Vols’ lead to 10-1.
The Yellow Jackets scored two runs in the top of the eighth inning off RBI hits by Kindel and sophomore Wes Hodges to bring Tech within seven, 10-3.
The Volunteers’ Arencibia drove in two runs with a two-double and King drove in another run to push three more runs across in the bottom of the eighth inning to conclude the scoring.
NOTES: Tyler Greene tallied his 100th hit of the season, becoming the 13th Yellow Jacket to reach that plateau. Wes Hodges finished the season with 106 hits, tying former Tech standout Jason Varitek, for fourth place all-time for a single-season. It is the fourth time in program history that two players tallied 100 hits in a season (Hodges and Greene). Matt Wieters did not tally a hit for the first time in 16 games.
NCAA ATLANTA SUPER REGIONAL - GAME TWO
Georgia Tech vs. Tennessee
June 11, 2005 at Atlanta, Ga. (Russ Chandler Stadium)
Georgia Tech 3 (45-19)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg.
------------------------------------------------------------
Danny Payne cf........... 3 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 .284
Cameron Lane ph/cf...... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .233
Tyler Greene ss.......... 4 1 2 0 0 1 1 3 0 .372
Jeff Kindel rf........... 3 1 2 1 0 1 1 0 0 .359
Wes Hodges 3b............ 4 0 1 1 0 0 1 3 2 .397
Matt Wieters 1b.......... 3 0 0 0 1 2 9 1 1 .366
Jeremy Slayden dh........ 4 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 2 .352
Andy Hawranick c......... 4 0 1 0 0 0 4 2 0 .293
Steven Blackwood lf...... 3 1 0 0 1 2 3 0 1 .336
Mike Trapani 2b.......... 2 0 1 1 0 0 3 1 0 .327
Jake Hall ph/2b......... 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .116
Lee Hyde p............... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 -
Jordan Crews p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Jared Hyatt p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Tim Ladd p.............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Brad Rulon p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Ryan Turner p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 -
Jason Neighborgall p.... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
John Michael Vidic p.... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Totals................... 33 3 7 3 2 12 24 12 6
Tennessee 13 (46-19)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg.
------------------------------------------------------------
Josh Alley cf............ 3 0 2 1 3 0 1 0 2 .331
Eric King ss............. 5 2 2 2 0 0 1 4 2 .323
J.P. Arencibia c......... 5 0 1 2 0 0 9 4 3 .328
Chase Headley 3b......... 6 3 4 0 0 1 1 3 1 .391
Eli Iorg dh.............. 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 .385
Rob Fitzgerald rf........ 4 2 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 .319
Michael Rivera 2b........ 3 1 2 4 1 1 1 3 0 .333
Julio Borbon lf.......... 3 2 1 2 1 0 0 0 2 .357
Alex Suarez 1b........... 2 2 1 0 1 0 14 0 0 .249
James Adkins p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 -
Sean Watson p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Totals................... 35 13 16 13 7 3 27 15 12
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Georgia Tech........ 000 010 020 - 3 7 1
Tennessee........... 006 310 03X - 13 16 0
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E - Hyde, L.(1). DP - Georgia Tech 2. LOB - Georgia Tech 6; Tennessee 12.
2B - Kindel, J.(23); Arencibia(16); Headley(24); Iorg(19). HR - Rivera(1).
HBP - Kindel, J.; King; Rivera; Suarez. SH - Arencibia(4); Borbon(6);
Suarez(11). SF - Iorg(5). SB - Greene, T.(31); Blackwood, S(3).
CS - Trapani, M.(4).
Georgia Tech IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP ERA
--------------------------------------------------------
Lee Hyde............ 2.2 4 5 4 1 2 10 17 55 4.68
Jordan Crews........ 0.1 6 4 4 0 0 7 7 19 4.96
Jared Hyatt......... 0.1 1 0 0 1 0 1 3 10 4.60
Tim Ladd............ 1.1 1 1 1 2 0 4 6 22 5.50
Brad Rulon.......... 0.0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 5 4.94
Ryan Turner......... 2.1 2 0 0 0 0 8 8 33 3.31
Jason Neighborgall.. 0.1 0 3 3 3 1 1 4 20 7.13
John Michael Vidic.. 0.2 1 0 0 0 0 3 3 7 3.24
Tennessee IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP ERA
--------------------------------------------------------
James Adkins........ 7.2 7 3 3 1 11 29 31 137 3.22
Sean Watson......... 1.1 0 0 0 1 1 4 5 21 2.99
Crews faced three batters in the 4th.
Rulon faced one batter in the 5th.
Win - Adkins (10-4). Loss - Hyde, L. (7-4). Save - Watson (8).
WP - Adkins(5). HBP - by Hyde 3 (King, Rivera, Suarez); by Adkins (Kindel, J.).
Inherited runners/scored: Crews, J. 1/1; Hyatt, J. 2/2; Ladd, T. 2/0; Rulon, B. 2/1;
Turner, R. 2/0; Vidic, J. 3/2; Watson 1/0. Pitches/strikes: Hyde, L. 55/33;
Crews, J. 19/13; Hyatt, J. 10/4; Ladd, T. 22/11; Rulon, B. 5/3; Turner, R. 33/21;
Neighborgall 20/7; Vidic, J. 7/4; Adkins 137/83; Watson 21/12.
Umpires - HP: Jeff Henrichs 1B: Randy Bruns 2B: David Rogers 3B: Bill Davis
Start: 1:06 pm Time: 3:14 Attendance: 3857