May 25, 2001
ATHENS, Ga. – Brandon Powell homered and drove in two runs to back a complete game effort from Scott Sturkie as third-seeded Coastal Carolina (41-18) defeated No. 2 seed Georgia Tech (41-19), 5-3, in the first round of the NCAA Athens Regional on Friday afternoon at Foley Field.
The Chanticleers advance in the winners bracket where they will face the winner of Friday night’s Georgia-Georgia Southern game on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Yellow Jackets will face the loser of that contest on Saturday at 11 a.m. in an elimination game.
Sturkie (13-5) went the distance for the eighth time in 17 starts, holding the Yellow Jackets to three runs on seven hits. He struck out five and did not issue a walk while facing just one over minimum number of batters over the final seven innings.
Tech starter Rhett Parrott (9-5) took the loss, allowing four runs on seven hits in eight innings of work. Aside from Coastal Carolina’s three-run sixth inning, Parrott faced just three batters over the minimum.
Georgia Tech took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Richard Lewis blasted a ball over the left field fence for his 11th home run of the year. The Yellow Jackets extended the lead to 3-0 in the second on a two-run homer from Jason Perry, his 14th of the season.
Coastal Carolina scratched the scoreboard in the top of the fourth, trimming the lead to 3-1 after Chad Felty walked and eventually came around to score on a two-out RBI single from Randy McGarvey.
The Chanticleers scored three times in the sixth to take a 4-3 lead. Ryan McGraw led off the inning with a walk and scored on Felty’s RBI double to center field. Brandon Powell capped the scoring with a two-run homer to left, his 11th of the year.
Coastal added an insurance run in the top of the ninth. Adam Keim and Luke Johnson drew back-to-back walks. After Keim took third on John Humay’s groundout, he scored on McGraw’s two-out RBI infield single.
The Chanticleers were led offensively by two-hit performances from Powell and Chris Carter, while Tech’s Jason Basil and Victor Menocal each had two hits in a losing effort. The Yellow Jackets’ seven hits were the fewest since being held to five hits on April 21 at Clemson.
The game, which was scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m., did not start until 4:59 p.m. due to rain showers in the Athens area in the morning and early afternoon.
All of Georgia Tech’s postseason games can be heard on WREK-Radio (91.1 FM in Atlanta) and on the internet at www.ramblinwreck.com.
