May 11, 2004
ATLANTA – Clifton Remole went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI to lead No. 15 Georgia Tech (31-17) to a 12-5 win over No. 12 Georgia (33-16) before a record crowd of 28,836 on Tuesday night at Turner Field.
The victory extended the Yellow Jackets’ season-long winning streak to 10 games, while the Bulldogs’ season-long streak of 12 straight wins was snapped. Tech won the regular season series with Georgia, 2-1.
The attendance of 28,836 marked the second largest crowd to ever watch a college baseball game, behind a crowd of 40,106 at Petco Park on Mar. 11 of this year in a game between San Diego State and Houston. The largest crowd to watch a college baseball game prior to the start of the 2004 season was 27,673 in a 2002 regular-season game between LSU and Tulane at the Superdome.
Proceeds from the Spring Baseball Classic, which also included a high school game between Marist and St. Pius, benefited Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. A check for $1,420,700 from advance ticket sales was presented prior to the game.
Tech’s Brian Burks (5-5) earned the win in relief, working 2 1/3 scoreless innings. Starter Lee Hyde went 3 1/3, allowing three runs on four hits and striking out five.
The Yellow Jackets outhit the Bulldogs, 13-10, including two hits from Eric Patterson. Remole, Steven Blackwood, Micah Owings and Mike Nickeas each drove in two runs. Tech, which played errorless defense, was aided by four Georgia errors in the game.
Tech jumped on Georgia starter Matt Woods (2-2) for three runs in the top of the first inning. Patterson led off the game with a triple and scored on Wes Hodges’ RBI double. After the next two Tech batters were retired, Brandon Boggs reached when left fielder Bobby Felmy slipped and dropped a fly ball. Remole followed with a RBI single that scored Boggs.
The Yellow Jackets extended the lead to 7-0 in the top of the fourth inning with four runs. After the first two hitters were quickly retired, Whit Robbins started the rally with a double. Patterson legged out an infield single, and a walk to Hodges loaded the bases. Blackwood drove in two runs with a single and Owings drove in two more runs with a double off the center field wall.
Georgia immediately answered with three runs in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to 7-3. Marshall Szabo singled and Josh Morris was hit by a pitch before Joey Side had a RBI double, Clint Sammons had a RBI single and Derek Smith added a RBI double.
Tech countered with two runs in the top of the fifth on a pair of sacrifice flies from Nickeas and Tyler Greene to make the score 9-3. The Jackets added three more runs in the sixth, including a RBI single from Remole and a RBI groundout from Nickeas, to extend the lead to 12-4.
Georgia scored its final two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning on a pinch-hit two-run home run by Matt Robbins, brother of Georgia Tech’s first baseman Whit Robbins.
Georgia Tech will host Clemson for a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series this weekend at Russ Chandler Stadium. The series begins on Friday at 7 p.m. and continues on Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. each day. Friday and Saturday’s games will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net South.
