ORLANDO, Fla. (Mar. 1) – Chan Perry homered and drove in five runs to lead the Atlanta Braves to a 18-4 victory over top-ranked Georgia Tech in an exhibition on Thursday afternoon at the Disney Wide World of Sports. The victory improved the Braves’ all-time record against the Yellow Jackets to 10-0.
The Yellow Jackets took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Matthew Boggs led off the game with a single and came around to score on a RBI double from Richard Lewis.
The Braves came back with three runs in the third inning to make the score 3-1. Rafael Furcal led off the inning with a double and scored on Andruw Jones’ RBI single. Andruw Jones came around to score on a RBI single from B.J. Surhoff, while Chipper Jones, who walked, eventually scored when Dave Martinez grounded into a double play.
Tech immediately answered with three runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 4-3 lead. Bryan Prince led off the frame with a single and was replaced by Victor Menocal on a fielder’s choice. Derik Goffena and Brad Stockton drew back-to-back walks to load the bases with two outs before Wes Rynders’ two-run single plated Menocal and Goffena and Kevin Gergel’s RBI single drove in Brad Stockton.
The Braves retook the lead with two runs in the bottom of the fifth.Wes Helms drew a one-out walk and scored on Chan Perry’s RBI double to left field. A RBI single to right from A.J. Zapp drove in Perry to make the score 5-4.
A two-out, three-run homer from Perry in the sixth made the score 8-4. The Braves batted around in both the seventh and eighth innings to make the score 18-4 and put the game out of reach. Atlanta outhit Georgia Tech, 22-6.
Atlanta’s Matt McClendon picked up the victory, tossing two scoreless innings while striking out five batters. Tech’s Aaron Walker took the loss, allowing eight runs in four innings after starter Kyle Bakker tossed two shutout innings to start the game.
Georgia Tech returns to Russ Chandler Stadium to open a three-game series with No. 25 Rutgers on Friday at 3 p.m. The series continues on Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. each day.
ATLANTA BRAVES 18, GEORGIA TECH 4Georgia Tech 100 300 000 - 4 6 4Atlanta Braves 003 023 64x -18 22 0
Kyle Bakker, Aaron Walker (3), Andy Mitchell (7) and Kevin Gergel. Horacio Ramirez, Christian Parra (3), Matt McClendon (5), Winston Abreu (7), Chris Cumberland (9) and Javy Lopez, Dax Norris (3), Steve Torrealba (6).
HR-Chan Perry (A). 3B-Mark DeRosa (A). 2B-Richard Lewis (GT), Keith Lockahrt (A), Rafael Furcal (A), Chan Perry (A), Travis Wilson (A), Steve Torrealba (A), Cory Aldridge (A). W-McClendon.
L-Walker. S-none. T-2:57. A-4,092.
