May 6, 2001
ATLANTA – Derik Goffena and Jason Perry both homered in a seven-run eighth inning rally to lead 10th-ranked Georgia Tech (36-14) to a 10-5 come from behind victory over visiting Charleston Southern (13-34) on Sunday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium. The Yellow Jackets’ victory completed a three-game sweep of the Buccaneers.
Trailing 5-3 after seven and a half innings, the Yellow Jackets erupted for seven runs in the eighth inning. Goffena led off the inning with a solo homer to left field, his first of the season, before Perry followed with a three run blast, his 11th, three batters later to give Tech a 7-5 lead. Matthew Boggs scored on a wild pitch, while Goffena and Victor Menocal added sacrifice flies to close out the inning.
Tech pounded out 17 hits in the game, the Yellow Jackets’ most since April 5. Richard Lewis paced the Tech offense with a 4-for-5 performance, Goffena and Matt Murton each had three hits in the contest.
Brian Burks (4-0) picked up the win in relief after tossing a scoreless eighth inning. Jeff Watchko pitched a scoreless ninth inning to close out the game.
Both starters pitched well, but neither figured in the decision. Tech’s Kevin Cameron allowed four earned runs in seven innings while striking out six batters. CSU’s Matt Coenen held the Yellow Jackets to two earned runs on nine hits in seven innings of work.
Charleston Southern took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a sac fly from David Martindale and a RBI single from Brad Jones. A RBI double from Tech’s Bryan Prince cut the lead to 2-1 in the third.
The Bucs added two more runs in the top of the fifth on a RBI single >from Martindale and a Tech error to make the score 4-1. The Yellow Jackets answered with a RBI single from Prince in the bottom of the inning, making the score 4-2.
A RBI single from Shayne New stretched the lead to 5-2 in the top of the sixth. Tech cut the lead to 5-3 in the bottom of that inning on a RBI groundout from Brad Stockton before rallying one final time in the eighth.
Jones, New and Adrian Vanderburg each had two hits in the loss for Charleston Southern.
Georgia Tech will host East Tennessee State on Monday at 7 p.m. in what will mark the final regular-season game at Russ Chandler Stadium before the facility is razed and rebuilt for the 2002 season. The game will be broadcast on WREK-Radio (91.1 FM in Atlanta) and on the internet at www.ramblinwreck.com.
