April 23, 2004
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Brandon Boggs homered and drove in a career-high five runs to lead Georgia Tech (23-17, 5-5 ACC) to an 11-4 win over No. 12 Florida State (27-14, 6-4) on Friday night at Dick Howser Stadium in the opener of a three-game series.
The Yellow Jackets won a Friday night game in Tallahassee for the first time since the Seminoles joined the Atlantic Coast Conference for the 1992 season.
Tech starter Micah Owings (5-2) picked up his first win in a start since Feb. 20, snapping a streak of five starts without a win. The right-hander worked seven innings, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out five.
Boggs reached base in five of his six plate appearances, going 2-for-3 with three runs scored and was twice hit by a pitch. The Seminoles elected to intentionally walk Owings on two occasions, and Boggs responded with two hits and five RBI in those situations. In all, Florida State intentionally walked four Tech hitters, and the following batter accounted for seven RBI in the game.
Steven Blackwood went 3-for-5 with three RBI, and Clifton Remole added two hits.
Stephen Drew staked the Seminoles to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning with his 10th home run of the season. The Yellow Jackets tied the game at 1-1 in the second inning when Brandon Boggs was hit by a pitch, stole second base and scored on Clifton Remole’s RBI single.
Tech scored three times in the top of the third to take a 4-1 lead. Whit Robbins reached on a fielder’s choice and Eric Patterson singled before Steven Blackwood’s two-out RBI single drove in Robbins with the first run of the inning. After an intentional walk to Micah Owings loaded the bases, Brandon Boggs drove in two runs with a single to left field.
The Seminoles cut the lead to 4-3 with an unearned run in the third and a RBI single from Gibbs Chapman in the fifth inning.
After Boggs scored on a passed ball in the sixth, the Yellow Jackets exploded for six runs over the seventh and eighth innings to build an 11-3 lead. Boggs hit a three-run homer, his fifth of the year, off the left field scoreboard in the seventh inning. A two-run single from Blackwood and a RBI single from Owings accounted for a three-run eighth inning.
A RBI double from the Seminoles’ Ryan Malone in the eighth inning closed the scoring. Drew and Chapman led the Seminoles with two hits apiece.
Florida State starter Eddie Cannon (7-4) took the loss, allowing five runs on five hits in five-plus innings.
Georgia Tech and Florida State will continue the three-game series on Saturday at 7 p.m. The game will be televised by Fox Sports Net South and Sunshine, while radio coverage will be available on WREK-FM (91.1 FM in Atlanta) and on the internet at www.wrek.org.
