May 26, 2005
JACKSONVILLE, FL.(AP)-Whit Robbins hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning to cap a two-run Georgia Tech rally and lead the Yellow Jackets to a 9-8 win over Wake Forest in the final first round game of the Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Tournament at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.
The win sends Georgia Tech (39-16) into the winner’s bracket where it will face Florida State in the final game on Thursday. Wake Forest (27-29), which needed to win twice on Tuesday to qualify as the No. 8 seed, meets North Carolina in the loser’s bracket.
Georgia Tech overcame a 7-0 deficit after three innings following Wake Forest’s five-run third inning. The Yellow Jackets started their comeback with a six-run fifth inning highlighted by a two-run triple by Tyler Greene followed by a two-run home run from Jeff Kindel.
Both teams scored once more before Tech rallied in the ninth off Wake starter Brian Bach (2-4) who threw a season-high 140 pitches during his eight-plus innings. Kindel and Wes Hodges led off the final inning with singles and Kindel scored when Bach threw wildly to third on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Matt Wieters.
Following an intentional walk and a strikeout, Robbins sent a line drive to Deamon Deacons leftfielder Brett Linnenkohl who slipped and fell down after making the catch enabling Hodges to score.
Kindel and Hodges both had three hits for the winners. Lee Hyde started for Tech and allowed just one hit in 2 1/3 innings, but gave up six runs, only one of which was earned. Wieters got the last out in Wake Forest’s ninth inning to earn the win and even his season record at 2-2.
A total of 17,860 people were on hand for the four games on Wednesday, setting a tournament day session record, bettering the old mark of 15,793 set in 1988 in Greenville, SC.
