May 21, 2005
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Ryan Turner pitched seven shutout innings and Jeff Kindel, Matt Wieters and Whit Robbins hit home runs to lead No. 6 Georgia Tech (38-16, 22-8 ACC) to an 8-1 win over No. 15 North Carolina (40-15-1, 17-10-1) on Saturday afternoon at Boshamer Stadium. The Yellow Jackets clinched their second straight Atlantic Coast Conference regular season title.
Georgia Tech will be the No. 1 seed in next week’s Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament in Jacksonville, Fla., and will play their first game on Wednesday at 7 p.m. against either Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Maryland or Duke. Georgia Tech’s regular season title is the fifth in school history.
Turner (7-2) tied a career-high by pitching seven innings, holding the Tar Heels scoreless on four hits. He pitched around five leadoff walks and struck out five batters. The left hander ended the regular season by allowing just two runs in his final 19 innings, lowering his season ERA to 2.92.
Kindel had two hits and drove in three runs, while Tyler Greene and Danny Payne added two hits each. Eight of Tech’s nine starters had at least one hit in the game.
A three-run homer from Kindel, his fifth of the year and his second in as many games, staked the Yellow Jackets to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
Tech scored three more runs in the fourth inning to extend the lead to 6-0. Wieters walked, Steven Blackwood singled and Jake Hall drew a two-out walk to load the bases before Payne had a RBI single and Greene followed with a two-run single.
The Tar Heels threatened in the sixth inning when three consecutive one-out singles loaded the bases. But Turner worked out of the jam by getting a pop out and a strike out to end the inning.
Solo home runs from Wieters, his ninth of the season, and Robbins, his fourth, made the score 8-0 in the top of the eighth inning.
North Carolina broke up the shutout in the eighth inning when Matt Ellington doubled and scored on Josh Horton’s sacrifice fly.
North Carolina starter Daniel Bard (7-4) took the loss, allowing six runs on seven hits in seven innings.
