May 16, 2006
ATLANTA – Wes Hodges hit a grand slam and Jeff Kindel homered and drove in five runs to lead No. 8 Georgia Tech (40-13) to a 16-2 win over Wofford (19-34) on Tuesday night at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Georgia Tech reached the 40-win plateau for the seventh straight year and for the 19th time in the last 22 seasons.
Tech starter Chris Hicks (4-1) worked six innings and struck out a season-high seven batters. The freshman allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits and did not walk a batter.
Freshman Michael Hutts earned his first save in his second career appearance by pitching three scoreless innings to close out the game. He allowed one hit and struck out six batters.
Kindel went 3-for-3 with a home run and two doubles and drove in a career-high five runs. Hodges was 2-for-4, including his fifth inning grand slam.
Whit Robbins tied a Georgia Tech record with three doubles, finishing the game 3-for-3 with two RBI and two runs. Wally Crancer had three hits and drove in two runs while Matt Wieters and Luke Murton added two hits each. The Yellow Jackets outhit the Terriers, 18-6.
Wofford starter Ben Austin (0-4) allowed nine runs in 3.1 innings.
The Terriers took a 1-0 lead with an unearned run in the top of the first inning when Zach Pittman reached on an error and scored on a RBI single from Shane Kirkley.
The Yellow Jackets tied the game in the bottom of the first inning on a RBI double from Robbins. Tech took a 2-1 lead in the second inning when Murton doubled and scored on Michael Fisher’s RBI groundout.
Jeff Kindel hit a two-run homer, his ninth of the year, to give Tech a 4-1 lead in the third inning.
Georgia Tech broke the game open with a five-run fourth inning, extending the lead to 9-1. The Yellow Jackets had seven hits in eight at bats in the inning, highlighted by RBI doubles from Kindel, Robbins and Wieters. Hodges had a RBI single and Crancer added a sacrifice fly.
The Yellow Jackets added six runs in the fifth inning to make the score 15-1. Hodges hit a grand slam, his 10th home run of the year, and Kindel had a two-run double.
Kirkley added a RBI single in the sixth inning, his third hit of the game, to make the score 15-2.
Crancer had a two-out RBI single in the eighth inning to provide the final 16-2 margin.
Georgia Tech concludes the regular season when it hosts Miami for a three game Atlantic Coast Conference series starting Thursday at Russ Chandler Stadium.
