ATLANTA – Third baseman Victor Menocal went 3-for-4 and shortstop Richard Lewis homered and drove in three runs as No. 4 Georgia Tech (16-5) defeated Kent State (3-8), 10-3, on Saturday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Rhett Parrott (5-1) picked up his team-leading fifth victory after tossing six strong innings. The right hander allowed three runs on seven hits while striking out seven batters. Freshman Brian Burks earned his first career save by pitching three shutout innings to close out the game.
Kent State starter Dirk Hayhurst (0-3) took the loss after surrendering five runs on eight hits in six innings of work.
With Tech leading 5-3 after seven innings, the Yellow Jackets exploded for five runs in the bottom of the eighth to take control of the game. A solo home run from Brad Stockton, his first of the season, and a two-run shot from Lewis, his fifth of the year, highlighted the scoring. Matthew Boggs and Menocal each added RBI doubles for Tech in the inning.
A RBI single from Bryan Prince gave Tech a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning before Kent State’s Dan Gutschmidt blasted a two-run homer in the second inning to give the Golden Flashes a 2-1 lead.
The Yellow Jackets answered with two runs in the fourth to retake the lead at 3-2. Jason Perry singled and scored on a RBI groundout from Jason Basil, while Matt Murton doubled and scored on a RBI double from Stockton for the second run of the inning.
The Golden Flashes knotted up the score at 3-3 in the top of the fifth when Eric O’Brien walked and came around to score on a RBI double from Chris Welsh.
Tech responded in its half of the fifth to take a 4-3 lead when Menocal walked and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly from Perry. The Yellow Jackets made the score 5-3 in the sixth when Boggs singled, stole second base and scored on a RBI single from Menocal.
Boggs, Lewis, Stockton and Wes Rynders each had two hits for the Yellow Jackets, while Menocal and Stockton each drove in two runs. Kent State’s Welsh, Phil LoCascio and Chris Detweiler each had two hits in the loss.
Georgia Tech and Kent State will conclude the three game series on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
