March 25, 2003
ATLANTA – Micah Owings and Tyler Greene both hit home runs, and Jason Neighborgall worked six strong innings as No. 2 Georgia Tech (21-2) defeated visiting Mercer (9-18), 9-1, on Tuesday evening at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Neighborgall (3-0) earned the win after holding the Bears to one run on four hits in six innings. He issued two walks and struck out five batters. Aaron Walker, Owings and Jeff Watchko each worked a scoreless inning in relief in the combined five-hitter. The four Georgia Tech pitchers allowed just four Mercer runners to advance past first base in the game.
A solo home run from Owings, his team-leading seventh of the year, gave the Yellow Jackets a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Eric Patterson tripled and scored in the third inning to make the score 2-0. Mercer cut into the lead in the top of the fifth inning when Jason Camardese singled, took second base on a passed ball and scored on Luke Jackson’s RBI double down the right field line.
After Jeremy Slayden led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a double, Tyler Greene belted a two-run home run, his sixth of the year, to make the score 4-1. The Yellow Jackets added three runs in the seventh inning, including a RBI single from Slayden, to make the score 7-1. Another RBI single from Slayden, who went 3-for-4 in the game, and a RBI groundout from Tyler Greene gave the Yellow Jackets a 9-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Mercer starter Chris Bishop (1-5) took the loss despite a solid outing, allowing two runs on four hits in four innings. Mercer second baseman Luke Jackson went 3-for-3 in the loss.
With the win, Georgia Tech improved to 47-8 against teams from the state of Georgia since 1999.
Georgia Tech will next travel to Miami for a three-game series beginning on Friday at 7 p.m., and continuing on Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. All three games will be televised by Fox Sports Net Florida, while the games on Friday and Sunday will be televised by Fox Sports Net South. Radio coverage for the entire series will be available on WREK-Radio (91.1 FM in Atlanta), while live statistics and the radio broadcast will be available on the internet at www.ramblinwreck.com. Mercer opens a three game series at Gardner-Webb on Friday at 3 p.m.
