HOUSTON — Second baseman Richard Lewis drove in four runs and Mark Teixeira and Wes Rynders each had three hits to lead top-ranked Georgia Tech (1-0) past Lamar, 11-9, in the the opening game of the Crowne Plaza/Rice Invitational at Reckling Park on Friday afternoon.
Trailing 11-6 after eight innings, Lamar (5-1) mounted a comeback in the top of the ninth. Lamar’s Austin Lee delivered a one out double and scored on a RBI single from Jereme Harvard to make the score 11-7. After Micah Hoffpauir singled, Harvard and Hoffpauir bothe scored on a two-out throwing error by Tech shortstop Victor Menocal. Tech reliever Jeff Watchko came on to retire Drew Topham to pick up his first save of the year and preserve the Yellow Jacket victory.
Lamar took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a two-run homer from Jeremy Pierce. Tech knotted the score at 2-2 in the bottom of the second on a two-run homer from shortstop Victor Menocal.
The Yellow Jackets took a 4-2 lead in the third inning with a RBI double from Teixeira and a sacrifice fly from Bryan Prince. Tech pushed the lead to 6-2 in the fourth with a two-run single from Lewis.
After Lamar made the score 6-3 in the top of the fifth when Lee Finched tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly from Stephen Graham, Tech piled on five more runs in the bottom of that frame to make the score 11-3. Jason Basil belted a two-run homer, Brad Stockton delivered a RBI single and Lewis added another two-run single to cap off the scoring.
Lamar added two more runs in the top of the sixth on a two-run triple from Drew Hopan, and then made the score 11-6 with another run in the top of the seventh inning.
Tech starter Rhett Parrott (1-0) picked up the victory after allowing five runs on seven hits in six innings of work. Lamar’s Wes Koch (1-1) took the loss after surrendering four runs in 2.2 innings.
Georgia Tech will face seventh-ranked Rice on Saturday at 1 p.m. CST in the second day of action at the Crowne Plaza/Rice Invitational. Lamar will face fourth-ranked Nebraska at 4:30 p.m.
