Feb. 12, 2005
STATESBORO, Ga. – Jeremy Slayden, Mike Trapani and Jeff Kindel each hit home runs to lead No. 13 Georgia Tech (1-1) to a 10-6 win over Georgia Southern (0-1) on Saturday afternoon at before 2,805 J.I. Clements stadium.
The Yellow Jackets won their 17th straight game over the Eagles in Statesboro dating to the 1997 season.
Tech freshman Brad Rulon (1-0) worked 3.2 innings in relief to earn the win in his first collegiate appearance. He surrendered two runs on four hits and struck out one. Starter Lee Hyde worked four innings and allowed four runs, while relievers Ryan Turner and Jordan Crews recorded the final four outs of the game and did not allow a run.
Georgia Southern starter Dustin Evans (0-1) took the loss, allowing eight runs in 4.1 innings.
Kindel and Slayden each went 2-for-4 and drove in three runs, while Trapani, Danny Payne, Wes Hodges and Cameron Lane added two hits apiece.
Georgia Southern took a 2-0 lead through the first two innings on a pair of solo home runs from Brett Pelfrey and Logan Phillips.
Tech answered with a four-run third inning, featuring a solo home run from Trapani and a pair of sacrifice flies from Steven Blackwood and Slayden, to take a 4-2 lead.
A solo home run from Greg Dowling pulled the Eagles to within 4-3 in the bottom of the third inning.
The Yellow Jackets exploded for four more runs in the fifth inning on a pair of two-run homers from Slayden and Jeff Kindel to extend the lead to 8-3. After the Eagles answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning, Kindel added a RBI single in the top of the sixth to make the score 9-5. Georgia Southern pulled to within 9-6 on Dowling’s RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Tech added an insurance run in the ninth inning when Trapani drew a bases-loaded walk.
Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern conclude the two-game series on Sunday at 1 p.m., and the game will be televised by CSS.
