WINSTON-SALEM, NC (May 14) – Wake Forest used a nine-run fourth inning as the 15th-ranked Demon Deacons stopped No. 3 Georgia Tech, 9-5, on Sunday afternoon, May 14, at Gene Hooks Stadium in the regular season finale for both schools.
The victory by Wake Forest (38-16-1, 14-10 ACC) avoided a three game sweep to the Yellow Jackets (42-14, 18-6 ACC), who had already won the first two games of the series on Friday and Saturday. Despite the loss, Tech finished the 2000 regular season on top of the Atlantic Coast Conference standings ahead of second place Clemson.
Wake Forest starter Danny Borrell (5-1) earned the victory after allowing three runs on 10 hits in 6.2 innings. The southpaw walked three batters and struck out six.
Georgia Tech took a 2-0 lead after three innings with a RBI single from Mark Teixeira in the first and a solo homer from Teixeira in the fourth, his ACC-leading 15th long ball of the season.
But Wake Forest responded with nine runs in the fourth as the Demon Deacons had eleven consecutive batters reach base in the inning. The brunt of the damage came from a three-run homer from Carlos Brackley and a three-run double from Borrell. All nine Wake Forest starters scored one run in the inning.
The Yellow Jackets trimmed the lead to 9-3 in the fifth with a solo homer from Jason Basil, hit 10th of the season. Tech mounted rallies in the sixth and seventh innings, but each time stranded men on base without scoring. In all, the Jackets stranded 11 baserunners in the game.
Brad Stockton hit a two run homer in the ninth, his fifth of the season, to make the score 9-5.
Tech starter Ben Sheeter (3-4) took the loss after surrendering seven runs on six hits and three walks in 3.2 innings of work.
Georgia Tech will be the top seed in next week’s ACC tournament at Knight’s Stadium in Fort Mill, S.C. The Yellow Jackets will open on Wednesday at 1 p.m. against either eighth-seed Maryland or ninth-seed Duke.
