May 11, 2006
ATLANTA – Bobby Felmy’s 11th-inning RBI double lifted No. 16 Georgia (32-16) to a 5-4 win over No. 9 Georgia Tech (36-13) in front of 19,119 on Thursday night at Turner Field.
Thursday’s attendance of 19,119 was the second-largest crowd to see a college baseball game in the state of Georgia. There were 26,755 tickets sold to the game, which was moved from the original date on Wednesday due to rain.
Trailing 4-2, Georgia Tech tied the game in the top of the ninth inning when Steven Blackwood hit a two-run homer off the left field foul pole.
The game remained tied at 4-4 until the bottom of the 11th inning. Gordon Beckham drew a leadoff walk, and after Josh Morris struck out, scored on Felmy’s RBI double that rolled to the left center field wall.
Stephen Dodson (1-0) pitched 2.2 innings of perfect relief to earn the win. Ryan Turner (3-3) took the loss despite allowing just one baserunner, the leadoff walk in the 11th inning, in four innings of work.
The Yellow Jackets played without two injured starters in center fielder Danny Payne (shoulder) and third baseman Wes Hodges (calf).
Tech outhit Georgia, 10-7, but the Yellow Jackets left nine runners on base.
Beckham and Ryan Peisel had two hits for the Bulldogs. Whit Robbins led the Yellow Jackets with three hits, while Blackwood and Matt Wieters added two hits apiece.
The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Joey Side tripled and scored on a RBI single from Gordon Beckham. Josh Morris hit a two-run homer, his 17th of the year, to make the score 3-0 in the third inning.
Tech scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to pull within 3-2. In the fourth, the Yellow Jackets loaded the bases with no outs on a walk to Matt Wieters and two singles from Jeff Kindel and Whit Robbins before Luke Murton hit a sacrifice fly. In the fifth inning, Mike Trapani singled, took third on a double from Steven Blackwood and scored on a RBI groundout from Wieters.
The Jackets had opportunities to tie or take the lead in the fourth through seventh, but left six runners on base over those four innings. Tech, which outhit Georgia 8-6, left eight runners on base in the game.
The Bulldogs added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh inning to make the score 4-2. Ryan Peisel led off the inning with a double and took second on a sacrifice bunt from Matthew Dunn before scoring on a squeeze bunt from Jonathan Wyatt.
Georgia Tech hosts Duke for a three game Atlantic Coast Conference series starting Friday at Russ Chandler Stadium.
