March 27, 2003
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Weekend Coverage:
FRIDAY: TV – Fox Sports Net Florida, Fox Sports Net South; RADIO – WREK-FM (91.1 in Atlanta), www.ramblinwreck.com; LIVE STATS – www.ramblinwreck.com
SATURDAY: TV – Fox Sports Net Florida; RADIO – WREK-FM (91.1 in Atlanta), www.ramblinwreck.com; LIVE STATS – www.ramblinwreck.com
SUNDAY: TV – Fox Sports Net Florida, Fox Sports Net South; RADIO – WREK-FM (91.1 in Atlanta), www.ramblinwreck.com; LIVE STATS – www.ramblinwreck.com
ATLANTA–Georgia Tech, ranked second in the nation by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball, visits 13th-ranked Miami for a three-game series this weekend at Mark Light Stadium in Coral Gables. The two teams play on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m., and conclude the series on Sunday at 1 p.m.
All three games will be televised by Fox Sports Net Florida, while the games on Friday and Sunday will also 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 the radio broadcast and live statistics will be available on the internet at www.ramblinwreck.com.
The weekend series at Miami will mark the the first of three consecutive weekends away from home. Tech plays six straight and nine of its next 10 games on the road.
GEORGIA TECH UPDATE (21-2, 3-0 ACC)
Georgia Tech snapped a two-game losing streak with a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference sweep of Maryland last weekend and a non-conference win over Mercer on Tuesday night. Tech’s 17-0 start to the season eclipsed the previous school record of a 16-0 start in 1987.
The Yellow Jackets have snapped out of an offensive lull over the last four games, scoring 54 runs on 62 hits over that stretch. Tech’s team batting average has risen to .302, a high-water mark of the season. The Yellow Jackets have belted 38 home runs this season (averaging 1.65 per game after hitting 0.97 home runs per game in 2002). The team has been led by C Mike Nickeas (.366-5-22),1B Clifton Remole (.354-2-17), and LF Matt Murton (.332-6-20).
The Georgia Tech pitching staff owns a very respectable 2.86 team ERA, including six regular pitchers with ERA’s at 2.61 or lower. The ace of the Tech pitching staff is LHP Kyle Bakker (4-0, 3.58), while the bullpen owns a 2.38 ERA in 89 innings of work. Opponents are batting just .229 against Georgia Tech pitching this season.
MIAMI UPDATE (20-4)
Miami is currently 20-4 on the season following a 10-9, 10-inning win over Harvard on Wednesday, and the Hurricanes have won 15 of their last 16 games. The Hurricanes are batting .327 as a team and own a team ERA of 3.71. Junior LHP J.D. Cockroft (4-0, 2.39) is scheduled to start on Friday, while sophomore RHP Vince Bongiovanni (4-1, 2.59) will start on Saturday and sophomore LHP Brandon Camardese (4-0, 2.83) will get the call on Sunday.
GEORGIA TECH VS. MIAMI
MIAMI LEADS, 31-14-2
Miami leads Georgia Tech, 31-14-2, in a series that dates to 1958. The Hurricanes hold a 19-4-2 edge in games played in Coral Gables.
The Yellow Jackets and Hurricanes are playing a regular season three-game series for the second straight year and for the fifth time in the last seven years.
Last year in Atlanta, Georgia Tech won two of three games from Miami in early May. The Yellow Jackets rallied for four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning in the series opener on Friday to claim a 7-6 win. In the game two of the series, Miami’s Kevin Howard went 6-for-6 with two homers and eight RBI to lead the Hurricanes to a 10-2 win. The Yellow Jackets won 16-8 in the series finale on Sunday behind two home runs from Jason Perry.
The two clubs played a three-game game set at Mark Light Stadium in 2000, where the Hurricanes took two of three games from the Yellow Jackets.
Georgia Tech has lost 12 of its last 13 games against Miami in Coral Gables, and the Yellow Jackets have not won a series against the Hurricanes on their home field since 1959.
Georgia Tech is 4-8 against Miami under head coach Danny Hall.
STARTING PITCHER NOTES
Friday: KYLE BAKKER (LHP) 4-0, 3.58 ERA
Junior Kyle Bakker will start on Friday in the first game of the Miami series, and he will be making his seventh start of the season and the 31th start of his collegiate career.
Bakker is 4-0 with a 3.58 ERA in 2003 after earning wins over Georgia Southern, Rider, George Washington and Kent State in his first four starts of the season. He has no decisions in his two most recent start against Kent State and Maryland. Bakker was very sharp against Kent State, working seven innings and not allowing an earned run. He struggled last Friday against Maryland, lasting just 2.2 innings and allowing five runs.
For his career, Bakker stands at 21-3 with a 3.13 ERA in 212.2 innings pitched. Bakker currently ranks as the top command pitcher in school history, allowing just 1.65 walks per nine innings.
Bakker enters Friday’s game having won eight consecutive decisions, and he has not suffered a defeat since April 26, 2002 against Virginia.
A preseason All-America in 2003, Bakker earned second team All-America honors in 2002 after earning Freshman All-America honors in 2001. The 6-9 lefty spent the summer of 2002 with the USA Baseball National team, and he posted a 3-2 record and a 2.14 ERA in six starts.
Bakker is 0-0 with a 4.26 ERA (6.1 IP) in one previous start against Miami.
Saturday: ANDREW KOWN (RHP) 2-0, 2.61 ERA
Sophomore Andrew Kown will make his third start of the season on Saturday in the second game of the Miami series. Kown is 2-0 with a 2.61 ERA in 20.2 innings (six appearances) in 2003. Kown joined the weekend rotation for the first time in his career last weekend against Maryland.
Kown, who saw very limited action as a freshman last spring, has been very impressive thus far this season. He has issued just three walks and struck out 17 batters, and opponents are batting just .224 against the 6-6 right hander.
Kown is 2-0 in two previous starts in 2003. He worked six shutout innings and allowed just three hits against Campbell on Mar. 5 in a 3-1 Georgia Tech victory. Last Saturday against Maryland, Kown worked six innings and allowed two runs.
Kown has never faced Miami in his collegiate career.
Sunday: BRIAN BURKS (RHP) 1-0, 2.39 ERA
Junior Brian Burks will get the call on Sunday afternoon in the series finale in what will be his second start of 2003 and his 16th career start. Burks will work in the weekend rotation for the second consecutive weekend after starting last Sunday against Maryland.
Burks has been a “utility” pitcher in his collegiate career, splitting his time between the starting rotation and the bullpen, making 15 starts and 46 relief appearances. He owns a 15-8 record and a 3.68 ERA in his collegiate career with eight saves.
The 5-9 righthander made his first start of the season last weekend against Maryland, working six innings and allowing three runs while striking out seven batters.
Burks is 0-1 with a 8.43 ERA (5.1 IP) in one previous start against Miami.
The rotation of Kyle Bakker, Andrew Kown and Brian Burks will be starting in the same order for the second consecutive weekend.
JIM MORRIS, GEORGIA TECH HALL OF FAME
Over his 12-year career as the head coach at Georgia Tech (1982-1993), Jim Morris led the Yellow Jackets to a 504-233 record, four Atlantic Coast Conference championships (1985-88), and nine consecutive NCAA Regional berths. He still remains the all-time winningest coach at Georgia Tech, in any sport.
Along the way, Morris introduced night baseball to the Tech campus, attracted the donations to build Russ Chandler Stadium, and laid the groundwork for the fun, family-oriented atmosphere that Tech fans and students enjoy today.
Now in his 10th season as the head coach at Miami, Morris was elected to the Georgia Tech Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999.
THE BATS WARM UP IN FOUR-GAME WIN STREAK
After hitting .277 as a team through the first 19 games of the season, Georgia Tech’s offense has finally started to produce at a level that was expected in the Yellow Jackets’ current four-game win streak against Maryland and Mercer. The Yellow Jackets have hit .406 (63-for-155) in the last four games to raise their team batting average nearly 25 points to .302. Tech is averaging 13.5 runs per game over the last four games, and the Yellow Jackets scored in 24 of their 32 innings at bat.
The Yellow Jackets hit .330 in 2002, .347 in 2001 and .342 in 2000. In fact, Tech has never hit lower than .306 as a team since Danny Hall became the school’s head coach in 1994, and the Yellow Jackets have hit better than .320 as a team in seven of his nine years at the helm of the program.
VERSUS THE STATE OF GEORGIA
Georgia Tech is 5-0 against teams from the state of Georgia in 2003, and Tech posted a 13-1 mark against its in-state rivals during the 2002 season. Tech is 2-0 against Georgia Southern and Mercer, and 1-0 against Armstrong Atlantic State this year.
Since 1999, Georgia Tech owns a 47-8 (.855) record against its in-state foes. The Yellow Jackets are 89-25 (.781) against teams from Georgia in 10 years under head coach Danny Hall.
NICKEAS ONE OF FIRST EIGHT INVITED TO USA BASEBALL TRIALS
Sophomore catcher Mike Nickeas is one of the first eight collegiate players invited to participate in the 2003 USA Baseball National Team Trials that will be held June 21-27 in Tucson, Arizona. The USA National Team will be selected from a pool of 35 players, of which an additional 27 have yet to be determined.
USA Baseball’s final selection of the athletes that will comprise the team that will represent the USA at the 2003 Pan Am Games, is subject to the approval of the United States Olympic Committee. The official team roster will be determined and announced on June 27.
NICKEAS NAMED TO JOHNNY BENCH WATCH LIST
Sophomore catcher Mike Nickeas is one of 33 collegiate catchers named to the 2003 Johnny Bench Award watch list, an award given annually to the nation’s top collegiate catcher. The watch list will be narrowed down to 10 semifinalists, whom will be announced on May 20. Three finalists will be announced on June 2, prior to the College World Series.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN . . .
After opening the season with six straight games away from home, Georgia Tech played 16 of its next 17 games at home. This weekend, the Yellow Jackets begin a stretch of three straight weekends on the road (at Miami, North Carolina and Duke). Tech will play six straight and nine of its next 10 games away from home.
VERSUS NCAA REGIONAL FOES
Georgia Tech owns an 8-2 record this spring against teams that played in the 2002 NCAA Regionals. The Yellow Jackets are 3-0 against George Washington, 2-0 against Georgia Southern, 2-1 against Kent State and 1-1 against Auburn. Tech has 17 more games on the regular season schedule against postseason teams, including three this weekend at Miami.
