ATLANTA – Victor Menocal, Brad Stockton and Jason Perry all homered and Kyle Bakker struck out a career-high 11 batters to lead third-ranked Georgia Tech (28-8) to a 12-6 win over Georgia Southern (22-14) on Wednesday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Bakker (1-0) picked up the win in his first career start, allowing four runs on six hits and two walks in six innings of work. He fanned 11 batters, a season high for a Tech pitcher, including seven on called third strikes.
Georgia Southern starter Scott Tolbert (1-2) took the loss after surrendering seven runs on nine hits in four innings. He struck out six batters and did not issue a walk.
The Yellow Jackets took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a two-run homer from Victor Menocal, his third of the season.
A solo homer from Scott Henley, his 11th of the year, trimmed the Tech lead to 2-1 in the top of the second before a RBI double from Tyler Parker made the score 3-1 in the bottom of that inning.
The Eagles scratched back in the top of the third with a RBI groundout from Chris Walker to cut the lead to 3-2, but the Yellow Jackets took control of the game with three runs in the bottom of that inning to extend the lead to 6-2. Matt Murton drove in the first run with a RBI groundout before Perry belted a two-run homer, his eighth of the season.
After Georgia Southern cut the lead to 8-6 in the top of the seventh, Stockton blasted a two-run homer, his fifth, in the bottom of that inning to push the lead back to four runs. Tech added two more runs in the eighth with a pair of RBI from Perry and Jon Henry Kail to provide the final 12-6 margin.
Menocal led the Tech attack with a 4-for-5 performance, while Menocal and Perry each drove in three runs. Perry, Stockton, Bryan Prince and Richard Lewis all had two hits for the Yellow Jackets.
The Eagles’ Henley and Rocky Baker each had three hits in the loss.
Georgia Tech will host Wake Forest for a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference beginning on Friday at 7 p.m. at Russ Chandler Stadium. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Net South and broadcast on WREK-Radio (91.1 FM in Atlanta) and on the internet at www.ramblinwreck.com.
