March 26, 2005
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Steven Blackwood hit a grand slam and drove in seven runs, and Matt Wieters went 5-for-5 to lead No. 4 Georgia Tech (20-3, 10-1 ACC) to a 17-7 win over No. 5 Miami (22-6, 8-3 ACC) on Saturday afternoon at Mark Light Field. The Yellow Jackets’ victory evened the three-game series at one win apiece.
Head coach Danny Hall tied the Georgia Tech record with his 504th victory at the school. Hall, who is 504-215 in 12 years at Tech, tied current Miami head coach Jim Morris, who went 504-244-1 as the Yellow Jackets’ skipper from 1982-93.
Georgia Tech’s 22 hits tied the record for the most allowed in a game by Miami. Wieters was 5-for-5 with four RBI, Blackwood finished 3-for-4 with a career-high seven RBI, and Wes Hodges went 4-for-5. Tyler Greene had four hits to extend his hitting streak to a career-long 18 games and scored four runs. Jeremy Slayden pushed his hitting streak to a career-best 13 games.
Tim Gustafson (3-1) earned the win in relief after holding the Hurricanes to one run on three hits in 3.2 innings.
The Yellow Jackets jumped on Miami starter Ricky Orta for four runs in the top of the first inning. Blackwood and Slayden had RBI singles and Wieters drove in two runs with a bases loaded single as Tech batted around.
Miami answered with a two-run single from Eddy Rodriguez in the second to cut the lead to 4-2.
A solo home run from Greene, his fifth of the year, made the score 5-2 in the top of the fourth, but Miami tied the game with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Brendan Katin and Rodriguez each hit solo home runs and Paco Figueroa added a RBI double as the Hurricanes chased Tech starter Lee Hyde from the game.
A four run fifth inning broke the tie and gave Tech a 9-5 lead as the Yellow Jackets batted around for the second time in the game. Tech loaded the bases with one out before Greene had a RBI single, Blackwood had a sacrifice fly and Slayden capped the inning with a two-out, two-run single. Hodges added a RBI double in the top of the seventh to extend the lead to 10-5.
Ryan Braun hit a solo home run, his ACC-leading 10th of the year, to pull the Hurricanes to within 10-6 in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Tech batted around for the third time in a six-run eighth inning that made the score 16-6. The inning was highlighted by Blackwood’s grand slam, his fourth home run of the year, and a two-run single from Wieters.
Sacrifice flies from Braun in the bottom of the eighth and Blackwood in the top of the nine provided the final 17-7 margin.
Orta (5-2) took the loss, allowing seven runs on 10 hits in 4.1 innings.
Georgia Tech and Miami will conclude the series on Sunday at 1 p.m., and the game will be televised live by CSS.
