April 12, 2002
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Kyle Bakker tossed a complete game while Jeremy Slayden and Victor Menocal both homered to lead fourth-ranked Georgia Tech (30-4, 7-2 ACC) to a 9-6 win over host Maryland (21-13, 1-9) on Friday night at Shipley Field. The victory extended Tech’s current win streak to 12 games overall and it was the Yellow Jackets’ seventh straight win in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
Bakker improved to 9-0 in 10 starts in going the distance for the first time in his career. He allowed six runs, five of which were earned, on 11 hits while striking out seven batters and issuing one walk. Bakker, who needed 110 pitches in the complete game, held the Terrapins to just one earned run through the first eight innings before being touched up for four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The Yellow Jackets took a 2-0 lead with a pair of unearned runs in the top of the first inning. Eric Patterson led off the game with a walk and scored when Tyler Parker reached on an error by Maryland shortstop John McCurdy. Slayden, who reached on an error by the Terps’ pitcher Chris Clem, scored on a sacrifice fly from Jason Perry.
A solo homer from Maryland’s leadoff batter Daryl Whitmer, his fourth of the season, made the score 2-1 after one inning of play.
Tech exploded for three runs in the second on a two-run homer from Menocal, his first of the year, and a solo shot from Slayden, his 10th, to make the score 5-1.
The Yellow Jackets added two more runs in the sixth inning to extend their lead to 7-1. Matthew Boggs laid down a bunt single with two outs and scored on a RBI double from Davis Myers, while Myers scored on Patterson’s RBI single. Boggs reached with a bunt single again the eighth inning and then scored on a RBI triple from Patterson to make the score 8-1.
Maryland cut the lead to 8-2 with an unearned run in the eighth, scoring on a sacrifice fly from McCurdy. Tech answered in the top of the ninth when Perry walked and scored on an error by Maryland’s left fielder Will Frazier after Matt Murton doubled.
The Terrapins scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth to make the score 9-6. McCurdy had a RBI double, Kyle George added a RBI single and Whitmer drove in a run with a RBI groundout before the Yellow Jackets could get out of the inning and hold on for the victory.
Boggs and Murton led the Tech offense with three hits apiece, while Menocal and Patterson each drove in two runs. Maryland’s Ray Gemmill had three hits in the loss.
Maryland starter Chris Clem (1-3) took the loss, allowing seven runs in 5.2 innings.
Georgia Tech and Maryland will continue the three-game series on Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. Live radio broadcasts for the entire series can be heard on WREK-Radio (91.1 FM in Atlanta) and on the internet at www.ramblinwreck.com. Live scoring for the game will be available at www.ramblinwreck.com.
