April 8, 2002
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ATLANTA — Georgia Tech, the nation’s fourth-ranked team according to USA Today/Baseball Weekly, visits SEC power Auburn on Tuesday night at Plainsman Park. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. (EDT), and the game will be televised live by Fox Sports Net South. A live radio broadcast is available on WREK-Radio (91.1 FM in Atlanta) and on the internet at www.ramblinwreck.com, while live scoring and boxscores for all of Georgia Tech’s games in the 2002 season is available at www.ramblinwreck.com.
The Yellow Jackets stand at 27-4 overall and 6-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference following a three-game sweep of ACC foe Duke last weekend. The Yellow Jackets currently own a nine-game winning streak and have won six consecutive ACC contests after starting 0-2 in league play. Auburn enters Tuesday’s game with a 24-10 overall record and a 6-6 mark in SEC play after dropping two of three last weekend at home to LSU.
The Tech offense is led by shortstop Victor Menocal, who leads the team in batting (.430), hits (55), doubles (11) and runs (33). Oufielder Jeremy Slayden leads the team with nine homers, while catcher Tyler Parker has a team-best 35 RBI. As a team, Tech is batting .324 and averaging nearly nine runs per game. The pitching corps is led by a duo of sophomores in southpaw Kyle Bakker (8-0, 2.40 ERA) and righty Brian Burks (6-2, 2.63 ERA, 3 saves).
Following Tuesday’s game at Auburn, Tech will host Western Carolina on Wednesday and travel to Maryland for a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series this weekend.
SERIES VS. AUBURN
Georgia Tech and Auburn have met on 216 previous occasions in a series that began in 1897, making it the second longest series in Tech history behind only Georgia. The Tigers lead the all-time series, 112-99-5, including posting a 60-36-2 mark in Auburn.
The two teams are playing a regular season home-and-home series for the for just the second consecutive after not playing in each school’s home park since 1989. Last year Tech and Auburn split the series with each school winning at their home park. Auburn took a 4-0 win at Plainsman Park behind a combined four-hitter from Hayden Glimmo, Levale Speigner and Brandon Luna, while Tech answered with a 11-1 win at Russ Chandler Stadium behind a strong 8-inning performance from then-freshman Kyle Bakker.
ON THE HILL . . .
* As a staff, Georgia Tech starting pitchers are a collective 21-2 with a 2.92 ERA in 31 games this season, while walking just 1.6 batters per nine innings. Tech starting pitchers are holding opponents to a .242 batting average.
* Junior right hander Jeff Watchko (4-1, 3.55 ERA) is the scheduled starter on Tuesday night at Auburn.
* Watchko will be making his seventh start of the season, although it will be just his second start since Mar. 16 at Wake Forest. He began the season by making four consecutive starts, but five of his last seven appearances have been out of the bullpen.
* Watchko earned a win in his most recent start against Georgia Southern last Wednesday after tossing a season-best seven innings and allowing just one run.
* Watchko earned a second win last week while working out of the bullpen. He tossed 2.1 shutout innings on Saturday against Duke as Tech claimed an 8-7 win in 10 innings.
* In his career, Watchko is 5-1 with a 4.12 ERA in eight starts. Working out of the bullpen, the righty has 13 career saves to rank sixth on Tech’s career list in that department.
MENOCAL BREAKS TECH HITTING STREAK RECORD
Senior shortstop Victor Menocal currently owns a 29-game hitting streak, as he has hit safely in every game since failing to record a hit in the second game of the year. He currently ranks fourth in the ACC with a .430 batting average.
Menocal established a new Tech record for longest hitting streak last Sunday against Duke when he hit safely in his 29th straight game. He broke the record previously set by Carlton Fleming, who hit in 28 straight games in 1990.
Longest GEORGIA TECH Hitting Streaks:29 games, Victor Menocal, 2002 (current)28 games, Carlton Fleming, 199027 games, Jay Payton, 199327 games, Richard Lewis, 2000
SHORT HOPS
* Through 31 games, head coach Danny Hall has used 28 different starting lineups.
* Tech is currently second in the ACC in team ERA (3.35), trailing only Clemson (3.26). The Yellow Jackets have never lead the conference in that category since joining the ACC in 1980.
* Tech is a perfect 19-0 at the new Russ Chandler Stadium in 2002, outscoring its opponents 184-69. Dating back to last season, the Yellow Jackets currently own a 24-game home winning streak.
* Tech’s 14-1 mark to start the season was its best since opening the 1997 season with a 15-1 record. The record for most wins with only one loss came in 1992 when the Yellow Jackets opened 24-1.
*After posting a 3-7 record in one-run games in 2001, Tech is 5-1 in games decided by one run and 11-1 in games decided by three runs or less in 2002.
* Georgia Tech opened the 2002 campaign with seven straight wins, the Yellow Jackets’ best start to a season since opening with a 10-0 record in 1997. The Tech record for most wins to start a season came in 1987 when the Yellow Jackets opened the season 16-0.
* Tech has opened the 2002 season showing off its team speed. The Yellow Jackets were a perfect 11-for-11 in the stolen base department in the first two games of the season at Georgia Southern and stand at 65-for-81 (80.2%) on the season. Tech stole 68 bases during the entire 2002 season.
* Tech is stealing an average of 2.10 bases per game, the best figure since averaging 2.21 stolen bases per game during the 1987 season.
* New Tech pitching coach Bobby Moranda has stressed the importance of throwing strikes. Those efforts have been displayed early in the season where Tech pitchers have walked 73 batters in 279.1 innings (2.3 per 9 IP).
* Sophomore Kyle Bakker leads the Tech staff in K/BB ratio with 64 strikeouts and just 12 walks in 63.2 innings. Bakker’s career K/BB ratio stands at 6.4 to 1.
* Tech has used 15 different pitchers already this season after having a total of 11 different pitchers see action during the 2001 season. The most pitchers that Tech has used in any one season prior to this season was 13 in both 1985 and 1996.
* Four freshmen – Eric Patterson (2B), Brandon Boggs (CF), Clifton Remole (1B) and Jeremy Slayden (DH) – were in the starting lineup for opening day. Mike Nickeas (3B) started the second game of the series at Georgia Southern, raising the total number of freshmen to start in 2002 to five. A total of 15 freshmen have seen game action so far this season, while seven different rookie position players have made at least one start.
* Tech hit back-to-back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning against Georgia Southern on Feb. 10. Jason Perry, Tyler Parker and Jeremy Slayden all blasted solo shots to open the inning. The last time the Yellow Jackets accomplished that feat came in 2000 when Brad Stockton, Mark Teixeira and Bryan Prince homered consecutively at Wake Forest.
WINNING THE CLOSE ONES
One of the main reasons for Georgia Tech’s early exit from the NCAA Tournament last year was the struggles of the Yellow Jackets in close games. Tech posted just a 3-7 mark in one-run games a 10-12 record in games decided by three runs or less during the 2001 season. This year, Tech is 5-1 in one-run games and 11-1 in games decided by three runs or less.
PITCHING STAFF SHOWS IMPROVEMENT
Despite featuring eight freshman and two other veterans who have never pitched in college prior to this season (Victor Mencoal and Chris Goodman), the Georgia Tech pitching staff has been very impressive thus far during the 2002 season. Under first-year pitching coach Bobby Moranda, Tech is second in the ACC in ERA (3.35) and opponent batting average (.244) while ranking first in walks per nine innings (2.2). Below is a yearly comparison of Tech’s pitching staffs in the Danny Hall era:
Year W-L ERA Hits/9 BB/9 SO/91994 50-16 3.84 8.37 3.84 8.281995 38-22 6.03 10.22 5.14 7.981996 40-24 5.13 9.68 4.32 8.421997 46-15 4.80 9.31 4.57 8.141998 41-22 4.94 9.33 4.44 10.001999 38-20 5.27 10.45 4.78 8.582000 50-16 4.32 8.76 3.67 7.342001 41-20 4.52 9.74 3.60 7.342002 27-4 3.35 8.60 2.10 8.00
HOME SWEET HOME
Georgia Tech has opened its new ballpark in grand fashion, posting a perfect 19-0 record in the new Russ Chandler Stadium this season. In those home games, the Yellow Jackets are batting .341 and averaging 10.3 runs per game. The Tech pitching staff has a 2.62 ERA and is holding opponents to just a .238 batting average.
Dating back to the 2001 season, Tech currently owns an 24-game winning streak. Tech’s last loss at home was a 6-2 decision to Florida State on April 29, 2001.
BEST HOME STARTS TO A SEASON . . .1. 28-0 19902. 21-0 19913. 19-0 20024. 12-0 19835. 11-0 1999
ATTENDANCE RECORDS FALL
Georgia Tech has opened the newly-rebuilt Russ Chandler Stadium for the 2002 season, and the fans have made their way through the turnstiles in record numbers thus far this spring.
An opening day record crowd of 1,814 attended the first game at the new Russ Chandler Stadium on Feb. 15 against Tennessee Tech. A total 4,828 fans attended the three-game series, making it the largest three-game attendance for a series before April in Georgia Tech history. It was the second-largest three-game attendance figure for a non-conference series in school history.
A Chandler Stadium regular-season single game crowd of 4,264 attended Tech’s game versus Georgia on Mar. 27. That marked the second highest single-game attendance in Tech history (4,468 vs Southern California in the 2000 NCAA Atlanta Super Regional).
WIN NO. 500 AT THE “RUSTY C”
Georgia Tech won its 500th game at Russ Chandler Stadium on Apr. 2 vs. Georgia Southen with a 4-3, 10-inning victory. The Yellow Jackets now have an all-time record of 504-125 (.801) at Russ Chandler Stadium. Originally built in 1985, the Yellow Jackets had a 485-125 record at the old facility and now own a perfect 19-0 mark in the new Russ Chandler Stadium.
