April 17, 2003
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ATLANTA–Georgia Tech, ranked fifth in the nation by Collegiate Baseball, hosts Wake Forest for a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series this weekend at Russ Chandler Stadium. The series begins on Friday at 7 p.m., and continues on Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
Weekend Coverage: Friday’s game will be televised regionally by Fox Sports Net South. The games on Friday and Sunday will be carried by WREK-Radio (91.1 FM in Atlanta). Radio coverage on Saturday will be available on “790 The Zone” (790 AM in Atlanta). Live statistics and all three radio broadcasts will also be available on the internet at www.ramblinwreck.com.
The series with Wake Forest is Tech’s first weekend series at home since hosting Maryland on Mar. 21-23.
GEORGIA TECH UPDATE (29-7, 8-1 ACC)
Georgia Tech had a six-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday night against Georgia Southern, but the Yellow Jackets still stand in first place in the ACC with a 8-1 league mark after sweeping three games from Duke last weekend in Durham. Tech’s 17-0 start to the season eclipsed the previous school record of a 16-0 start in 1987.
The Yellow Jackets have been on an offensive tear over the last 17 games, scoring 175 runs on 228 hits over that stretch (10.3 runs per game). Tech scored 33 runs on 54 hits in the three game series at Duke last weekend.
Tech has belted 57 home runs this season (averaging 1.58 per game after hitting 0.97 per game in 2002). The recent offensive surge has raised the team average to .316 after hitting .277 through the first 19 games of the season.
The Georgia Tech pitching staff owns a 3.63 team ERA, including a 7-4 record, 10 saves and a 3.76 ERA from the Tech bullpen. Opponents are batting .241 against Tech pitching this season. Last weekend at Duke, the rotation of Micah Owings (5-1, 3.76), Kyle Bakker (6-0, 3.75) and Chris Goodman (5-1, 4.09) allowed just two runs in 20 IP.
WAKE FOREST UPDATE (23-12, 7-7 ACC)
Wake Forest is currently 23-12 overall and 7-7 in the ACC after dropping two of three games at home to Wake Forest last weekend. The Demon Deacons are batting .320 as a team and own a team ERA of 4.25. Junior RHP Kyle Sleeth (6-1, 2.93) is the scheduled starter on Friday night in the series opener, while the rotation for the remainder of the series is TBA.
QUOTING DANNY HALL
ON THE SERIES AGAINST WAKE FOREST:
“It’s a big weekend for us and I am excited to finally play at home. We need a lot of people to show up and support us this weekend and give us that home field advantage. We have yet to have an overflow crowd this year. We have ourselves in great position to finish high in the league.
“Wake Forest has a great team, and they have a guy in Kyle Sleeth who will be a first round pick and may be the best pitcher in the country. They are fighting to hang on in the league, and we are fighting to stay in first place.”
ON TECH’S SUCCESS THE LAST TWO WEEKENDS ON THE ROAD AT DUKE AND UNC:
“Anytime that you go on the road in our league and go 5-1, that is a bonus. Now we have to protect our home turf. We have beaten some teams on the road to get to 8-1 in the league and now we have a chance this weekend to solidify our hold on first place.”
ON TECH’S OFFENSIVE PRODUCTION THE LAST THREE WEEKS:
“We are getting closer offensively. We are getting close to where everybody is swinging the bat well. As a coach, you want your team to be playing well at this time of year in all phases of the game. Certainly offense is a big part of it. I think that we have made some big strides offensively to the point where we can put some runs on the board. There are still some things that we can get better at, and we are continuing to work hard.”
ON THE WEEKEND ROTATION OF KYLE BAKKER, MICAH OWINGS AND CHRIS GOODMAN:
“All three of those guys have pitched very well in their starts of late, and we need them to be dominant this weekend. Kyle Bakker has pitched real good in his last two starts. I know that he is looking forward to facing Kyle Sleeth on Friday night, and they played together on the USA Baseball team over the summer. Micah Owings has thrown great, and I think Chris Goodman is throwing the best that he has all year.”
GEORGIA TECH VS. WAKE FOREST
GEORGIA TECH LEADS, 47-33-1
Georgia Tech leads Wake Forest, 47-33-1, in a series that dates to 1898. The Yellow Jackets hold a 30-11 advantage in games played in Atlanta.
The Demon Deacons have had the upper hand in the series over the last few years, winning five straight and 10 of the last 15 meetings dating back to the 1998 season.
Wake Forest has won two of three games in each of the last two series in Atlanta (1999 and 2001). Prior to this recent streak, however, Georgia Tech had won 21 straight games against Wake Forest in Atlanta fom 1983 through 1997.
Last year, the Demon Deacons swept a pair of games in a rain-shortened series at Hooks Stadium in Winston-Salem. Ryan Johnson hit a game-winning, two-run double in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Wake Forest a 10-9 win in the series opener. In game two, the Deacons scored eight runs in their final two at bats to take an 11-5 decision.
Georgia Tech is 16-14 against Wake Forest under head coach Danny Hall.
STARTING PITCHER NOTES
Friday: KYLE BAKKER (LHP) 6-0, 3.75 ERA
Junior Kyle Bakker will start on Friday in the opening game of the Wake Forest series, and he will be making his 10th start of the season and the 35th start of his collegiate career.
Bakker is 6-0 with a 3.75 ERA in 2003 after earning wins over Georgia Southern, Rider, George Washington and Kent State in his first four starts of the season. He got no decisions in his next three starts against Kent State, Maryland and Miami, allowing eight runs in 11.2 innings over that stretch. He bounced back with wins at North Carolina and Duke in the last two weekends.
For his career, Bakker stands at 23-3 with a 3.20 ERA in 228 innings pitched. Bakker currently ranks as the top command pitcher in school history, allowing just 1.89 walks per nine innings.
Bakker enters Friday’s game having won 10 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.
Saturday: MICAH OWINGS (RHP) 5-1, 3.76 ERA
Freshman Micah Owings gets the nod on Saturday evening in what will be his sixth start and 11th appearance of the season. Owings holds the unique distinction of earning a win in each of his first four career appearances, including two starts and two relief stints.
Owings earned a win in his first career start against Campbell (Mar. 4) after holding the Camels to two runs on four hits in six innings. He struck out three batters and did not issue a walk. The freshman won his second start of the season on Mar. 11 at Auburn (6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 7 K).
Owings suffered his first loss on Mar. 18 against Auburn (4 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 0 BB, 5 K). After allowing nine runs in five innings against Auburn and Maryland (Mar. 23), the freshman has allowed five earned runs over 19.2 IP (1.37 ERA) in his last four appearances (Mercer, Miami, North Carolina and Duke).
The 6-5 power righthander made his first career appearance in Tech’s second game of the season, working 3.1 scoreless and hitless innings against Georgia Southern. The only baserunner he allowed came via a hit batsman on an 0-2 pitch. Owings earned a win in relief against Michigan in his second appearance, recording two outs in the top of the ninth inning in a tie game before Tech rallied for a 7-6 win in the bottom of the ninth.
As a senior at Gainesville High School, Owings went 12-1 with a 1.03 ERA while recording 121 strikeouts and just three walks in 75 innings.
Owings also serves as Tech’s regular DH, and he has a team-high 12 home runs.
Sunday: CHRIS GOODMAN (RHP) 5-1, 4.09 ERA
Senior Chris Goodman will get the ball on Sunday afternoon in the final game of the Wake Forest series. Goodman will be making his eighth start of the 2003 season and the 21st start of his Georgia Tech career.
Goodman is 5-1 with a 4.09 ERA this spring, earning no decision in each of his first two starts against Georgia Southern and Michigan before picking up his first win of the season in his third start against George Washington. He earned his second win with 5.1 innings of relief work against Maryland on Mar. 21, before returning to starting on Apr. 2 against Winthrop where he allowed five runs (all in one inning) in eight innings to earn his third win of the season. Goodman owns wins over Georgia State and Duke in his last two starts, allowing just two runs in 12 innings (1.50 ERA).
The 6-0 right hander ended the 2002 season as Tech’s No. 2 starter, and he posted an 8-2 record and a 4.41 ERA in 81.2 innings of work. For his career, Goodman is 11-3 with a 4.56 ERA in 120.1 innings, and he has allowed just 2.02 walks per nine innings.
A transfer from NC State following the 2000 season, Goodman made the successful conversion from shortstop to pitcher last season. Goodman pitched one inning of relief in the series at Georgia Southern last year, allowing two runs on three hits in his collegiate pitching debut.
Goodman spent the summer of 2002 with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod League, posting a 2.61 ERA in 20.2 innings of work.
OFFENSE HEATS UP IN LAST 17 GAMES
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’ last 17 games against Maryland, Mercer, Miami, Winthrop, North Carolina, Georgia State, Duke and Georgia Southern.
The Yellow Jackets have hit .355 (228-for-643) in the last 17 games to raise their team batting average more than 35 points. Tech is averaging 10.3 runs per game over the last 17 games, and the Yellow Jackets scored in 80 of their 145 innings at bat (55.1%).
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.
Georgia Tech Offensive ComparisonRange Avg. AB R H RBI R/gameFirst 19 games .277 649 131 180 118 6.9Last 17 games .355 643 175 228 153 10.3
SECOND BEST ACC START SINCE 1990
Georgia Tech’s 8-1 start in the ACC in 2003 is the second best in school history since the conference adopted the current three-game series format in 1990. Tech went 9-0 in the first nine ACC games in the 1997 season, and actually extended the streak to 11-0 before finally suffering a loss. Listed below are Tech’s best starts in ACC play since 1990:
BEST RECORDS IN ACC PLAY THROUGH NINE GAMESYear Start Final ACC Record1997 9-0 19-42003 8-1 ???1991 7-2 12-81994 7-2 16-81995 7-2 16-81996 7-2 13-112000 7-2 18-62002 7-2 14-9
NICKEAS, OWINGS & GREENE TABBED IN BASEBALL AMERICA MIDSEASON UPDATE
Baseball America magazine released its midseason update in the second week of April, and Georgia Tech was well represented on the list of best players by class. Mike Nickeas was selected as the best sophomore catcher in the nation, Tyler Greene was named as the best freshman shortstop and Micah Owings, who serves as a starting pitcher and designated hitter, was tabbed as the best freshman utility player in the country.
