Box Score | Post-Game Quotes | 2001 All-ACC Team
FORT MILL, S.C. – Colt Morton and Joe Gaetti both hit home runs in a five-run eighth inning rally to lead No. 8 seed NC State (31-28) to a 6-4 win over fourth-seeded Georgia Tech (41-18) in the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Saturday afternoon at Knights Stadium.
The Wolfpack advance to face Florida State on Saturday at 8 p.m., with the winner of that contest meeting Wake Forest in the championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Yellow Jackets are eliminated from the tournament.
Trailing 4-1 after seven and a half innings, NC State mounted a rally by scoring five times in the bottom of the eighth after two outs to make the score 6-4. Colt Morton hit a two-run homer, his 12th of the year, to trim the lead to 4-3. After Justin Riley drew a walk, David Hicks grounded to first base but was called safe after a controversial call where first base umpire Jack Cox signaled pitcher Brian Burks did not touch the bag after receiving the toss from first baseman Jason Perry. The next batter, Joe Gaetti, made the Yellow Jackets pay by blasting a 3-2 pitch over the left field wall for his fifth homer of the year and give the Wolfpack a 6-4 lead. Three of the five runs in the inning were unearned.
Josh Miller (5-4) picked up the win in relief after holding the Yellow Jackets scoreless for the final 4.1 innings of the game. Burks (4-1) took the loss after allowing three unearned runs in the eighth inning.
NC State jumped on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Jeremy Dutton led off the inning with a double over the third base bag and came around to score on Sean Walsh’s one-out RBI single to center field.
Georgia Tech put three runs on the board in the top of the third to take a 3-1 lead. Matthew Boggs lined a double into the right field corner before coming around to score on Richard Lewis’ RBI single to center field. A one-out walk to Matt Murton put runners on first and second before Lewis and Murton both moved up a base on a double steal and then scored on a two-out single from Jason Basil. A sacrifice fly from Basil, who went 2-for-3 in the game, made the score 4-1 in the fifth inning.
Tech starter Philip Perry pitched well, but did not figure in the decision after holding NC State to three runs on nine hits in 7.2 innings.
The Yellow Jackets, who were led by two-hit performances from Boggs, Basil and Mark Teixeira, had plenty of opportunities to break the game open in the middle innings but stranded 11 runners on base in the game.
2001 Georgia Tech Baseball GEORGIA TECH vs NC STATE May 19, 2001 at Fort Mill, S.C. (Knights Stadium)
GEORGIA TECH 4 (41-18) NC STATE 6 (31-28)
Totals…… 36 4 10 4 Totals…… 36 6 11 6
IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF Fly Gnd NP
Blanton 4.2 7 4 4 4 3 0 0 0 0 20 25 3 8 94 Miller, J. W 5-4 4.1 3 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 16 17 3 8 52
