ATLANTA (Mar. 10) – Rhett Parrott tossed eight strong innings and Jon Henry Kail homered and drove in two runs to lead top-ranked Georgia Tech (13-4, 1-1 ACC) to a 5-1 victory over visiting NC State (8-8, 1-1) on Saturday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Parrott (4-1) worked eight innings and held the Wolfpack to one run on four hits, all singles, and three walks while striking out five batters. Jeff Watchko worked a scoreless ninth inning to preserve the Tech victory.
NC State starter Dan D’Amato (2-2) took the loss after tossing a complete game. He allowed five runs, four earned, on 10 hits and struck out five.
The Wolfpack took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third when Justin Riley led off the inning with a single, took second base on a sacrifice bunt, and came around to score on Jeremy Dutton’s RBI single to right field. The Yellow Jackets answered in the bottom of that inning when Victor Menocal singled with two outs, took third base on a single from Richard Lewis, and scored on a RBI single from Bryan Prince.
A solo home run from Kail, his first of the season, gave Tech a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The Yellow Jackets made the score 4-1 with two more runs in the sixth. Jason Basil doubled with one out and scored on Jason Perry’s RBI triple down the right field line. A sacrifice fly to center field from Kail plated Perry with the second run of the inning.
Tech added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when Basil reached on an error and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Perry and Prince each had two hits for the Yellow Jackets, who snapped a two-game losing streak. NC State, which ended a five-game winning streak, was led by two hits from Dutton.
Georgia Tech and NC State will wrap up the three-game series with the rubber match between the two schools on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
