April 6, 2002
ATLANTA – Jason Perry’s leadoff home run in the bottom of the 10th inning lifted sixth-ranked Georgia Tech (26-4, 5-2 ACC) to an 8-7 win over visiting Duke (17-15, 0-5) on Saturday night at Russ Chandler Stadium. The victory improved the Yellow Jackets’ record to 18-0 at their new home park and extended Tech’s overall home winning streak to 23 games dating back to last season.
With the score knotted at 7-7, Perry led off the bottom of the 10th inning and belted a 1-0 pitch over the left field wall for his seventh home run of the season. The blast gave the Yellow Jackets their second straight win over the Blue Devils.
Tech’s Victor Menocal went 2-for-5 to extend his career-long hitting streak to 28 games and tie the school record that was originally set by Carlton Fleming in 1990.
Tech reliever Jeff Watchko (4-1) earned the win after tossing 2 1/3 shutout innings to close out the game, holding Duke to just one hit and striking out four batters.
With Tech trailing 5-1 after five and a half innings, Perry doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly from Clifton Remole to cut the lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the fifth. The Yellow Jackets plated two more runs in the sixth on a RBI double from Menocal and a sacrifice fly from Tyler Parker to make the score 5-4.
After Duke’s Drew Jerdan led off the top of the seventh with his third home run of the season to give the Blue Devils a 6-4 lead, the Yellow Jackets scored three times in the bottom of the seventh to take a 7-6 lead. Matthew Boggs drove in Wes Rynders with a RBI single before Eric Patterson blasted a two-run homer to right field, his second of the year.
Duke immediately tied the score at 7-7 in the top of the eighth inning when Bryan Smith drew a two-out walk and eventually scored on Larry Broadway’s RBI single.
Perry, Menocal, Parker and Jeremy Slayden each had two hits in the game for the Yellow Jackets. Broadway and Tim Layden each had three hits for the Blue Devils in a losing effort.
Duke’s Justin Dilucchio (4-2) took the loss after surrendering Perry’s game-winning homer in the 10th inning. He worked three innings and allowed that lone run.
Georgia Tech and Duke will conclude the three-game series on Sunday at 1:30 p.m., when the Yellow Jackets will send right-hander Kyle Schmidt (2-0, 1.23 ERA) to the mound to face Duke righty Jeff Alleva (4-3, 4.08). A live radio broadcast 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.
