March 27, 2002
Atlanta – Freshman Kyle Schmidt allowed just three hits over seven innings, while Jeremy Slayden and Jason Perry each homered to lead Georgia Tech (19-4) to a 9-1 victory over Georgia (13-6) Wednesday night before a crowd of 4,264, the largest regular season crowd in Russ Chandler Stadium history.
Schmidt (2-0) struck out five and walked none in the third start of his career. He allowed one run while facing only four batters over the minimum. Victor Menocal had three hits and drove in two runs for Tech, extending his career high hitting streak to 21 games. Matthew Boggs added two hits, one RBI, and scored three runs.
Georgia Tech scored early and often, taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning after Eric Patterson drew a leadoff walk and stole second base. After a single by Menocal advanced him to third, he scored on a fielder’s choice by Tyler Parker. The Jackets then added three more runs in the bottom of the second inning on RBI doubles from Brandon Boggs, Matthew Boggs, and Menocal.
Tech stretched the lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the third on a home run by Slayden, his fifth, and then added another run in the bottom of the fourth inning on a RBI single by Menocal. Brandon Boggs’ fielder’s choice grounder plated the seventh Tech run in the fifth inning, and Perry connected on a two-run homer, his sixth of the season, to close out the Tech scoring in the sixth inning.
Georgia scored its only run in the top of the third inning on a home run by Jon Armitage. Starter Chris Webb (0-1) took the loss for the Bulldogs, allowing four runs in 1.2 innings of work.
Georgia Tech will travel to NC State for a three-game series this weekend with the first pitch thrown at 7 p.m. on Friday night. Saturday’s game will also be at 7 p.m., and the two teams will conclude the series at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. Live scoring for the game will be available at www.ramblinwreck.com.
