May 7, 2005
ATLANTA – Blake Wood pitched seven strong innings and Jeremy Slayden homered and drove in four runs to lead No. 6 Georgia Tech (34-12) to a 12-3 win over Florida Atlantic (26-18) on Saturday night at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Wood improved to 8-1 after working seven innings and allowing three runs, only one of which was earned, on eight hits. He struck out four and did not issue a walk. Jordan Crews and Brad Rulon each worked a scoreless inning of relief.
Slayden went 3-for-5 with his team-leading 11th home run of the year, and drove in four runs. Tyler Greene had four hits, including a home run, and scored three runs, while Matt Wieters, Wes Hodges and Jeff Kindel had two hits each. The Yellow Jackets outhit the Blue Wave, 16-9.
The Yellow Jackets scored two runs in each of the first three innings to build a 6-1 lead. After FAU’s Mike McBryde led off the game with his fourth home run of the year, Tech scored two runs in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice fly from Wieters and a RBI double from Slayden.
Wes Hodges had a RBI single and Wieters added his second sacrifice fly in as many innings to push the lead to 4-1 in the second inning. A two-run homer from Greene, his ninth of the year, made the score 6-1 in the third.
Wieters singled and scored on a sacrifice fly from Kindel to extend the lead to 7-1 in the fourth inning.
FAU pulled to within 7-4 in the fifth inning on Tim Mascia’s two-out, two-run double.
A three-run homer from Slayden extended Tech’s lead to 10-3 in the sixth, and Wieters singled and scored on an error to make the score 11-3 in the seventh. A RBI single from freshman Brad Feltes in the eighth inning provided the final 12-3 margin.
Florida Atlantic starter Chris Salberg (2-4) took the loss after allowing seven runs on 10 hits in three-plus innings. Mascia led FAU with three hits in four at bats, while McBryde and Tyler Stevens had two hits each.
Georgia Tech and Florida Atlantic will conclude the series on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
