April 11, 2004
ATLANTA – Eric Patterson went 3-for-3 with five RBI, and Andy Hawranick added three hits and two RBI to lead Georgia Tech (20-14, 4-5 ACC) to a 13-8 win over No. 8 North Carolina (25-8, 8-4) on Sunday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Tech’s victory gave the Yellow Jackets a 2-1 win in the three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series, and the Tar Heels dropped a weekend series for the first time in 2004. The Yellow Jackets scored seven or more runs for the 10th consecutive game.
Tech starter Lee Hyde (3-1) picked up the win, working five innings and allowing six runs on seven hits. He issued two walks and struck out a season-high eight batters. The Yellow Jackets’ bullpen of Aaron Walker, Ryan Self and Tim Gustafson worked the final four innings of the game and allowed two runs.
Patterson tied a career high with five RBI and walked twice to reach base safely in all five of his plate appearances. Hawranick tied his career high in hits with a 3-for-4 performance, while Tyler Greene and Steven Blackwood added two hits apiece. Hawranick, Blackwood, Wes Hodges and Brandon Boggs each drove in two runs.
An inside-the-park home run from Jay Cox staked the Tar Heels to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning, but the Yellow Jackets answered with five runs in the bottom of the inning. An error and a pair of walks loaded the bases with one out before Hawranick drove in Mike Nickeas with a RBI single and Patterson worked a 10-pitch at bat for a two-run single that scored Greene and Blackwood. Boggs drove in the final two runs of the inning with a double that dropped in between the center fielder, left fielder and second baseman.
North Carolina cut Tech’s lead to 5-3 with two runs in the third inning, scoring on Marshall Hubbard’s RBI double and Chris Iannetta’s sacrifice fly.
A three-run homer from Sammy Hewitt, his seventh of the year, gave the Tar Heels a 6-5 lead in the top of the fifth inning. Hewitt’s home run came after Hubbard struck out on would have been the third out of the inning but reached first base when the ball got away from the catcher.
Tech responded with four runs in the fifth to retake the lead, 9-6. Clifton Remole singled and scored on Steven Blackwood’s RBI single, and Hodges drove in two runs with a two-out single.
Ross Cook doubled and scored on Hubbard’s sacrifice fly to pull the Tar Heels within 9-7 in the top of the seventh inning, but the Yellow Jackets put three runs on the board in the bottom of the inning to make the score 12-7. Greene singled and scored on Hawranick’s RBI single before Patterson hit a two-run homer, his third of the year, to straight away center field.
A RBI double from Wes Moyer pulled the Tar Heels within 12-8 in the top of the eighth inning. Tech outfielder Brandon Boggs saved two runs with a leaping catch above the center field wall and then doubled off Moyer from second base to end the inning. A RBI single from Blackwood in the bottom of the eighth inning made the score 13-8.
Tech’s Micah Owings went 0-for-4 with a walk to snap his career-long hitting streak at 15 games.
North Carolina starter Andrew Miller (3-3) took the loss after allowing six runs, three of which were earned, on five hits and five walks in 4.1 innings.
Georgia Tech returns to action on Wednesday at 7 p.m. when the Yellow Jackets host Georgia at Russ Chandler Stadium.
