ATLANTA (April 28) – Cory Vance scattered seven hits and three runs while striking out eight in seven innings to pick up his ninth win of the season as fifth-ranked Georgia Tech downed seventh-ranked Clemson, 7-4, in the opener of a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series at Russ Chandler Stadium.
The win was Tech’s (36-10, 15-4 ACC) 17th in its last 19 games, moving the Yellow Jackets one full game ahead of Clemson (36-11, 11-5 ACC) and Florida State (39-9, 11-5) in the loss column of the ACC standings.
The Jackets broke a 3-3 tie with four runs in the seventh on Mark Teixeira’s RBI-double, Jason Basil’s sacrifice fly and three Clemson errors. Tech opened the inning with singles by Richard Lewis and Brad Stockton before taking the lead on Teixeria’s double off the right field wall. After an intentional walk to Derik Goffena loaded the bases, two runs scored on Jason Basil’s sacrifice fly and a throwing error by Clemson right fielder Bradley LeCroy. Tech added another run on a throwing error by shortstop Jeff Baker.
Tech has won 10 in row at home, while Vance (9-2) improved his career record to 18-1 at Tech’s Russ Chandler Stadium.
The victory moved Vance into a tie for the ACC lead in wins. Freshman Jeff Watchko allowed one unearned one over the final two innings to close out the win.
Stocton led Tech with three hits, two runs and one RBI, while Lewis, Basil and Tyler Parker had two hits each.
The Jackets opened the scoring in the second on a run-scoring single by Parker, and after Clemson tied the game in the fifth on Patrick Boyd’s RBI-double, Tech regained the lead in the bottom of the inning as Lewis led off with a double and then scored on a single by Stockton, who came around to score on a two-base throwing error by Clemson catcher Brian Ellis.
Clemson’s Ryan Riley hit his first home run of the season in the sixth to pull the Tiger within one, and then in the seventh Khalil Greene doubled and scored on Teixeira’s throwing error to knot the score at 3-3.
The series continues with 1 p.m. games Saturday and Sunday, both televised live on Fox Sports Net South.
