March 12, 2004
ATLANTA – Mark Reynolds hit two home runs, including a solo shot in the eighth inning that broke a 3-3 tie, to lead Virginia (15-2, 1-0 ACC) to a 4-3 win over No. 17 Georgia Tech (9-7, 0-1) on Friday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium in the opener of a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series.
The Cavaliers managed just five hits in the game, but three of those left the yard for home runs – the two solo shot from Reynolds and a two-run blast from Joe Koshansky.
Virginia’s Casey Lambert (2-0) earned the win in relief after working three scoreless innings to close out the game, facing just one batter over the minimum. Lambert and starter Andrew Dobies held the Yellow Jackets to six hits and a total of nine baserunners in the game. Dobies worked the first six innings and allowed three runs on four hits while striking out six.
The Cavaliers jumped to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on Koshansky’s seventh home run of the year, a two-out shot over the center field wall. Tech leadoff hitter Brandon Boggs made the score 2-1 in the bottom of the first when he blasted the first pitch he saw over the left field fence for his third home run of the season.
From there, both starting pitchers settled in to keep the opposing offenses in check. Tech’s Micah Owings retired 13 of 15 batters from the end of the first through the fifth before Reynolds led off the sixth with a solo home run to left center field to give the Cavaliers a 3-1 lead.
Meanwhile, Dobies retired 15 of the next 18 batters after surrendering the leadoff home run to Boggs before the Yellow Jackets broke through for two runs in the sixth inning to tie the score at 3-3. Boggs walked to lead off the inning and stole second base. After the next two batters made outs, Mike Nickeas laced a RBI single to center field to drive in Boggs. Owings followed with a RBI double off the left center field wall that scored Nickeas and tied the game.
Reynolds’ second home run of the game and fifth of the season, a solo shot in the top of the eighth inning, broke the tie and gave Virginia a 4-3 lead.
Owings dropped to 2-2 despite a solid effort in his fifth start of the year. The right-hander worked a season-high 7.2 innings and allowed four runs on five hits, including three home runs, while striking out seven. Ryan Self worked 1.2 innings of perfect relief.
Tech had just six hits in the game, including two apiece from Boggs and Nickeas.
Georgia Tech and Virginia continue the three game series on Saturday at 1 p.m. Live statistics will be available at www.ramblinwreck.com while a radio broadcast can be heard on WREK-Radio (91.1 FM in Atlanta) and on the internet at www.wrek.org.
