Georgia Tech Downs NC State Baseball, 11-10

Sunday, March 20

Atlanta, Ga.

1:30 PM

NC State

15-8, 0

Georgia Tech

19-2, 0

NC State

Georgia Tech

3/20/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 20, 2005

Final Stats

ATLANTA, Ga. - Tyler Greene singled off the right-field wall with two down in the bottom of the ninth inning and the bases loaded to drive in the winning run as Georgia Tech defeated NC State 11-10 in the final game of a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series Sunday at Chandler Stadium.

The win extended Georgia Tech's ACC-record winning streak to 25 games and improved the Yellow Jackets to 19-2 overall and 9-0 in the conference. Georgia Tech has swept its last eight ACC series. NC State dropped to 15-8 overall and 3-6 in the ACC.

Jordan Crews (1-1), the fifth Georgia Tech reliever, got the win. He pitched one inning and allowed one run on one hit. He walked two and struck out two. Wolfpack reliever Joey Devine (1-1) got the loss after working 3 2/3 innings and allowing three runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out five.

Steven Blackwood continued to torment NC State pitching, going 2-for-2 and driving in two runs. Matt Weiters went 2-for-5 with two RBIs, and Wes Hodges went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Greene and Jeremy Slayden also had two hits for Tech. Brian Aragon went 3-for-5 and homered twice for the Wolfpack, while Lee Mezistrano went 3-for-5 and drove in a pair of runs.

Blackwood got the slugfest started by driving a two-out solo homer to right-center off an 0-2 pitch in the bottom of the first inning to give Tech a 1-0 lead.

Jonathan Diaz led off the top of the third for the Pack and reached on an infield single. Matt Camp grounded out to third for the first out, But Matt Devine walked, Aaron Bates hit a two-out single to load the bases, and Jake Muyco walked to drive in the tying run. Chris Engle followed with what should have been an inning-ending grounder to shortstop that Greene booted for a two-run error, giving the Wolfpack its first lead of the series at 3-1.

Aragon led off the top of the fourth with a homer to right-center, his second of the season, to give the Pack a 4-1 lead, but Slayden cut that to 4-2 with a leadoff homer to right in the bottom of the inning to pull Tech back to within two runs at 4-2.

Mezistrano led off the top of the fifth and singled to right. With one down, Muyco singled to right to put runners on first and second. That was the end of the afternoon for Tech starter Blake Wood, who gave up five runs in 4 1/3 innings. He gave way to lefthander Tim Ladd, and Jason St. Julien pinch-hit for Kinneberg with two down and foiled the lefty-righty switch by sending an RBI single up the middle to score Mezistrano and give NC State a 5-2 lead.

Tech scored six times in the bottom of the fifth. Danny Payne led off and drew a walk, and Greene hit a sharp liner to left for a single, putting runners on first and second with none out. Duncan came in to pitch for NC State, and Blackwood responded by sending an RBI-single to center field, driving in Payne. Hodges made it 5-4 with an RBI-single to the hole at shortstop, scoring Greene. Duncan grazed Slayden with an errant breaking pitch to load the bases, and Jeff Kindel walked to force in a run and tie the score at 5-5. Matt Payne came in for Duncan and got the first out of the inning, an RBI single up to shortstop that gave Tech the lead at 6-5.

Devine came in to pitch for the Wolfpack at that point, and got Andy Hawranick to hit a weak grounder that just ticked off the glove of the diving Corona at second base. Both runners scored on the play, giving Georgia Tech an 8-5 lead.

Aragon led off the top of the sixth and reached on an infield single, and Diaz bunted for a hit to put runners on first and second. Ladd walked Camp to load the bases and Tech went to the bullpen again, bringing in righthander Brad Rulon, who got Matt Devine to ground out to second base, with a run scoring on the play. Mezistrano then tied the game at 8-8 by sending a ground-rule double down the line in left field, scoring Diaz and Camp.

Aragon went deep again in the top of the seventh, a two-out solo shot to right. Muyco led off the top of the eighth with a walk, went to second on a balk, took third on a groundout, and scored on pinch-hitter Aaron Cone's single to left, giving the Wolfpack a 10-8 lead.

Slayden led off the bottom of the ninth and reached on an infield single. Kindel singled to center field on a hit-and-run play, with pinch-runner Cameron Lane going to third on the play. Wieters doubled into the right-field corner to drive in Lane and send Kindel to third, still with no one out. Jake Hall pinch-ran for Wieters, and Adam McLaurin came in to pitch for the Wolfpack. McLaurin got Hawranick on a grounder to third, with the runners holding, and McLauin intentionally walked pinch-hitter Whit Robbins to load the bases and set up a force at every base. Payne singled to right to drive in the tying run, and Greene unloaded one off the wall, officially a game-winning single to put the Jackets up 11-10.

NC State will be off until Friday, March 25, when Lehigh will come to Doak Field for the start of a three-game non-conference series. All three games will be broadcast on WKNC-FM (88.1) and will be available on the internet through Yahoo's subscription service.