Maryland
Georgia Tech
No. 4 Georgia Tech Holds Off Maryland, 9-6
4/12/2002 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 12, 2002
COLLEGE PARK, Md.- Georgia Tech's Mathew Boggs finished 3-for-5 with three runs scored to lead the No. 4 Yellow Jackets to a 9-6 victory over Maryland Friday night in ACC baseball action at Shipley Field. Tech led 9-2 entering the bottom of the ninth inning before Maryland scored four runs in the frame and brought the tying run to the plate before the Yellow Jackets ended the Terrapin comeback.
The Jackets got started early by scoring five runs over the first two innings. In the first, Tech took advantage of one Maryland error to score two unearned runs to take a 2-0 lead.
Maryland junior center fielder Daryl Whitmer (Waldorf, Md.) led off the bottom of the first inning with a leadoff home run for the Terps to cut the lead in half at 2-1.
Georgia Tech responded with two home runs of its own in the second to plate three runs and extend the lead to 5-1. Designated hitter Victor Menocal and right fielder Jeremy Slayden hit back-to-back homers for the Yellow Jackets' three runs in the inning.
The score would remain the same until the sixth inning when Tech scored another two runs. Shortstop Davis Myers came through with a RBI-double and second baseman Eric Patterson stroked a RBI-single to left to give Georgia Tech a 7-1 advantage.
Both teams scored a run in the eighth before the Terrapins made things interesting with four in the ninth.
Junior first baseman Ray Gemmill (Silver Spring, Md.) got things started with his third hit of the game, a single to right, to get the Terps going. The Terps then connected on three straight hits, including a RBI-single by junior second baseman Kyle George (Bel Air, Md.) to score Gemmill. After a fielder's choice by Whitmer, sophomore third baseman Anthony Buffone (Manalapan, N.J.) scored and senior catcher Kevin McDonald (Rockaway, N.J.) scampered home when Tech's shortstop Davis Myers threw the ball away on an attempted double play.
After a walk by senior right fielder Matt Swope (New Carrollton, Md.), junior shortstop John McCurdy (Crofton, Md.) doubled to left center to score Whitmer and cut the lead to 9-6. With the game-tying run at the plate in freshman left fielder Will Frazier (Mitchellville, Md.), Georgia Tech starter Kyle Bakker got Frazier to groundout to second to end the Terrapin threat.
Bakker went the distance to earn his first career complete game for the Yellow Jackets. Bakker allowed six runs on 11 hits and struck out seven to improve to 9-0 on the year. Maryland starter Chris Clem (Berwyn, Pa.) lasted 5.2 innings and yielded seven runs on eight hits to fall to 1-3 on the year.
With the victory, Georgia Tech improved to 30-4 overall and 7-2 in the ACC while the Terps are now 21-13 and 1-9 in the conference. The two teams will play the second game of the three-game series Saturday evening at 7 p.m.
