Kent State's victory ended the Yellow Jackets' longest winning streak in school history to open a season the day after the previous record of 16 straight wins was broken. Tech's 17 game winning streak goes down as the third longest in school history, just three games off the overall school record of 20 straight wins in 1990.
Sonnastine (1-0) earned the win in relief after entering the game with the Golden Flashes trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning and allowed just two runners to reach base over the final 4.2 innings. He allowed two hits, both singles, and did not walk a batter while registering four strikeouts.
With the scored knotted at 3-3 after seven innings, the Golden Flashes broke through for two runs in the top of the eighth inning. A pair of one out singles from Kurt Eichorn and Matt Sega put runners on first and third bases, and Eric Holick was intentionally walked after Sega stole second base. With the bases loaded and one out, Tucker was hit by a pitch to score Eichorn with the first run of the inning before an RBI groundout from Chuck Moore drove in Sega with the second run of the inning.
Tech reliever Chris Goodman (1-1) took the loss after allowing four runs in 3.2 innings.
Tech built a 2-0 lead through the first two innings with a sacrifice fly from Matt Murton in the first and a solo home run from Mike Nickeas, his fourth of the season, in the second. Kent State tied the score at 2-2 with RBI groundouts from Holick in the fourth inning and Chad Kinyon in the fifth inning.
An RBI single from Clifton Remole gave the Yellow Jackets a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning but the Golden Flashes immediately tied the score at 3-3 when Eichorn singled and eventually scored on Tucker's sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth inning.
The Yellow Jackets out hit the Golden Flashes, 9-8, including a season high three hits from Micah Owings. Eichorn and Sega both had two hits for Kent State.
Georgia Tech will return to action on Tuesday when the Yellow Jackets host 10th-ranked Auburn at 7 p.m.
2003 GEORGIA TECH BASEBALL
KENT STATE at GEORGIA TECH
March 16, 2003 at Atlanta, Ga. (Russ Chandler Stadium)
KENT STATE 5 (7-5) GEORGIA TECH 3 (17-1)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
TUCKER, Joe ss............. 2 0 0 2 Eric Patterson 2b.......... 4 1 1 0
MOORE, Chuck cf............ 5 1 0 1 Brandon Boggs cf........... 4 1 1 0
O'BRIEN, Pat c............. 5 0 2 0 Jeremy Slayden rf.......... 4 0 1 0
WELSCH, Chris 2b........... 4 0 0 0 Matt Murton lf............. 3 0 0 1
KINYON, Chad 1b............ 5 0 1 1 Clifton Remole 1b.......... 3 0 1 1
O'BRIEN, Eric lf........... 3 1 1 0 Mike Nickeas 3b............ 4 1 2 1
EICHORN, Kurt dh........... 4 2 2 0 Tyler Greene ss............ 4 0 0 0
SEGA, Matt 3b.............. 3 1 2 0 Micah Owings dh............ 4 0 3 0
HOLICK, Eric rf............ 3 0 0 1 Andy Hawranick c........... 2 0 0 0
MAYLE, Josh p.............. 0 0 0 0 Steven Blackwood ph....... 1 0 0 0
SONNANSTINE, Andy p....... 0 0 0 0 Davis Myers 3b............ 0 0 0 0
Jake Hall ph.............. 1 0 0 0
Jason Neighborgall p....... 0 0 0 0
Chris Goodman p........... 0 0 0 0
Jeff Watchko p............ 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 34 5 8 5 Totals..................... 34 3 9 3
Score by Innings R H E
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KENT STATE.......... 000 111 020 - 5 8 2
GEORGIA TECH........ 110 010 000 - 3 9 1
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E - TUCKER 2(9); Nickeas, M.(1). DP - GEORGIA TECH 1. LOB - KENT STATE 11; GEORGIA
TECH 6. 2B - SEGA(2); Boggs, B.(2); Slayden, J.(5). HR - Nickeas, M.(4). HBP -
TUCKER. SF - TUCKER(1); Murton, M.(3). SB - SEGA(1). CS - Remole, C. 2(3).
KENT STATE IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO NP
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MAYLE, Josh ............... 4.1 7 3 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 19 21 3 7 72
SONNANSTINE, Andy W,1-0... 4.2 2 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 15 15 6 3 60
GEORGIA TECH IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO NP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jason Neighborgall ........ 3.0 2 1 1 5 5 1 0 0 0 11 16 1 3 74
Chris Goodman L,1-1....... 4.1 5 4 3 2 2 0 0 0 1 17 20 5 5 70
Jeff Watchko .............. 1.2 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 6 7 0 3 27
WP - MAYLE(2); Neighborgall(4). HBP - by Watchko, J. (TUCKER). Inherited runners/scored:
SONNANSTINE 1/1; Goodman, C. 2/1; Watchko, J. 3/2. Pitches/strikes: MAYLE 72/47;
SONNANSTINE 60/42; Neighborgall 74/36; Goodman, C. 70/47; Watchko, J. 27/17.
Strikeouts - TUCKER; MOORE; O'BRIEN, P.; WELSCH 2; KINYON 2; EICHORN; HOLICK;
Murton, M. 2; Greene, T. 2; Owings, M.. Walks - TUCKER; WELSCH; O'BRIEN, E. 2;
EICHORN; SEGA; HOLICK; Remole, C..
Umpires - HP: Terry West 1B: Eric Johanssen 3B: Jack Martin
Start: 1:36 pm Time: 2:48 Attendance: 1877