With the win, N.C. State clinched the No. 3 seed in next week's Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament in Salem,. Va., and will face No. 6 seed Virginia in the first round on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. Georgia Tech will be the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will face seventh-seeded Wake Forest on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Sterry improved to 11-0 and established a new school record for most consecutive wins in a season. The right-hander held the Yellow Jackets in check for seven innings, allowing just one run on five hits. He issued one walk and struck out four batters.
The Yellow Jackets took an early 1-0 lead in the third inning when Andy Hawranick led off with a single, moved to second on Eric Patterson's sacrifice bunt and scored on Steven Blackwood's RBI single to left field.
The Wolfpack answered with three runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 3-1 lead. After a double from David Hicks and a walk to Colt Morton put runners on first and second bases with one out, Lee Mezistrano delivered an RBI double down the right field line to score Hicks with the first run of the inning. Joe Gaetti followed with an RBI groundout to score Morton, while Mezistrano scored the final run of the inning when Marc Maynor reached base on Tech shortstop Tyler Greene's throwing error.
N.C. State batted around and broke the game open with a three-run fifth inning to make the score 6-1 The Wolfpack loaded the bases with no outs on a single, double and walk before David Hicks had an RBI single and Colt Morton added a two-run double. Hicks singled and scored on Gaetti's RBI double in the seventh inning to extend the lead to 7-1.
Blackwood, who went 3-for-4, doubled and scored on a wild pitch to pull Tech to within 7-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning. But the Yellow Jackets could do no further damage against N.C. State reliever Joey Devine, who worked the final two innings of the game and allowed one run on three hits while striking out five batters.
Tech starter Chris Goodman (8-3) took the loss, surrendering three runs on five hits in four innings.
Georgia Tech will be the No. 2 seed in next week's Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament in Salem, Va., and the Yellow Jackets will face seventh seeded Wake Forest in the first round on Wednesday at 5 p.m. Radio coverage for all of Tech's games in the double elimination tournament will be available on WREK Radio (91.1 FM in Atlanta).
2003 GEORGIA TECH BASEBALL
N.C. STATE at GEORGIA TECH
May 17, 2003 at Atlanta, Ga. (Russ Chandler Stadium)
N.C. STATE 7 (39-14,15-9 ACC) GEORGIA TECH 2 (39-15,17-7 ACC)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
Matt Camp 2b/lf............ 5 1 1 0 Eric Patterson 2b.......... 3 0 1 0
Jeremy Dutton 3b........... 4 1 1 0 Steven Blackwood cf........ 4 1 3 1
Justin Riley c............. 4 1 0 0 Matt Murton lf............. 4 0 2 0
David Hicks 1b............. 5 2 4 1 Clifton Remole 1b.......... 4 0 0 0
Colt Morton dh............. 3 1 2 2 Micah Owings dh............ 4 0 0 0
Lee Mezistrano lf.......... 4 1 1 1 Jeremy Slayden rf.......... 2 0 0 0
Adam Hargrave 2b.......... 1 0 0 0 Tyler Greene ss............ 4 0 1 0
Joe Gaetti rf.............. 5 0 1 2 Jake Hall 3b............... 3 0 0 0
Marc Maynor cf............. 3 0 1 0 Davis Myers 3b............ 0 0 0 0
Chad Orvella ss............ 4 0 1 0 Brandon Boggs ph.......... 1 0 0 0
Vern Sterry p.............. 0 0 0 0 Andy Hawranick c........... 4 1 1 0
Joey Devine p............. 0 0 0 0 Chris Goodman p............ 0 0 0 0
Aaron Walker p............ 0 0 0 0
Jeff Watchko p............ 0 0 0 0
Jason Neighborgall p...... 0 0 0 0
Nick Wagner p............. 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 38 7 12 6 Totals..................... 33 2 8 1
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
N.C. STATE.......... 000 330 100 - 7 12 1
GEORGIA TECH........ 001 000 010 - 2 8 2
-------------------------------------------
E - Riley(7); Greene, T. 2(27). DP - GEORGIA TECH 1. LOB - N.C. STATE 11; GEORGIA TECH 7.
2B - Dutton(10); Hicks(19); Morton(13); Mezistrano(8); Gaetti(11); Patterson,
E(11); Blackwood, S(5). HBP - Morton; Maynor; Slayden, J.. SH - Patterson, E(3).
SB - Blackwood, S(4); Murton, M.(17); Greene, T.(16). CS - Gaetti(4).
N.C. STATE IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO NP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vern Sterry W,11-0........ 7.0 5 1 1 1 4 0 0 1 0 24 27 7 9 115
Joey Devine ............... 2.0 3 1 1 0 5 1 0 0 0 9 9 0 1 44
GEORGIA TECH IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO NP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Goodman L,8-3....... 4.0 5 3 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 16 18 1 6 67
Aaron Walker .............. 0.0 3 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 4 0 0 11
Jeff Watchko .............. 3.0 4 1 1 1 3 0 0 1 0 13 15 4 2 56
Jason Neighborgall ........ 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 3 5 1 1 22
Nick Wagner ............... 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 1 2 9
WP - Devine, J.(4); Neighborgall(9). HBP - by Sterry (Slayden, J.); by Watchko, J.
(Maynor); by Neighborgall (Morton). Inherited runners/scored: Watchko, J. 3/2.
Pitches/strikes: Sterry 115/67; Devine, J. 44/27; Goodman, C. 67/40; Walker, A. 11/5;
Watchko, J. 56/38; Neighborgall 22/11; Wagner, N. 9/6.
Strikeouts - Dutton 2; Riley; Mezistrano; Hargrave; Orvella; Patterson, E;
Blackwood, S; Remole, C.; Owings, M.; Slayden, J.; Greene, T.; Boggs, B.; Hawranick,
A 2. Walks - Dutton; Riley; Morton; Maynor; Orvella; Slayden, J..
Umpires - HP: Jeff Head 1B: Al Davis 3B: Jack Cox
Start: 1:37 pm Time: 3:07 Attendance: 3009