The Chanticleers advance in the winners bracket where they will face Georgia Southern on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Yellow Jackets will face Georgia on Saturday at 11 a.m. in an elimination game.
Sturkie (13-5) went the distance for the eighth time in 17 starts, holding the Yellow Jackets to three runs on seven hits. He struck out eight and did not issue a walk while facing just one over minimum number of batters over the final seven innings.
Tech starter Rhett Parrott (9-5) took the loss, allowing four runs on seven hits in eight innings of work. Aside from Coastal Carolina's three-run sixth inning, Parrott faced just three batters over the minimum.
"I think the whole story of the game was their starting pitcher," said Tech head coach Danny Hall. "We jumped out early, hit a couple of home runs, but he kept battling."
Georgia Tech took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Richard Lewis blasted a ball over the left field fence for his 11th home run of the year. The Yellow Jackets extended the lead to 3-0 in the second on a two-run homer from Jason Perry, his 14th of the season.
Coastal Carolina scratched the scoreboard in the top of the fourth, trimming the lead to 3-1 after Chad Felty walked and eventually came around to score on a two-out RBI single from Randy McGarvey.
The Chanticleers scored three times in the sixth to take a 4-3 lead. Ryan McGraw led off the inning with a walk and scored on Felty's RBI double to center field. Brandon Powell capped the scoring with a two-run homer to left, his 11th of the year.
"I was ahead of the first hitter, maybe even 0-2, and then I came back and walked him," said Parrott. "The home run ball was away. I had just gone away, so maybe I should have gone with a different pitch."
Coastal added an insurance run in the top of the ninth. Adam Keim and Luke Johnson drew back-to-back walks. After Keim took third on John Humay's groundout, he scored on McGraw's two-out RBI infield single.
The Chanticleers were led offensively by two-hit performances from Powell and Chris Carter, while Tech's Jason Basil and Victor Menocal each had two hits in a losing effort. The Yellow Jackets' seven hits were the fewest since being held to five hits on April 21 at Clemson.
"Early in the game, (Sturkie) was throwing his fastball a lot, and we hit a couple of ball hard and hit a couple of home runs," said Lewis. "Then he went to his off-speed stuff, whether he was ahead or down in the count. He was keeping it down and away, and we were pulling off the ball. We relaxed a bit, and he decided he needed to find a way to get us out. His fastball wasn't working and he went to his other pitches and was able to get us out."
The game, which was scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m., did not start until 4:59 p.m. due to rain showers in the Athens area in the morning and early afternoon.
2001 Georgia Tech Baseball
COASTAL CAROLINA vs GEORGIA TECH
May 25, 2001 at Athens, Ga. (Foley Field)
COASTAL CAROLINA 5 (41-18) GEORGIA TECH 3 (41-19)
AB R H RBI AB R H RBI
McGRAW, R lf 4 1 1 1 Boggs, M. 2b 4 0 0 0
OWENS, J 1b 4 0 1 0 Lewis, R. ss 4 1 1 1
FELTY, C rf 4 2 1 1 Teixeira, M. dh 4 0 0 0
POWELL, B 2b 4 1 2 2 Murton, M. lf 4 0 1 0
CARTER, C dh 4 0 2 0 Prince, B. c 4 0 0 0
McGARVEY, R c 4 0 1 1 Basil, J. cf/rf 3 1 2 0
KEIM, A ss 3 1 0 0 Perry, J. 1b 3 1 1 2
JOHNSON, L 3b 3 0 0 0 Stockton, B. rf 3 0 0 0
HUMAY, J cf 4 0 0 0 Rynders, W. cf 0 0 0 0
STURKIE, S p 0 0 0 0 Menocal, V. 3b 3 0 2 0
Parrott, R. p 0 0 0 0
Watchko, J. p 0 0 0 0
Burks, B. p 0 0 0 0
Totals...... 34 5 8 5 Totals...... 32 3 7 3
Score by innings: R H E
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COASTAL CAROLINA 000 103 001 - 5 8 0
GEORGIA TECH 120 000 000 - 3 7 1
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E - Menocal, V.(20). DP - C.CAROLINA 2. LOB - C.CAROLINA 7; GEORGIA TECH 2.
2B - FELTY, C(18); CARTER, C(21); Basil, J.(12); Menocal, V.(18).
HR - POWELL, B(11); Lewis, R.(11); Perry, J.(14).
IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF Fly Gnd NP
STURKIE, S W 13-5 9.0 7 3 3 0 8 0 0 0 0 32 32 5 12 125
Parrott, R. L 9-5 8.0 7 4 4 2 6 0 0 0 0 30 32 7 9 128
Watchko, J. 0.2 1 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 1 1 30
Burks, B. 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 5
Strikeouts - McGRAW, R 2; FELTY, C; JOHNSON, L; HUMAY, J 2; Boggs, M. 2;
Teixeira, M.; Murton, M.; Prince, B. 2; Perry, J.; Menocal, V..
Walks - McGRAW, R; OWENS, J; FELTY, C; KEIM, A; JOHNSON, L.
Umpires - Home:Michael Conlin 1st:Mike Droll 2nd:Randy Bruns 3rd:Colin Grucner
Start: 4:59 p.m. Time: 2:33 Attendance: 1734
Start of game delayed four hours by rain.