March 19, 2002

MENOCAL LEADS TECH OVER EASTERN KENTUCKY

ATLANTA, GA - Senior Victor Menocal went 4-for-4 and while earning his first career save to lead 12th-ranked Georgia Tech (15-3) over Eastern Kentucky, 6-5, on Tuesday evening at Russ Chandler Stadium. The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Yellow Jackets and improved their record to 10-0 at their new home park.

Trailing 5-2 after five and a half innings, Georgia Tech rallied in the bottom by scoring four times to take a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. After getting hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, Eric Patterson stole second, took third on a wild pitch, and then scored on a throwing error by catcher Phil Robertson. Tech then plated two runs on five consecutive singles including RBI hits from Jeremy Slayden and Jason Perry. Slayden scored the fourth run of the inning on a double play ground ball.

The Colonels (2-12) had taken a 5-2 lead in the top half of the sixth on a three-run homer from Will Whisenant, his first of the season.

Tech got scoreless relief from Nick Wagner and Jeff Kindel into the ninth inning before Eastern Kentucky loaded the bases with nobody out against Kindel on a pair of hits and a walk. Menocal moved from shortstop to the mound in relief of Kindel and proceeded to strikeout Neil Sellers on a 3-2 fastball before coaxing Robertson to ground into a game-ending double play.

Brian Burks (5-1) scattered nine hits over six innings to earn the win, despite giving up all five runs. Eastern Kentucky reliever Nic Lively (0-3) gave up three runs in two-thirds of an inning and took the loss.

Tech Freshman Jeremy Slayden went 3-for-5 with two runs batted in for the Jackets, while Tyler Parker and Perry added two hits and an RBI each.

Georgia Tech and Eastern Kentucky will conclude the two-game series at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Russ Chandler Stadium.

                               2002 GEORGIA TECH BASEBALL
                            EASTERN KENTUCKY at GEORGIA TECH
                  Mar 19, 2002 at Atlanta, Ga. (Russ Chandler Stadium)

  EASTERN KENTUCKY 302 (2-12)                   GEORGIA TECH 303 (15-3)
  Player                      AB  R  H BI       Player                      AB  R  H BI
  ---------------------------------------       ---------------------------------------
  Josh Anderson cf...........  5  1  4  0       Matthew Boggs 3b...........  5  1  1  0
  John Myles 1b..............  3  0  0  2       Victor Menocal ss/p........  4  3  4  0
  Neil Sellers 3b............  4  1  2  0       Jeremy Slayden rf..........  5  1  3  2
  Phillip Robertson c........  4  1  1  0       Tyler Parker c.............  4  0  2  1
  Will Whisenant dh..........  3  1  2  3       Jason Perry dh.............  4  0  2  1
   Adam Visnic ph............  1  0  0  0        Davis Myers pr/ss.........  0  0  0  0
  Aaron Williams lf..........  2  0  1  0       Matt Murton lf.............  4  0  0  0
   Andy Polzin lf............  2  0  0  0        Wes Rynders cf............  0  0  0  0
  Greg Estep rf..............  4  0  0  0       Clifton Remole 1b..........  3  0  0  0
  Johnny King ss.............  4  0  0  0       Brandon Boggs cf/lf........  3  0  0  0
  Chris Grynaviski 2b........  4  1  3  0       Eric Patterson 2b..........  3  1  1  0
  Josh Thomas p..............  0  0  0  0       Brian Burks p..............  0  0  0  0
   Nic Lively p..............  0  0  0  0        Nick Wagner p.............  0  0  0  0
   Scott Goetz p.............  0  0  0  0        Jeff Kindel p.............  0  0  0  0
  Totals..................... 36  5 13  5       Totals..................... 35  6 13  4

  Score by Innings     123 456 789     R  H  E
  ---------------------------------------------
  EASTERN KENTUCKY.... 101 003 000  -  5 13  2
  GEORGIA TECH........ 100 014 00X  -  6 13  1
  ---------------------------------------------

  E - Robertson, P(2); King, J.(5); Patterson, E(5). DP - EKU 2; GEORGIA TECH 2. LOB -
  EKU 8; GEORGIA TECH 12. 2B - Menocal, V.(6); Slayden, J. 2(4). 3B - Anderson, J.(2).
  HR - Whisenant, W(1). HBP - Robertson, P; Patterson, E. SF - Myles, J.(2). SB -
  Anderson, J.(9); Menocal, V.(4); Myers, D.(1); Murton, M.(7); Patterson, E(7). CS -
  Whisenant, W(2).

  EASTERN KENTUCKY               IP  H  R ER BB SO  WP BK HP IBB  AB BF  FO GO  NP
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Josh Thomas ...............   4.1  7  2  2  3  5   0  0  0  0   19 22   6  1  86
  Nic Lively  L,0-3..........   0.2  2  3  3  1  0   1  0  1  0    5  7   1  1  23
  Scott Goetz ...............   3.0  4  1  1  2  2   0  0  0  0   11 13   3  2  42

  GEORGIA TECH                   IP  H  R ER BB SO  WP BK HP IBB  AB BF  FO GO  NP
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Brian Burks  W,5-1.........   6.0  9  5  5  0  4   1  0  1  0   23 25   3  8  88
  Nick Wagner ...............   1.0  2  0  0  1  1   0  0  0  0    5  6   1  1  29
  Jeff Kindel ...............   1.0  2  0  0  1  1   0  0  0  0    6  7   2  0  25
  Victor Menocal  S,1........   1.0  0  0  0  0  1   0  0  0  0    2  2   0  1  10

  WP - Lively, N.(1); Burks, B.(4). HBP - by Burks, B. (Robertson, P); by Lively, N.
  (Patterson, E). Inherited runners/scored: Lively, N. 1/0; Goetz, S. 2/2; Menocal, V.
  3/0. Pitches/strikes: Thomas, J. 86/54; Lively, N. 23/12; Goetz, S. 42/24; Burks, B.
  88/66; Wagner, N. 29/16; Kindel, J. 25/16; Menocal, V. 10/6.

  Strikeouts - Anderson, J.; Myles, J.; Sellers, N.; Visnic, A.; Estep, G. 2; King,
  J.; Boggs, M.; Slayden, J.; Perry, J.; Murton, M. 2; Remole, C.; Patterson, E. 
  Walks - Myles, J.; Sellers, N.; Menocal, V.; Parker, T.; Perry, J.; Murton, M.; Remole,
  C.; Boggs, B..

  Umpires - HP: Ken Couch  1B: Steve Manders  3B: Tony Thompson
  Start: 4:02 pm   Time: 3:13   Attendance: 662

  Lively, N. faced 3 batters in the 6th.
  Kindel, J. faced 3 batters in the 9th.


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