Burks (7-3) held the Bears to one run on five hits in five innings to earn his first win since March 30. He struck out six batters and did not issue a walk. Wagner and Kindel each worked two scoreless and hitless innings to close out the game.
Georgia Tech jumped on top early, scoring in the bottom of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Eric Patterson led off with a double, stole third base, and then scored on an RBI single by Menocal.
Mercer tied the game at 1-1 in the top half of the fourth inning after David Harwell doubled to lead off the inning and scored on an RBI single by Kyle Levengood.
With the score knotted at 1-1, the Yellow Jackets used a six-run fourth inning to seize control of the game. The inning was highlighted by an RBI double from Wes Rynders and run-scoring singles from Mike Nickeas, Victor Menocal, and Jason Perry.
The Yellow Jackets added five more runs in the eighth inning, scoring on back-to-back RBI doubles by Menocal and Jeremy Slayden, and a two-run homer by Matt Murton, his fourth of the season.
Patterson and Menocal led the Georgia Tech offense with three hits apiece, while Slayden, Murton, and Matthew Boggs each added two hits.
Chris Bishop (2-4) took the loss for Mercer, allowing seven runs on 10 hits in 3.2 innings of work. David Harwell and Luke Jackson had two hits for the Bears in the loss.
Georgia Tech will travel to Athens to take on Georgia in a 6:30 p.m. match-up on Wednesday evening. Chris Goodman (4-0, 4.43 ERA) will take the mound for the Yellow Jackets.
2002 GEORGIA TECH BASEBALL
GEORGIA TECH at FLORIDA STATE
April 23, 2002 at Atlanta, Ga. (Russ Chandler Stadium)
MERCER 1 (17-25) GEORGIA TECH 12 (33-8)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
GAINES, Jason cf........... 3 0 0 0 Eric Patterson 2b.......... 4 3 3 0
HARWELL, David ss.......... 4 1 2 0 Victor Menocal ss.......... 5 0 3 4
APPALUCCI, Mike rf......... 4 0 0 0 Davis Myers pr/ss......... 0 1 0 0
LEVENGOOD, Kyle lf......... 4 0 1 1 Jeremy Slayden rf.......... 3 2 2 1
HURST, Daniel 3b........... 4 0 0 0 Tyler Parker dh............ 5 1 1 1
LYNCH, Jarrod 1b........... 2 0 0 0 Jason Perry 1b............. 4 0 1 1
JONES, Brian dh/p.......... 3 0 0 0 Clifton Remole ph/1b...... 1 1 0 0
STARKE, Drew c............. 2 0 0 0 Matt Murton lf............. 4 2 2 2
SAS, Trevor c............. 1 0 0 0 Matthew Boggs 3b........... 3 0 2 1
JACKSON, Luke 2b........... 3 0 2 0 Jake Hall ph/3b........... 1 0 0 0
BISHOP, Chris p............ 0 0 0 0 Wes Rynders cf............. 4 1 1 1
JARRETT, Brett p.......... 0 0 0 0 Mike Nickeas c............. 4 1 1 1
MORRISON, James p......... 0 0 0 0 Brian Burks p.............. 0 0 0 0
Kiefer, BYRON p........... 0 0 0 0 Nick Wagner p............. 0 0 0 0
PAOLANTONIO, Mike p....... 0 0 0 0 Jeff Kindel p............. 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 30 1 5 1 Totals..................... 38 12 16 12
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
MERCER.............. 000 100 000 - 1 5 2
GEORGIA TECH........ 100 600 05X - 12 16 0
-------------------------------------------
E - Starke, D(9); Sas, T(2). DP - GEORGIA TECH 2. LOB - MERCER 4; GEORGIA TECH 7.
2B - Harwell, D(11); Patterson, E(8); Menocal, V.(13); Slayden, J.(8); Rynders, W.(6).
HR - Murton, M.(4). SH - Boggs, M.(6). SB - Harwell, D(10); Patterson, E 2(27);
Perry, J.(5); Murton, M.(15); Rynders, W.(7). CS - Boggs, M.(2).
MERCER IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO NP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BISHOP, Chris L,2-4....... 3.2 10 7 7 2 0 0 0 0 0 20 23 3 8 85
JONES, Brian .............. 1.1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 5 6 2 0 30
JARRETT, Brett ............ 1.0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 0 17
MORRISON, James ........... 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 2 11
Kiefer, BYRON ............. 0.1 2 3 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 3 4 0 0 16
PAOLANTONIO, Mike ......... 0.2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 0 2 10
GEORGIA TECH IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO NP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian Burks W,7-3......... 5.0 5 1 1 0 6 0 0 0 0 19 19 2 6 65
Nick Wagner ............... 2.0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 5 6 1 3 21
Jeff Kindel ............... 2.0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 6 7 1 3 28
PB - Nickeas, M.(3). Inherited runners/scored: Jones, B 2/1; Paolantonio 1/1.
Pitches/strikes: Bishop, C 85/52; Jones, B 30/20; Jarrett, B 17/11; Morrison, J 11/7;
Kiefer, B 16/8; Paolantonio 10/8; Burks, B. 65/46; Wagner, N. 21/12; Kindel, J. 28/17.
Strikeouts - Gaines, J 2; Appalucci, M; Levengood, K 2; Hurst, D; Lynch, J; Jones,
B; Jackson, L; Slayden, J.; Parker, T.; Perry, J.; Rynders, W.; Nickeas, M. 2.
Walks - Gaines, J; Lynch, J; Patterson, E; Slayden, J. 2; Murton, M..
Umpires - HP: Tony Thompson 1B: Ken Couch 3B: Steve Manders
Start: 7:03 pm Time: 2:30 Attendance: 701
-30-