April 18, 2003
Box Score
Winston-Salem, N.C. - Wake Forest's Kyle Sleeth and Georgia Tech's Kyle Bakker engaged in a classic pitchers duel and the fifth-ranked Yellow Jackets came out on top with a 2-0 victory on Friday night in Atlanta.
Sleeth lasted 7.1 innings, allowed just two runs on five hits with nine strikeouts and a walk. Kirby Wedekind finished the eighth for Sleeth.
Tech's Bakker threw a complete game shutout, allowing just six hits without a walk and rang up eight Deacons.
Offensively, Wake Forest squandered a couple of golden scoring chances. In the first inning, Adam Bourassa reached second base with nobody out but Bakker struck out the next three hitters.
The Deacons left the bases loaded in the sixth inning. In the seventh, Chris Getz was stranded on second base. In all, Wake Forest left seven runners on base during the game, four were in scoring position.
Sleeth (6-2) was dominant throughout the game, striking out the side in the third and fanning two Georgia Tech batters in the seventh. He threw 108 pitches, 71 for strikes.
Georgia Tech scored what proved to be the game-winning run in the fourth inning thanks to a pair of defensive miscues. Eric Patterson led off the inning with an infield single, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by catcher Ryder Mathias.
Patterson was erased at home plate when Jeff Ruziecki fielded a Brandon Boggs grounder at first base and fired to Mathias who applied the tag. Boggs reached first on the play.
It was déjà vu when Boggs stole second and advanced to third on a second throwing error by Mathias. Sleeth struck out the next Tech batter for the second out but Jeremy Slayden singled to center to score Boggs, unearned.
Georgia Tech added an insurance run in the eighth inning when Tyler Greene led off with a single and Jake Hall followed with a bunt single. A sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly pushed across the second Yellow Jacket run.
The Deacons slip to 23-13 overall, 7-8 in the ACC. Georgia Tech captured its 30th win of the season, going to 30-7, 9-1 in the conference.
The teams will continue their weekend series on Saturday night at Russ Chandler Stadium at 7:00 p.m. and the game can be heard on WBRF 98.1 FM in Winston-Salem.
