May 26, 2005

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, FL.(AP)-Whit Robbins hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning to cap a two-run Georgia Tech rally and lead the Yellow Jackets to a 9-8 win over Wake Forest in the final first round game of the Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Tournament at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.

The win sends Georgia Tech (39-16) into the winner's bracket where it will face Florida State in the final game on Thursday. Wake Forest (27-29), which needed to win twice on Tuesday to qualify as the No. 8 seed, meets North Carolina in the loser's bracket.

Wake Forest starter Brian Bach put together one of the gutsiest perfomances in Demon Deacon baseball history. The senior right-hander held the top offensive ACC team in check for the better part of eight innings.

Jeff Kindel and Wes Hodges led off the final inning with singles and Kindel scored when Bach threw wildly to third on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Matt Wieters.

Following an intentional walk, senior Tim Morley relieved Bach and promptly struckout Andy Hawranick. Kyle Young then entered and got two strikes on Robbins, but the first basemen sent a line drive to Demon Deacons leftfielder Brett Linnenkohl who slipped and fell down after making the catch enabling Hodges to score the winning run

. Georgia Tech overcame a 7-0 deficit after three innings following Wake Forest's five-run third inning.

Bach very easily could have been looking at allowing just one earned run heading into the ninth inning for not a number of defensive miscues -- none bigger than in the fifth inning.

After Bach got Steven Blackwood to ground out to open the fifth, Hawranick singled. Robbins followed with a walk. The walk was Bach's first in 22 and 1/3 third innings of work -- a span dating back to April 24 in a start against Maryland.

Mike Trapani followed with a bloop single to load the bases with just one out. Bach appeared as though he would get out of the inning when he induced Danny Payne into a taylor-made double play ball, but freshman Andy Goff misplayed the grounder allowing two runs to score making the Demon Deacons lead 7-2. Tyler Greene followed with a two-run triple before Jeff Kindel belted a two-run home run bringing the Jackets within a run, 7-6.

Both teams scored once more before Tech rallied in the ninth off Bach (2-4) who threw a season-high 140 pitches during his eight-plus innings. He worked at least 6.0 innings for the sixth straight start.

Sophomore Matt Antonelli went 2-for-5 with a run scored and two RBI. Redshirt senior Ryder Mathias went 2-for-5 with a run scored and RBI. Senoir Matt Miller, who had a season-high four hits and careeer-best six RBI in last night's victory over Maryland, went 1-for-2 with an RBI, run scored and three walks.

Kindel and Hodges both had three hits for the winners. Lee Hyde started for Tech and allowed just one hit in 2 1/3 innings, but gave up six runs, only one of which was earned. Wieters got the last out in Wake Forest's ninth inning to earn the win and even his season record at 2-2.

A total of 17,860 people were on hand for the four games on Wednesday, setting a tournament day session record, bettering the old mark of 15,793 set in 1988 in Greenville, SC.