University of North Carolina Athletics
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Georgia Tech Drops Tar Heels, 7-4, In Series Opener
May 17, 2002 | Baseball
May 17, 2002
ATLANTA, GA. - Georgia Tech ended North Carolina's seven-game winning streak with a 7-4 victory over the sixth-ranked Tar Heels Friday evening at Russ Chandler Stadium. Carolina out-hit the eighth-ranked Yellow Jackets 13-12, but stranded 10 base runners in falling to 38-16, 16-6 in the ACC. Georgia Tech improves to 43-11, 13-8 in the league.
"We started the game ugly, and it didn't get much prettier over the next nine innings," said UNC head coach Mike Fox. "Even though we got some hits, I didn't think we hit the ball real hard consistently. But you have to credit Georgia Tech. (Kyle) Bakker really mixed his pitches well and threw a lot of first-pitch strikes."
Georgia Tech had three hits and capitalized on two UNC errors and two wild pitches by Scott Autrey in a three-run first inning for the Jackets. Eric Patterson had a leadoff single and eventually scored on a wild pitch, while Jason Perry had a two-out, RBI double and Tyler Parker drove in Tech's third run with a two-out single.
While the Yellow Jackets threatened for more in the third, Carolina got out of a bases-loaded, no outs jam with an Autrey strikeout and a double play.
Carolina finally managed its first run against Georgia Tech ace Kyle Bakker in the fifth inning, when Ron Braun homered over the fence in deep center field to pull UNC within 3-1. It was Braun's 11th home run of the season and fourth in an ACC game.
Autrey, who had surged over the last month of the season with 23 strikeouts and just three walks in his last four outings, walked four and struck out just two in four innings before being relieved by Kevin Brower to start the fifth.
Jeremy Slayden quickly tagged Brower for a two-run homer, the 16th shot of his freshman season, to extend Tech's lead to 5-1 in the fifth before Carter Harrell came on in relief and struck out Brandon Boggs to end the inning.
Carolina scratched out its second run of the game in the seventh on an RBI single by Adam Greenberg, his third hit of the game, but the Tar Heels would get no closer than 5-2 in the inning after failing to bring in another run despite loading the bases with no outs.
Tech tacked on two runs in the eighth to extend its lead to 7-2, while the Tar Heels added a pair of unearned runs in the ninth for the final 7-4 margin.
Scott Autrey (4-3) took the loss for the Tar Heels, while Bakker improved to 10-2 after giving up just two runs in eight innings.
Greenberg and Russ Adams paced Carolina with three hits apiece, while Braun had two hits and Chris Maples doubled in the fourth inning, his 22nd of the season, to extend his career-long hitting streak to 15 games. It is also the longest hit streak by any Tar Heel in 2002.
Carolina concludes its regular-season schedule with games Saturday at 1 p.m., a game which is being televised by Fox Sports South, and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. against the Yellow Jackets. Carolina opens play in the 2002 ACC Tournament in St. Petersburg next Wednesday.
