University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Georgia Tech (ACC Tournament)
Georgia Tech Rallies Past Carolina, 10-8
May 24, 2002 | Baseball
May 24, 2002
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ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. - Georgia Tech rallied from deficits of 5-0 and 8-4 to defeat North Carolina, 10-8, on Friday at Florida Power Park and eliminate the Tar Heels from the 2002 ACC Baseball Tournament. The Tar Heels, who have dropped four straight to Tech in ACC Tournament play, fell to 40-19.
"It's obviously very disappointing that we lost," said UNC head coach Mike Fox. "I thought our players played very hard, not just today but in the whole tournament. We played three close, hard-fought games and unfortunately the last two days we didn't come out on the right side."
Carolina got to Kyle Bakker early, tagging the Tech ace for five runs on eight hits over the first three innings for a quick 5-0 lead. Jeremy Cleveland had an RBI single in the first, Adam Greenberg had a three-run homer in the second and Ron Braun had an RBI double in the third for the Tar Heels.
Meanwhile, the Yellow Jackets had just one hit through the first three innings before striking for four runs on three doubles and a home run in the bottom of the fourth. Victor Menocal took second base to lead off the inning on a two-base fielding error by UNC third baseman Chris Maples, and Jeremy Sladen followed with a two-run shot to right. Tyler Parker and Wes Rynders added RBI doubles and quickly Tech was within 5-4 at the end of the fourth.
Cleveland and Ryan Blake homered in back-to-back at bats to open the fifth inning before Tech pulled Bakker in favor of Jeff Watchko. Watchko got two quick outs, but a two-out single by Chad Prosser and a stolen base put him in scoring position for Greenberg to drive him home with a single to right, as Carolina widened the gap to 8-4.
The Yellow Jackets pulled ahead 9-8 with five runs on just three hits and four walks in the bottom half of the fifth. Carolina went to Carter Harrell out of the bullpen after UNC starter Daniel Moore issued consecutive walks to open the inning, but the freshman right-hander collected just one out to go along with three Tech hits, two walks and a hit batter. Michael Gross finally collected the final out of the inning with Tech threatening for more with the bases loaded.
Tech added a final run in the sixth inning and rode the strong pitching of Watchko to the victory. Watchko (11-1) allowed just one run on six hits over the final five innings for his 11th win. Harrell (8-4) took the loss.
"I give credit to Tech for coming back," Fox said. "We knew they would. They're an outstanding team. We knew we had to pitch well, and it came down to a battle of the bullpens. Theirs was better than ours today."
Greenberg's second inning home run was his second of the ACC Tourmament and his 17th of the season, while Cleveland also hit two in the tournament and now has 10 in 2002. Blake added his fifth homer to up UNC's school-record season total to 101.
Carolina will learn on Monday what regional it has been placed in for the opening weekend of the 2002 NCAA Tournament (May 31-June 2).
