The victory was the 800th of Georgia Tech head coach Danny Hall's coaching career.
Leading off the top of the ninth inning, Payne worked the count full against Duke reliever Jonathan Anderson before sending his second home run of the season over the right-center field wall to pull the game even at 2-2. Fisher followed with his 10th double of the season, and second of the game, before scoring the go-ahead run on a double by Wieters.
Payne and Fisher accounted for six of the Yellow Jackets' eight hits in the game, as Payne went 3-for-4 with a pair of runs, a double and a walk to go along with his home run while Fisher was 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles, a run and an RBI in the contest.
Wieters went 1-for-2 with an RBI, two walks and an HBP in the series opener.
Jared Hyatt (3-0) picked up the win by throwing a perfect eighth inning, while Payne tossed a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his second save of the season.
Tech starter David Duncan threw seven strong innings, giving up just two runs, only one of which was earned, on eight hits while striking out eight, but did not figure into the decision.
Payne and Fisher hit back-to-back doubles to lead off the game, giving Georgia Tech the 1-0 edge in the first inning. The hit by Fisher plated Payne, who has scored at least one run in 11 of the last 12 games.
The Blue Devils snapped Duncan's scoreless innings streak at 14 when they tied the game with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning. With runners on first and second, Jimmy Gallagher hit a ground ball to first base, but Duncan mishandled the flip from first baseman Tony Plagman, resulting in the runner scoring from second.
Back-to-back doubles by Gallagher and Nate Freiman gave Duke the 2-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, but it wasn't enough as Tech scored two runs in the top of the ninth to earn its fourth ACC victory of the season.
Gallagher led the Blue Devils with three hits, including a double, while scoring a run. Anderson (2-1) took the loss, giving up the two runs on three hits in the ninth inning.
The Jackets and Blue Devils will continue the series Saturday at 2 p.m. Junior righty John Goodman (1-0) will take the mound for the Yellow Jackets, while Duke counters with right-handed senior Tony Bajoczky (3-2).
2007 GEORGIA TECH BASEBALL
Georgia Tech at Duke
March 23, 2007 at Durham, NC (Jack Coombs Field)
Georgia Tech 3 (13-10,4-3 ACC)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg.
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Danny Payne cf/p......... 4 2 3 1 1 0 2 0 0 .415
Michael Fisher ss........ 5 1 3 1 0 1 2 1 0 .320
Matt Wieters c........... 2 0 1 1 2 0 8 1 0 .337
Wally Crancer dh......... 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .354
Jay Dantzler lf......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .125
Luke Murton rf/1b........ 4 0 1 0 1 1 3 0 5 .261
Tony Plagman 1b.......... 3 0 0 0 0 1 7 0 2 .319
Chris House ph/lf....... 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 .200
Patrick Long 2b.......... 3 0 0 0 1 1 2 4 0 .269
Brad Feltes 3b........... 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 1 .188
Curtis Dupart lf/rf...... 4 0 0 0 0 4 2 0 2 .256
David Duncan p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 -
Jared Hyatt p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Totals................... 33 3 8 3 6 9 27 12 12
Duke 2 (17-8,0-7 ACC)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg.
------------------------------------------------------------
Alexander Hassan p/dh.... 5 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 .354
Jonathan Anderson cf/p... 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 .337
Jimmy Gallagher rf/cf.... 5 1 3 0 0 1 1 0 0 .375
Nate Freiman 1b.......... 4 0 1 1 0 2 6 0 3 .353
Brett Bartles 3b......... 3 0 0 0 1 1 1 3 0 .312
Jeremy Gould lf.......... 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 .308
Michael Ghizzoni lf..... 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 .500
Michael Seander p....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Matt Williams c.......... 3 0 0 0 1 0 8 2 2 .343
Gabriel Saade ss......... 4 0 1 0 0 1 3 1 0 .275
Ryan McCurdy 2b.......... 3 1 1 0 1 0 4 3 2 .250
Michael Ness p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Totals................... 34 2 8 1 3 9 27 9 10
Score by Innings R H E
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Georgia Tech........ 100 000 002 - 3 8 3
Duke................ 000 010 100 - 2 8 1
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E - Fisher, M.(6); Feltes, B.(2); Duncan, D.(2); Saade, G.(10). DP - Duke 2.
LOB - Georgia Tech 12; Duke 10. 2B - Payne, D.(10); Fisher, M. 2(10);
Wieters, M.(8); Gallagher, J(9); Freiman, N.(12). HR - Payne, D.(2). HBP -
Wieters, M.; Feltes, B.. SH - Crancer, W.(1); Anderson, J.(11); Ghizzoni,
M.(1). SB - Payne, D.(9); McCurdy, R.(5). CS - Saade, G.(2).
Georgia Tech IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP ERA
--------------------------------------------------------
David Duncan........ 7.0 8 2 1 3 8 28 33 110 3.40
Jared Hyatt......... 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 9 3.20
Danny Payne......... 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 3 3 13 0.00
Duke IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP ERA
--------------------------------------------------------
Alexander Hassan.... 5.0 3 1 1 4 5 17 22 93 2.10
Michael Ness........ 2.0 2 0 0 2 1 8 10 40 3.06
Jonathan Anderson... 1.1 3 2 2 0 1 6 8 30 1.56
Michael Seander..... 0.2 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 12 0.74
Win - Hyatt, J. (3-0). Loss - Anderson, J. (2-1). Save - Payne, D. (2).
WP - Duncan, D.(2). HBP - by Hassan, A. (Wieters, M.); by Anderson, J. (Feltes,
B.). Inherited runners/scored: Seander, M. 1/0. Pitches/strikes: Duncan, D.
110/75; Hyatt, J. 9/6; Payne, D. 13/8; Hassan, A. 93/50; Ness, M. 40/24;
Anderson, J. 30/18; Seander, M. 12/6.
Umpires - HP: Scott Graham 1B: Joe Marion 3B: Phelps Prescott
Start: 3:00 pm Time: 2:42 Attendance: 417