With the three-game sweep, Georgia Tech maintained its hold of first place in the ACC standings, three games up in the loss column on both N.C. State (11-4) and Florida State (11-4).
Owings (6-1), who also hit a home run and went 2-for-4 as Tech's designated hitter, retired 18 of the first 19 Wake Forest hitters in the game before finally allowing a hit in the top of the seventh inning. He surrendered three runs on five hits and one walk over seven innings of work. Brian Burks went the final 1.2 innings, including working out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the eighth, to earn his teal-leading sixth save of the season.
Wake Forest reliever Adam Hanson (5-3) took the loss after surrendering two runs over the last two innings. Starter Tim Morley pitched well, allowing three runs on five hits in six innings, but did not figure in the decision.
The Yellow Jackets broke up a scoreless game with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Matt Murton led off the inning with a single and stole second base. After Jeremy Slayden flew out, Murton took third base on Owings' infield single. Clifton Remole grounded into a double play, first base to second base, but Murton scored before the Demon Deacons could rundown Owings between first and second bases.
Tech extended the lead to 2-0 in the fifth when Tyler Greene and Jake Hall led off the inning with consecutive singles to put runners on first and third bases, and Andy Hawranick plated Greene with a sacrifice fly to right field. A solo home run from Owings, his team-leading 13th of the season, gave the Yellow Jackets a 3-0 lead in the sixth.
The Demon Deacons broke up the no hitter and shutout in the top of the seventh inning when Ryan Hubbard doubled off the first base bag and Jamie D'Antona followed with his team-leading 15th home run of the season to pull within 3-2. Wake Forest tied the score at 3-3 with three consecutive two-out hits - a double from Jeff Ruziecki, a single from Chris Getz and a RBI single from Ben Ingold.
Georgia Tech scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to take a 5-3 lead. Tyler Greene singled and Eric Patterson reached on a fielder's choice and stole second base before Boggs drove in both runners with a two-out double to right center field.
Wake Forest mounted a rally in the eighth inning, loading the bases with one out on a single, hit batter and walk off Tech reliever Jeff Watchko, but Burks came out of the bullpen to strike out Steve LeFaivre and Jeff Ruziecki and work out of the jam.
Tech freshmen Owings and Greene led the Yellow Jackets with two hits each. Ryan Hubbard had two hits for the Demon Deacons.
Georgia Tech returns to action on Wednesday when the Yellow Jackets host Georgia at 7 p.m. at Russ Chandler Stadium. The game will be televised regionally by Comcast Sports Southeast, and radio coverage will be available on WREK (91.1 FM in Atlanta).
2003 GEORGIA TECH BASEBALL
WAKE FOREST at GEORGIA TECH
April 20, 2003 at Atlanta, Ga. (Russ Chandler Stadium)
WAKE FOREST 3 (23-15,7-10 ACC) GEORGIA TECH 5 (32-7,11-1 ACC)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
Adam Bourassa cf........... 3 0 0 0 Eric Patterson 2b.......... 4 1 0 0
Ryan Hubbard lf............ 3 1 2 0 Brandon Boggs cf........... 4 0 1 2
Ryan Johnson rf............ 3 0 0 0 Matt Murton lf............. 3 1 1 0
Jamie D'Antona 3b.......... 3 1 1 2 Jeremy Slayden rf.......... 4 0 0 0
Steve LeFaivre dh.......... 4 0 0 0 Micah Owings p/dh.......... 4 1 2 1
Jeff Ruziecki 1b........... 4 1 1 0 Clifton Remole 1b.......... 4 0 1 0
Chris Getz 2b.............. 4 0 1 0 Tyler Greene ss............ 4 2 2 0
Ben Ingold ss.............. 4 0 1 1 Jake Hall 3b............... 3 0 1 0
Steven Malinowski c........ 3 0 0 0 Davis Myers 3b............ 0 0 0 0
Brad Scioletti ph......... 1 0 0 0 Andy Hawranick c........... 0 0 0 1
Tim Morley p............... 0 0 0 0 Jeff Watchko p............ 0 0 0 0
Adam Hanson p............. 0 0 0 0 Brian Burks p............. 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 32 3 6 3 Totals..................... 30 5 8 4
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
WAKE FOREST......... 000 000 300 - 3 6 2
GEORGIA TECH........ 000 111 20X - 5 8 0
-------------------------------------------
E - Bourassa(3); Ingold(11). DP - WAKE FOREST 1. LOB - WAKE FOREST 6; GEORGIA TECH
5. 2B - Hubbard(9); Ruziecki(8); Boggs, B.(8). 3B - Murton, M.(3).
HR - D'Antona(15); Owings, M.(13). HBP - Johnson; Hawranick, A. SH - Hubbard(9).
SF - Hawranick, A(2). SB - Patterson, E(22); Murton, M.(10). CS - Boggs, B.(2).
WAKE FOREST IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO NP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tim Morley ................ 6.0 5 3 3 2 2 1 0 0 0 21 24 9 5 81
Adam Hanson L,5-3......... 2.0 3 2 2 0 2 0 0 1 0 9 10 1 3 29
GEORGIA TECH IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO NP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Micah Owings W,6-1........ 7.0 5 3 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 25 27 10 9 80
Jeff Watchko .............. 0.1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 2 4 0 1 15
Brian Burks S,6........... 1.2 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 5 5 0 2 24
WP - Morley(4). HBP - by Hanson (Hawranick, A); by Watchko, J. (Johnson).
PB - Hawranick, A(5). Inherited runners/scored: Burks, B. 3/0.
Pitches/strikes: Morley 81/50; Hanson 29/19; Owings, M. 80/47; Watchko, J. 15/7;
Burks, B. 24/16. Strikeouts - D'Antona; LeFaivre; Ruziecki; Malinowski; Scioletti;
Owings, M.; Remole, C.; Greene, T.; Hall, J.. Walks - Bourassa; D'Antona; Murton, M.;
Hawranick, A.
Umpires - HP: Randolph Harvey 1B: Ron Sebastian 3B: Bruce Ravan
Start: 1:33 pm Time: 2:11 Attendance: 1652