With the victory, Stetson advances to play South Carolina in a 3 p.m. winners' bracket contest on Saturday afternoon. Georgia Tech will face East Carolina in an elimination game at 11 a.m. The Gamecocks defeated the Pirates, 4-0, in the day's opening game.
Trailing 2-0 in the top of the sixth inning, the Hatters (40-22) blasted three home runs off of Tech starter Micah Owings (9-3), to take the lead for good at 4-2. Back-to-back shots by Brian Snyder and Andy Wilson knotted the score at 2-2. After a groundout, catcher Chris Westervelt singled, before right fielder Pete Rasmusen belted a two-run home run over the right-center field fence to give the Hatters their first lead of the night.
"I made some mistakes here and there and they capitalized on them," said Owings. "Instead of doing what I was supposed to do, getting it in on somebody and showing them that I was out there not messing around and out there to play I just kept throwing it right there (on the outside part of the plate) and they just kept hitting it. It's a learning experience for me."
Stetson added an insurance run in the top of the 8th inning against Tech reliever Jeff Watchko, as Ian Church reached on a two-out error by shortstop Tyler Greene, advanced to second on a walk to Rusty Beale, and came around to score on an infield single by John DeStefano, increasing the lead to 5-2.
Tech (44-17) closed to within 5-4 in the bottom of the 8th, as left fielder Matt Murton reached safely with one out on an error by Wilson, in front of a two-run home run by first baseman Clifton Remole. Blair retired the final two batters in the eighth, and first in the ninth, before giving way to Stetson closer Roger Lincoln, who set down the final two batters to earn his ninth save of the season.
"(Blair) was just keeping us off-balance all night", said Remole. "We couldn't lay off of the low stuff, the low curve ball or the changeup. I finally got one up in the zone and I capitalized on it. We have to stay back. The guy is not throwing 95, we have to stay back. I think that has been a problem all year. But we will get it. We are not out by all means."
Blair (3-2) allowed four runs, three earned, while scattering just five hits, and striking out a career-high 10 batters over 8.1 innings of work. Owings allowed four runs and nine hits, while walking three and striking out three over 6.1 innings.
The Jackets took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning, as Stephen Blackwood doubled, and came around to score on an RBI single by Murton. The lead was increased to 2-0 in the fourth, as Micah Owings blasted his team-leading 15th home run of the season.
2003 GEORGIA TECH BASEBALL
STETSON at GEORGIA TECH
May 30, 2003 at Atlanta, Ga. (Russ Chandler Stadium)
STETSON 5 (40-22)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg.
------------------------------------------------------------
DESTEFANO, John lf....... 4 0 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 .324
D'AOUST, Mike pr/rf..... 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 .330
PARITZ, Brandon 2b....... 3 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 .286
SNYDER, Brian 3b......... 3 1 2 1 2 1 0 2 3 .402
WILSON, Andy 1b.......... 5 1 1 1 0 2 8 0 1 .274
COLE, Chris dh........... 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 .282
WESTERVELT, Chris c...... 5 1 1 0 0 1 10 0 0 .232
RASMUSEN, Pete rf/lf..... 4 1 2 2 0 1 3 0 0 .290
CHURCH, Ian cf........... 4 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 .349
BEALE, Rusty ss.......... 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 3 2 .264
BLAIR, Adam p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
LINCOLN, Roger p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Totals................... 36 5 10 5 5 6 27 6 10
GEORGIA TECH 4 (44-17)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg.
------------------------------------------------------------
Eric Patterson 2b........ 4 0 0 0 0 3 3 2 0 .276
Steven Blackwood cf...... 3 1 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 .351
Matt Murton lf........... 4 1 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 .306
Clifton Remole 1b........ 4 1 1 2 0 0 10 2 2 .319
Mike Nickeas c........... 4 0 1 0 0 0 5 1 1 .335
Jeremy Slayden rf........ 3 0 0 0 1 3 2 0 0 .293
Micah Owings p/dh........ 4 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 .301
Tyler Greene ss.......... 3 0 0 0 0 3 2 4 0 .317
Brandon Boggs ph........ 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .247
Jake Hall 3b............. 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 .292
Jeff Watchko p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Totals................... 34 4 5 4 2 10 27 11 5
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
STETSON............. 000 004 010 - 5 10 2
GEORGIA TECH........ 001 100 020 - 4 5 1
-------------------------------------------
E - WILSON(6); BEALE(19); Greene, T.(31). DP - GEORGIA TECH 1. LOB - STETSON
10; GEORGIA TECH 5. 2B - Blackwood, S(7). HR - SNYDER(11); WILSON(8);
RASMUSEN(5); Remole, C.(3); Owings, M.(15). SH - PARITZ(18).
STETSON IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP ERA
--------------------------------------------------------
BLAIR, Adam......... 8.1 5 4 3 2 10 32 34 127 3.62
LINCOLN, Roger...... 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 12 4.81
GEORGIA TECH IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP ERA
--------------------------------------------------------
Micah Owings........ 6.1 9 4 4 3 3 26 30 97 3.99
Jeff Watchko........ 2.2 1 1 0 2 3 10 12 44 4.62
Win - BLAIR (3-2). Loss - Owings, M. (9-3). Save - LINCOLN (9).
PB - Nickeas, M. 2(4). Inherited runners/scored: Watchko, J. 2/0.
Pitches/strikes: BLAIR 127/82; LINCOLN 12/9; Owings, M. 97/61; Watchko, J. 44/25.
Umpires - HP: Ray Miller 1B: John Kleis 2B: Tim Henderson 3B: Mike Cerra
Start: 6:59 pm Time: 2:49 Attendance: 4035