With the loss, the Yellow Jackets, seeded third nationally, are eliminated after going 0-2 in NCAA Tournament play for the first time since 2001. With the comeback victory, the Pirates stay alive to face the loser of Saturday's South Carolina-Stetson tilt at 7 p.m.
With the game knotted at three and the bases loaded in the seventh, Lawhorn homered to right center off Tech reliever Brian Burks to give the Pirates their first lead of the afternoon at 7-3. The home run was Lawhorn's team-best 14th of the season. ECU added three more runs in the eighth to push the final margin to 10-3.
Tech got on the board first with a three-run home run to right by first baseman Clifton Remole in the first inning. The two-out rally started when left fielder Matt Murton was hit by a pitch. He then took third on a single up the middle by designated hitter Mike Nickeas before Remole cleared the bases with his fourth homer of the season. Pirate starter Ashley Capps allowed two more singles in the frame before exiting. He worked just 0.2 innings and gave up three earned runs on four hits.
East Carolina's Glenn Tucker (5-4) came on for Capps and tossed 8.1 scoreless innings to earn the win. He allowed six hits and just one walk, while striking out six Yellow Jacket batters.
"You just get up there and don't think about anything except for the next batter," said Tucker. "I just tried to keep the team in the game and not allow any more bleeding. I just did it batter by batter, and kept us in the game."
Down 3-0, the Pirates got back in the game with a pair of runs in the third. After back-to-back walks by Georgia Tech starter Kyle Bakker, ECU center fielder Ryan Jones singled through the right side, and first baseman Ryan Norwood singled to left field to cut the lead to 3-2. But Bakker settled down after the Pirates got on the board, retiring the 11 of the next 12 batters he faced before the Pirates broke the game open in the seventh.
After a pair of singles and walk loaded the bases, Bakker then walked Jones to tie the game at three. Following the bases-loaded walk, Bakker was relieved by Burks, who got one out before surrendering the grand slam. Bakker (8-3) took the loss after allowing six earned runs and seven hits over 6.1 innings. He walked four and struck out four as well. The defeat the first of Bakker's career in NCAA Tournament play. Entering Saturday's action, he was 3-0 with a 0.75 earned run average in the postseason.
"The only time we got in trouble was when we walked people and when you play with fire you are going to get burned," said Bakker.
The Pirates plated three runs in the eighth on a two-run single by right fielder Ben Sanderson and a RBI single from Norwood. Jones went 3-for-4, while left fielder Jamie Paige and Norwood each added a pair of hits to pace the Pirate offense. Remole, center fielder Steven Blackwood and third baseman Micah Owings each had two hits for Tech.
"There's not a lot to say except we didn't play good enough to win," said Tech head coach Danny Hall. "East Carolina got some big hits when they needed them and their relief guy (Tucker) put a lot of zeros on the board after we scored three early. We couldn't mount any offensive threat against him and they beat us -- period."
2003 GEORGIA TECH BASEBALL
GEORGIA TECH vs. EAST CAROLINA
May 31, 2003 at Atlanta, Ga. (Russ Chandler Stadium)
GEORGIA TECH 3 (44-18)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg.
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Eric Patterson 2b........ 5 0 1 0 0 2 2 4 0 .274
Steven Blackwood cf...... 5 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 2 .353
Matt Murton lf........... 4 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 .301
Mike Nickeas dh/c........ 4 1 1 0 0 1 4 1 3 .333
Clifton Remole 1b........ 4 1 2 3 0 0 8 0 0 .323
Micah Owings 3b.......... 3 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 2 .306
Jeremy Slayden rf........ 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 .294
Tyler Greene ss.......... 4 0 1 0 0 0 5 2 1 .316
Andy Hawranick c......... 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .321
Kyle Bakker p........... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 .000
Brian Burks p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Andrew Kown p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Brandon Boggs ph........ 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .246
Totals................... 35 3 10 3 1 6 24 7 10
EAST CAROLINA 10 (34-26-1)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg.
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Jamie Paige lf........... 4 2 2 0 1 1 2 0 0 .308
Ryan Jones cf............ 4 1 3 2 1 1 1 0 0 .260
Ryan Norwood 1b.......... 5 0 2 2 0 1 11 1 1 .303
Darryl Lawhorn ss........ 5 1 1 4 0 1 2 3 3 .333
Jake Smith c............. 4 0 0 0 0 0 6 1 2 .291
Adam Witter dh........... 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .256
Mark Minicozzi 3b........ 3 2 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 .262
Kevin O'Sullivan 2b...... 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 4 0 .274
Ben Sanderson rf......... 2 3 1 2 2 0 2 0 0 .212
Ashley Capps p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 -
Glenn Tucker p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Totals................... 35 10 11 10 5 6 27 10 6
Score by Innings R H E
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GEORGIA TECH........ 300 000 000 - 3 10 0
EAST CAROLINA....... 002 000 53X - 10 11 0
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DP - GEORGIA TECH 1; E. CAROLINA 1. LOB - GEORGIA TECH 10; E. CAROLINA 6. 2B
- Blackwood, S(8); Owings, M.(11); O'Sullivan(8). HR - Remole, C.(4);
Lawhorn(14). HBP - Murton, M.; Nickeas, M.; Slayden, J.; Hawranick, A. SB -
Blackwood, S(5); Sanderson(4). CS - Slayden, J.(3).
GEORGIA TECH IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP ERA
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Kyle Bakker......... 6.1 7 6 6 4 4 25 29 102 4.35
Brian Burks......... 1.0 3 4 4 1 0 6 7 24 3.92
Andrew Kown......... 0.2 1 0 0 0 2 4 4 17 4.65
EAST CAROLINA IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP ERA
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Ashley Capps........ 0.2 4 3 3 0 0 6 7 32 6.80
Glenn Tucker........ 8.1 6 0 0 1 6 29 33 124 2.82
Win - Tucker (5-4). Loss - Bakker, K. (8-3). WP - Bakker, K.(4).
HBP - by Capps (Murton, M.); by Tucker 3 (Nickeas, Slayden, Hawranick).
Inherited runners/scored: Burks,B. 3/3; Kown, A. 1/1; Tucker 2/0.
Pitches/strikes: Bakker, K. 102/62; Burks, B. 24/14; Kown, A. 17/11; Capps 32/21; Tucker 124/79.
Umpires - HP: Don Novak 1B: Tim Henderson 2B: John Carraro 3B: Ray Miller
Start: 11:02 am Time: 2:54 Attendance: 2129