May 24, 2002

Box Score | Quotes | Tournament Central

St. Petersburg, Fla. - No. 5 seed Georgia Tech (46-13) overcame a 5-0 deficit to defeat No. 3 seed North Carolina (40-19) and stay alive in the 2002 ACC Baseball Championship Friday afternoon at St. Petersburg, Fla. with a 10-8 win.

North Carolina is eliminated from the ACC Tournament while Georgia Tech will face Florida State on Saturday at a time to be determined.

Reliever Jeff Watchko (11-1) of Georgia Tech earned the win pitching five innings giving up one run on six hits with no walks and four strikeouts. Carter Harrell (8-4) took the loss for the Tar Heels.

North Carolina jumped out to an early lead in the game's first three innings, scoring one run apiece in the first and third innings, and three runs in the second.

The Tar Heel second inning was highlighted by a three run homer by Adam Greenburg.

Tech's Victor Menocal reached base on an error by third baseman Chris Maples to start the bottom of the fourth. The Yellow Jackets didn't waste any time making the Tar Heels pay as the next batter, Jeremy Slayden, delivered a two-run homer to right field. Georgia Tech would pick up two more runs in the inning to close the North Carolina lead to 5-4.

North Carolina opened the top of the fifth with back-to-back home runs by Jeremy Cleveland and Ryan Blake. The two run shots forced Tech starter Kyle Bakker out of the game, Bakker was replaced by Watchko. Watchko gave up one more run before the Jackets could get out of the inning.

The Yellow Jackets roared back with five runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead for the first time in the game. After Eric Patterson scored on a ground out to second base by Jeremy Slayden, run scoring singles were delivered by Tyler Parker, Matthew Boggs and Brandon Boggs to give Tech a 9-8 advantage.

The charge by the Yellow Jackets marked the second time in this tournament that North Carolina has blown a big lead as the Tar Heels blew an eight-run lead in the first round against Virginia before eventually winning 11-10.

Georgia Tech added a run in the bottom of the sixth on another single by Matthew Boggs that scored Slayden who was hit by a pitch to start the inning.