Baseball wins Atlanta Regional

Tech baseball prevailed against Furman and South Carolina to win the Atlanta Regional. The team advanced to the Super Regional after a winner-take-all game with South Carolina.

Tech knocked off Furman in the first game of the Regional. Tech prevailed 5-4 scoring in the bottom of the 10th inning.

"We were one hit away several times from breaking the game open," Head Coach Danny Hall said. "We didn't get that done. I'm very happy of my team for hanging in there and finding a way to win."

Furman led off the scoring in the second inning when Matthew Betsill hit a homerun to left field. Tech put three runs across in the inning.

Furman tied it in the sixth and the teams traded runs in their halves of the seventh and eighth. In the bottom of the 10th inning with two runners on base, Jeff Kindel drove in the winning hit.

"I was glad to see Jeff Kindel come up with a guy in scoring position in the last inning," Hall said. "He had a great at-bat and came up with a huge hit."

Tech beat South Carolina 10-2 in the first game of the series.

"If you're at your best you'll have a hard time beating Coach Hall's team and we weren't even close to that," South Carolina Head Coach Ray Tanner said.

Blake Wood gave up the only two runs in the first inning. The Jackets scored four runs in the first inning and added runs in six of the nine innings for a decisive win.

"Getting off to a quick start in the first inning was very key for us," Hall said. "Blake Wood, after the first inning, pitched as good as he had all year. He has outstanding stuff and did a tremendous job of keeping them off balance."

Jeremy Slayden made his first appearance in a month at the top of the ninth, driving a pitch off of a truck in right-centerfield. Slayden was out of action after having a cyst removed from his right foot. He went 4-5 on the weekend with two home runs and a walk.

"It was pretty special," Slayden said. "It's awesome to be back out there and I couldn't ask for more."

South Carolina's strong pitching performance helped them defeat Tech in the second game, forcing a third game.

"They got out on us early and got a couple runs," Hall said. "We thought we were going to get back into the game. Their home runs were probably the story. I think we were a hit away several times from getting back in the game and couldn't quite get the hit. To their credit they made some pitches when they needed to get out of trouble."

Tech gave up two runs in the first two innings and only managed three runs. The Gamecocks took advantage of three Tech errors to win the second game 8-3.

Tech pulled out all the stops in the deciding game of the series and defeated South Carolina 5-0.

"Georgia Tech clearly had the best club in this regional," South Carolina head coach Ray Tanner said. "We were good enough to force a game today, and I was hoping we could do it again. We clearly got beat by a better club and I wish Georgia Tech well."

Tim Gustafson earned his second win of the Regional by pitching seven masterful innings. Gustafson gave up only four hits, two walks and four strike outs. Wieters completed the shutout, only Tech's third one of the season.

"Tim Gustafson was outstanding," Hall said. "He was as good as he's pitched in his career. He had everything working."

Gustafson earned the Regional's Most Outstanding Player honors picking up two wins in 10 innings of work. The sophomore struck out seven while giving up six hits and walking two with a 0.90 ERA on the weekend.

"Any one of our guys could've gotten it," Gustafson said. "Jeremy comes in after not playing for a month and has great at bats. Wieters does the same thing. I was thankful for it and it's a great honor. With the team that we have you could spread it out nine different ways."

Five Jackets join Gustafson on the All-Regional team. Juniors Andy Hawranick, Jeff Kindel and Tyler Greene earned the honors at catcher, outfield and shortstop respectively. Sophomore pitcher Blake Wood and Freshman centerfielder Danny Payne also earned the honors.