Hurricanes Fall to Georgia Tech, 17-4
April 2, 2004
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Georgia Tech catcher Mike Nickeas’ grand slam sparked the Yellow Jackets five-run first inning and proved to be too much for the fifth-ranked Miami Hurricanes to over come, falling 17-4 at Russ Chandler Stadium Friday night in front of 1,898 fans.
Miami fall to 22-6 on the season and had its three-game winning streak of Georgia Tech snapped. The Ramblin Wreck improves to 17-11 on the season.
Yellow Jackets’ right-hander Brian Burks handcuffed the Hurricanes for five innings before giving up four runs in the sixth inning. His performance evened his record at 2-2, scattering eight hits over 6.2 innings.
Georgia Tech jumped out to an early lead with a RBI single off the bat of Wes Hodges in the bottom half of the first inning. Things got even worse for the Hurricanes in the first, trailing 1-0, Touchet loaded the bases with a walk and a hitter batter before surrendering a grand slam to GT catcher Mike Nickeas.
After Touchet settled down and cruised through the second, third and fourth innings, the Yellow Jackets once again hit the West Palm Beach native hard. The decisive blow was a bases-loaded, two-run double down the left-field line by Steven Blackwood that staked Georgia Tech to a 7-0 lead.
The double spelled the end to Touchet’s night after the right-handed had given up nine runs on seven hits in 4.1 innings of work. Ricky Orta made his fifth appearance of the season and didn’t stop the bleeding, allowing two of Touchet’s runs to score and giving up two more runs, walking home Tech’s 11th run of the game before exiting. Chris Perez came in and got the final out of the inning.
Miami tried to make things interesting in the sixth inning with Jim Burt’s sixth home run of the season, a three-run shot to left field. Brian Barton followed with a double down the left-field line and scored on a RBI single by Gaby Sanchez to pull the Hurricanes within 11-4.
Tech added its 12th run on a throwing error by Perez in the sixth inning and tacked on five more in the seventh inning.
Georgia Tech and Miami continue their three-game series on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta.
