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 Keith Winnick |
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| Leadoff hitter Derik Goffena was a pleasant surprise going 10 for 14 with six RBI's against the Bruins. |
The Yellow Jacket baseball team opened its season this weekend with a three game series against the UCLA Bruins. Despite a team batting average of .380 and 10 homeruns in the series, Tech managed only one win.
The win came Friday in what seemed to be an easy game for the Jackets. Tech lost two close games after that despite a strong showing from its freshman class. If one good thing came from this series, it was the fact that there were no problems in depth as far as hitting was concerned.
"I am less concerned about where our power is coming from now than I was going in," said head coach Danny Hall. "I was somewhat surprised at how well we swung the bat, but not totally. It's encouraging that we had a lot of people contribute. That's what I was hoping for."
Derik Goffena, an outfielder installed as the leadoff hitter for the season opener, reached base his first nine times up, going 4-for-4 with a walk Friday and scoring all five times, then getting a pair of homers and a pair of singles his first four times up Saturday. He finished the weekend 10-for-14 with eight runs scored and six RBI.
Coach Hall commented, "Not in my wildest dreams did I expect him to have a weekend like that. He swung the bat well and competed well all weekend."
Heath Honeycutt, who started at third base all three games, went 6-for-13 and drove in seven runs in the three games while junior college transfer Jason Atha made an impressive debut, going 5-for-11 with a home run and no errors at second base. One thing that hurt the team was that several runners were left on base in each game.
However, Tech's pitching needs improvement as the staff combined for an 8.67 ERA over the weekend. Chuck Crowder gave up only five runs in five innings, but senior L. J. Yankosky and freshman Cory Vance had a few bad innings that really hurt the Jackets Saturday and Sunday.
"The guys that struggled this weekend did so because they didn't locate their pitches well," Hall said. "That was disappointing because I felt they would pitch well going in. But I told the guys that it's a marathon, and we've got a long way to go."
Honeycutt slammed a pair of two-run homers and Stephen Donaghey added a grand slam as 14th-ranked Tech won on Friday. With a 16-7 win over 18th-ranked UCLA, Tech scored the most runs in a season-opener in 46 years, dating back to an 18-7 win over Stetson in 1951.
Honeycutt got Tech on the board in the first inning with his first homer, walked as part of a three-run Tech third, then homered again in the fifth inning. Donaghey's blast broke the game open in the fourth when the Yellow Jackets scored seven times to snap a 5-5 tie. Honeycutt finished the game 3-for-3 with five RBI, adding a run-scoring double and a walk.
On Saturday the Jackets had a nine run lead in the third inning, but couldn't keep UCLA from a scoring rally that produced eight runs in the fourth on three home runs. Tech couldn't get any batters past second base after that.
On Sunday, UCLA struck early, with home runs by Brett Nista and Forrest Johnson in the top of the first to account for four runs, and posted three in the second, and three in the top of the fourth, to take an early 10-1 lead. Tech followed with seven runs in the fourth, including a three run homer by Scott Prather to make the score 10-8. After solo home runs by Jay Hood and Ryan Brooks, and an inside-the-park homer by Jason Atha, Tech led 11-10.
UCLA tied the game in the eighth when Nista was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, then scored from first on an errant pickoff attempt by pitcher Scott Prather. After two runners were walked in the ninth, Santora hit the triple that scored both runners and gave the Bruins a 13-11 win.
Tech's struggles continued on Wednesday afternoon when they were defeated at home by Charleston Southern 10-4. Jacket starter Chuck Crowder struggled with his control early and was rocked for five runs in the first inning. The Jacket's didn't help out offensively managing only two runs on five hits off of Charleston Southern starter Mark Cisar. The loss dropped Tech's record to 1-3.
Next up for the Jackets is a two game series this weekend at Georgia Southern. Yankosky is supposed to start tomorrow afternoon, while Scott Prather is the expected starter on Sunday afternoon. Tech won three of four games from Georgia Southern last season and lead the long series with the Eagles, 42-19, including a 15-10 advantage in games played in Statesboro.