Box Score Atlanta -- Two untimely errors and a seven-run eighth
inning overshadowed the five innings Youngstown State held No. 25
Georgia Tech scoreless on Friday in the season opener for both
teams.
One of the Yellow Jackets' three runs in the first was unearned,
and they scored four more unearned runs in the fifth thanks to a
dropped fly ball with two outs and the bases loaded. Georgia Tech
then added seven runs on four hits, a walk and two hit batters in
the eighth to make the score seem worse than it really was.
The Penguins, playing on a baseball field for the first time
since the fall, will have two more chances at the Yellow Jackets.
Game two of the series starts tomorrow at 2 p.m. while the finale
is set for Sunday at 1 p.m.
Starter Lucas Engle allowed six runs, only two of which were
earned, in 4.2 innings in the loss. He surrendered base hits to the
first four batters of the game but settled down to retire five
straight hitters and continually used his experience to work out of
trouble.
Even in the first the Yellow Jackets got help from a dropped
foul ball before a run scored. Chris House and Derek Dietrich
singled to start the inning, and Charlie Blackmon singled to load
the bases after receiving new life when his pop up near the seats
was dropped. Patrick Long then ripped a two-run single to left, and
Tony Plagmon followed two batters later with a sacrifice fly to
center.
Blackmon hit a leadoff double to start the third and advanced to
third on a fielder's choice. After a walk to Long, Engle got a
grounder back to the mound and caught Blackmon in a rundown to get
out of the jam.
Engle then got help from Eric Marzec in right in the fourth when
the sophomore gunned down Jeff Rowland at the plate on House's
one-out single.
In the fifth the Yellow Jackets loaded the bases with one out,
but Engle got a strikeout before handing the ball off to Ryan
Wackerman. Wackerman forced what appeared to be an inning-ending
fly ball, but John Koehnlein's drop resulted in an eventual
four-run inning.
David Duncan held the Penguins to two hits and struck out six in
his seven innings of work to earn the win.
Jay Dantzler went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, and Blackman finished
with three hits for the Yellow Jackets.
Josh Page, Dustin Wachter and David Leon all singled for the
Penguins.
Koehnlein went 0-for-4 to end his 29-game hitting streak that
dated back to April 8 of last season.