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By John Manuel
June 14, 2002

Victor Menocal Photo: Robert Gurganus

The events on the field were evidence to the contrary.

Both Georgia Tech and South Carolina showed some nerve, but Georgia Tech showed up with 6-foot-9, 260-pound lefthander Kyle Bakker, and that proved to be the difference.

The Yellow Jackets took advantage of the Gamecocks' shakiness in the top of the first inning, and settled down for an easy 11-0 win behind the sophomore starter from Omaha. Bakker keyed the first shutout in CWS play since 1995, helping the Yellow Jackets avenge an 8-3 loss to South Carolina on Feb. 24 in a game played in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Bakker was trying to throw the first complete-game shutout in the CWS since the last time Georgia Tech was on hand. Righthander Brad Rigby started off the '94 CWS with a complete-game shutout against Cal State Fullerton in a 2-0 victory. Cal State Fullerton had the last shutout, an 11-0 win against Tennessee in the national semifinal in 1995. Both of the last two shutout winners got to the title game.

But the Tech coaching staff decided 98 pitches through eight six-hit innings was enough, lifting Bakker to start the ninth in favor of fellow sophomore Brian Burks.

"After the eighth, I wanted to take him out. After he threatened to beat me up, I reconsidered for just a second . . . We want to be here and need him for at least one more game, and our captains and (pitching coach Bobby) Moranda said let's let him go back out (to the mound) and get a nice ovation."

The ovation came for the Millard West High graduate. Bakker (13-2) struck out nine, including 2002 first-round pick Drew Meyer twice, and walked one while hitting a batter.

"It was awesome to pitch in an atmosphere like this," said Bakker, who said he has attended "about five" games a year at the CWS since first grade. "The wind helped--I probably wouldn't have had a shutout if not for the wind . . . I was able to throw a lot of inside fastballs, trying to get them to hit into the wind.

"I thought it was a great game for me. We had a lot of fun."

Bakker didn't need as much support as he got. The Jackets jumped on top with a pair of runs in the first with some help from the Gamecocks (53-17), who made two fielding miscues in the inning. Eric Patterson singled to lead off the game, and the freshman second baseman moved to third on an errant pickoff throw by pitcher Gary Bell (10-3).

Senior Victor Menocal then lifted a fly ball to right that got caught in the stiff, swirling breeze, and USC outfielder Steve Thomas never got under it. It fell in, ruled a triple, and Menocal came home on Jeremy Slayden's single. Menocal ended up with four hits on the day to lead Tech's 19-hit attack, scored three runs and made two excellent plays in the field, going into the hole and gunning out Landon Powell in the fifth, and robbing Thomas with a diving catch of a line drive in the eighth.

Slayden showed the Jackets weren't immune to the nerves, as the freshman lost track of the count and was caught stealing on what he thought was ball four to Matt Murton.

The bottom of the order did most of the rest of the damage for the Yellow Jackets (52-14), who won their sixth straight game of the postseason and set a school record for wins. Freshman DH Brandon Boggs had a run-scoring double in the third, and seniors Wes Rynders and Matthew Boggs had two-run hits during a five-run fifth inning that blew the game open.

"We were not at our best, and Georgia Tech was outstanding," Tanner said. "I thought we were relaxed and did not have a case of nervousness, but we dug ourselves a hole, and after that five-run fifth, with the way Bakker was pitching, it was just too much."

Tech awaits the Nebraska/Clemson winner for a matchup Sunday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. ET. USC plays the loser Sunday at 1 p.m.