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Kappa Sigs, Fiji at GTech enliven baseball playoffs
6-2-02 ]
Tech fraternities enliven the party
By MIKE KNOBLER
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer
Georgia Tech scrupulously obeyed NCAA rules for running the Atlanta regional.
It was up to Tech fraternity boys to engineer a way around them.
So while the NCAA mandates that every fan pay for admission, the men of Phi Gamma Delta scaled a ladder to a free perch on the wall beyond the right-field fence.
And while the NCAA mandates that the stadium public address system be used impartially, the men of Kappa Sigma pointed their speakers toward the plate and blared the Tech players' favorite songs.
Phillip Hughes sat on the second-floor balcony with a dozen of his frat brothers and acted as unofficial deejay. Hughes, a junior from Dallas, got his song list from Yellow Jackets players after Saturday's game. Left fielder Matt Murton dropped off a CD with cuing instructions Sunday morning.
Hundreds of the 2,465 paying customers at Russ Chandler Stadium clapped along in a baseball revival every time Murton stepped to the plate to the tune of Joseph Garlington's "My Life is in You, Lord," Murton's special Sunday song. Were they praying for a hit?
"I don't know the official statistics, but he's batting about .700 with it [this season]," said Chris Whitehead, a senior from Natchez, Miss., and the official Russ Chandler Stadium music man.
Murton went 1-for-3 with two walks, a run and an RBI Sunday in Tech's 8-7 victory over Georgia.
So what if his religious music came from a balcony bearing a "To hell with Georgia" sign?
Up among about 25 fans on the wall, recently graduated Chip Oester of Augusta said he wasn't motivated by saving the $7 ticket price. Oester sat on the wall all season, when students like him got into the park for free.
"It's just a tradition," he said. "I think it's better than in the stands."
Senior Kyle Harrigan of Lake Mary, Fla., liked the view, too, but he also appreciated the savings. He paid for a stadium seat Saturday and vowed not to do that again.
"I paid tuition money to this school that helped build this ballpark," Harrigan said.
Nearby, the music kept coming from Kappa Sigma, but only between batters and between innings. Hughes rested only once, when the stadium speakers played "God Bless America."
"I've been quite impressed," Whitehead said.
The only negative reviews came from a few red and black fans.
"Every now and then," Hughes said, "they just kind of give us a blank stare."
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