GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS at KENNESAW STATE OWLS
MARCH 25, 2025 • 6 PM
Marietta, Ga. (S. Walter Kelly Sr. Memorial Field)
Probable Starting Pitchers
GT – RHP SAM SWYGERT (0-1) vs. KSU- RHP Ryan Renfroe (2-1)
Tuesday – 6 PM
TV: ESPN+ | Watch Live
Radio: GT Gameday App
Play-by-Play: Colin Lacy
SERIES STATS
Overall: GT leads, 27-10
at KSU: GT leads, 8-5
Last Game: Georgia Tech took the first meeting this season, 11-4, back on March 4. Sophomore Tyler Neises hit his first-career home run in the win that featured 7.2 scorless innings from the bullpen thanks to the arms of Mason Patel, Caden Gaudette, Sam Swygert, Alex Hernandez and Cole Royer. Shortstop Kyle Lodise scored three runs in the first meeting, one of four times he has scored three or more in a game this season, doing so as recently as last Friday, at Notre Dame.
GAMEDAY CENTRAL
Game Notes
TOP STORYLINES
- The Jackets are 20-4 for the first time in 14 seasons (2011) and are ranked in Perfect Game (No. 19) and D1 Baseball (No. 25) for the first time since 2022.
- Tech is outscoring their opponents 32-11 in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings over the last 11 games.
- The Yellow Jackets are coming off a series sweep at Notre Dame, its first road sweep in conference play since sweeping Pitt in the final regular season series of 2022. Tech outscored Notre Dame 37-14.
- Head Coach Danny Hall is one of the Top 10 winningest coaches in Division I history – 1,431 wins – 2nd most among active coaches after South Carolina hired Paul Mainieri out of retirement this year.
- Georgia Tech has replaced Texas as the only program in Division I with two head coaches in the Top 10 for career wins – also Jim Morris (5th – 1,594 – coached at Tech from 1982-93)
- Tech is led by reigning National Freshman of the Year, Drew Burress. He leads all of Division I with a .795 career slugging percentage.
- The Houston Co. product became the fastest Yellow Jacket in program history to reach 30 career home runs – doing so in just 73 games, a full 20 games faster than the previous record holder, Kevin Parada
- Burress has now hit eight home runs this season, bringing his career total to 33. This past week, he surpassed Georgia Tech legends Joey Bart (2016-18), Jake Davies (2009-12), Pete Geist (1983-85), Matt Murton (2001-03) and Scott Byers (1993-96) on the all-time home run leaderboard as he creeps closer to the Top 20 in program history (36).
- GT leads the nation in doubles (73) and doubles per game (3.04) – the program record for doubles/game is 2.51, set in the 1987 season.
- The Jackets are the only program in Division I with four players at 10+ doubles this season, led by ACC doubles leader Drew Burress (13) along with Kyle Lodise (11), Kent Schmidt (11) and Carson Kerce (10).
- Burress‘ 13 doubles is second in the nation and tied for the most among Power 4 players.
- The emergence of the pitching staff has been the highlight of the season, boasting 10.7 strikeouts-per-game this season – over a full strikeout-per-game improvement over last season (9.2) and the 19th best rate in the nation. Tech has not averaged double-digit strikeouts from the pitching staff since the COVID shortened 2020 season (10.9) and hasn’t done it over a complete season this century.
- That early bullpen success has been spearheaded by Mason Patel who became the first Yellow Jacket pitcher this century to win each of his first six appearances in a season. He allowed his first run of the season after 22.2 innings of scoreless baseball – the best start to a season by any Yellow Jacket this century.
- Patel leads the nation with seven victories and a 0.57 WHIP. He is 2nd in Division I in ERA (0.61), 3rd in hits allowed per nine innings (3.94) and leads the ACC with 1.21 walks allowed per nine innings.
- Freshman Alex Hernandez is the only Power 4 player with a save and at least 7 home runs this season – made his 1st career start on the mound last midweek vs. Gardner Webb, pitching 3.0 innings. He has started in six different positions this season: second base (9 games), left field (7 games), first base (four games), designated hitter (two games), pitcher (1 game) and right field (1 game).
- He leads all Power 4 freshman (2nd overall) in RBI with 33 – the most on the team. His 7 home runs is 4th among freshman and 2nd among Power 4 first years.
- As a team – Tech is ranked 1st in the nation in doubles (73), 6th in batting average (.333), 6th in hits (273), 6th in slugging (.565), 9th in runs/game (9.5) and 14th in on-base (.438)
- Parker Brosius has stolen 13 out of 13 bags this season, the 5th-most among the Power 4 without being caught.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
For the latest information on the Georgia Tech baseball team, follow us on Twitter (@GTBaseball), Facebook, Instagram (@gt_baseball) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com.
