THE FLATS – Sophomore center fielder Drew Burress and junior shortstop Kyle Lodise have been named semifinalists for the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award, it was announced today. Burress and Lodise led the Yellow Jackets (39-16, 19-11 ACC) to an ACC regular season title this year with excellent performances both offensively and in the field, becoming the first set a Tech teammates to be named semifinalists since Derek Dietrich and Deck McGuire in 2010.
Burress is the only player in Division I with at least 50 RBI (57), 20 doubles (23), 45 walks (46), 15 HR (16) and 60 runs (70) this season. He owns a .343 batting average with a 1.160 OPS. He leads the ACC in doubles (23) and extra base hits (40) while becoming the first Yellow Jacket to score 70 runs in back-to-back seasons since Richard Lewis in 2000 and 2001 – Burress scored 73 runs in 2024. His 23 doubles is tied for the most by any Yellow Jacket in the BBCORE era (since 2011), the most by any Power 4 player this season and tied for the 7th-most in a single season.
He began his season with a walk-off grand slam in the first weekend of the season, putting an exclamation point on a 7-run ninth inning comeback in the second game of the season, over Old Dominion. It was his first walk off hit as a Yellow Jacket and the first of his 16 home runs so far in 2025.
He became the fastest 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, 1st round draft pick, Kevin Parada. He became the 17th member of the 40-HR club at Georgia Tech when he launched two home runs in the series finale against Western Carolina (May 4) and is currently the only underclassmen in college baseball with 40 or more career home runs. He is one HR shy of breaking into Georgia Tech’s all-time Top 10 for home runs in a career and 16 shy of the program record (57 HRs) hit by 1994 Golden Spikes Finalist Jason Varitek.
Burress is one of two players to be named semifinalists for the second year in a row, joining Florida State’s Jamie Arnold.
Lodise took Division I by storm this season, transferring into Georgia Tech from Division II Augusta University over the summer and proceeding to post a .328 batting average with a 1.102 OPS, 20 doubles, a team-high three triples and 14 home runs for 37 extra base hits, the second most in the ACC behind only Burress. He led the Georgia Tech defense with 126 assists this season and was the only Yellow Jacket to record three home runs in a single game when he went off for three HRs and a triple in Tech’s 18-7 win over Notre Dame (March 21).
The Brunswick, Ga. native is sixth among Power 4 players with 20 doubles this season, helping contribute to his 56 RBI. He leads the team with 1.12 RBI-per-game this season while also scoring 1.22 runs-per-game, the third best in the ACC. His OPS is sixth-best in the conference as he saw his draft stock rise throughout his year on The Flats, becoming one of the most sought-after prospects in the upcoming 2025 MLB Draft.
This is the third time in program history that Tech has had two representatives on the semifinalists list, joining 2010 (Derek Dietrich and Deck McGuire) and 1994 (Nomar Garciaparra, Jay Payton and Jason Varitek).
Overall, nine different conferences are represented among the 25 semifinalists. The Southeastern Conference (SEC) features eight players, followed by the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) with seven and the Big Ten with four. Additionally, the Sun Belt has two athletes and the Atlantic-10 (A-10), Big 12, Ivy League, and Pac-12 have one player apiece.
Fan voting will again play a part in the Golden Spikes Award in 2025. Baseball fans can vote for their favorite players on GoldenSpikesAward.com, beginning today with the naming of the semifinalists. USA Baseball will announce the finalists for the award on June 4, and fan voting will once again open at GoldenSpikesAward.com before closing on June 20.
A complete list of the 25-player 2025 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award semifinalists is as follows:
Wehiwa Aloy – Arkansas – JR – SS – SEC
Kade Anderson – LSU – SO – LHP – SEC
Jamie Arnold – Florida State – JR – LHP – ACC
Aiva Arquette – Oregon State – JR – SS – Pac-12
Robbie Burnett – Georgia – SR – INF/OF – SEC
Drew Burress – Georgia Tech – SO – OF – ACC
Roch Cholowsky – UCLA – SO – SS – Big Ten
Kerrington Cross – Cincinnati – SR – 3B – Big 12
Daniel Cuvet – Miami – SO – 3B – ACC
Liam Doyle – Tennessee – JR – RHP – SEC
Joseph Dzierwa – Michigan State – JR – LHP – Big Ten
Ike Irish – Auburn – JR – OF/C – SEC
Jake Knapp – UNC – GR – RHP – ACC
Justin Lebron – Alabama – SO – SS – SEC
Kade Lewis – Wake Forest – SO – INF – ACC
Alex Lodise – Florida State – JR – INF – ACC
Kyle Lodise – Georgia Tech – JR – INF – ACC
JB Middleton – Southern Miss – JR – RHP – Sun Belt
Jacob Morrison – Coastal Carolina – R-SO – RHP – Sun Belt
Mason Neville – Oregon – JR – CF – Big Ten
Jack Ohman – Yale – FR – RHP – Ivy League
James Quinn-Irons – George Mason – JR – CF – A-10
Devin Taylor – Indiana – JR – OF – Big Ten
Dylan Volantis – Texas – FR – LHP – SEC
Kyson Witherspoon – Oklahoma – JR – RHP – SEC
About Golden Spikes Award
Since 1978, USA Baseball has honored the top amateur baseball player in the country with the Golden Spikes Award. The Award, which is presented on ESPN annually, goes to the amateur baseball player who exhibits exceptional athletic ability and exemplary sportsmanship. The 2024 Golden Spikes Award winner was Charlie Condon from the University of Georgia. Winners of this prestigious award from the past 20 years include Major League Baseball All-Stars such as Adley Rutschman (’19), Andrew Benintendi (’15), Kris Bryant (’13), Mike Zunino (’12), Trevor Bauer (‘11), Bryce Harper (’10), Stephen Strasburg (‘09), Buster Posey (’08), David Price (’07), Tim Lincecum (’06), Alex Gordon (’05), and Jered Weaver (’04). Fans can follow the Golden Spikes Award on Instagram and Twitter @USAGoldenSpikes.
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.
