THE FLATS โ Georgia Tech baseball (34-14, 15-9 ACC) pulled off the season sweep of Georgia Southern (25-24) for the third year in a row on Tuesday night from inside Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium. The Jackets got three RBI each from freshmen Alex Hernandez and Will Baker while junior Kayden Campbell enjoyed a career performance on the mound to earn the 8-5 final score.
QUICK HITS: THE TEAM
- Tech is now 34-14, tied with 2019 for the best start to a season in 14 years (since 2011).
- The Jackets lead the all-time series with Georgia Southern 111-32 and have won the last seven meetings dating back to 2022.
- GT hit three home runs today, marking the 11th time the team has combined for 3+ long balls this season and fourth in the last seven games. Tech is 9-2 when hitting at least three homers.
- The Jackets connected for two doubles today, bringing the season total to 127, the most among Power 4 schools.
- Georgia Tech is averaging 2.65 doubles per game this season (127 in 48 games) โ the program record for doubles/game is 2.51, set in 1987.
- The Georgia Tech bullpen allowed only two earned runs over seven innings today, bringing their season ERA to 3.91, the lowest in 11 seasons (since 2014).
- The pitching staff struck out 10 batters today, marking the 36th time this season that the pitchers have struck out at least one-per-inning pitched (75 percent).
- Tech pitching has struck out 9.8-per-nine-innings over the course of the season, the program record for a full season is 10.00 set in 1998.
- The Jackets struck for five runs in the bottom of the fourth to establish an 8-2 lead. It was their 18th 5+ run inning of the season, improving their record to 16-1 in such games.
QUICK HITS: THE BATS
- Freshman Alex Hernandez accounted for three RBI in the first four innings of the game, driving in Techโs first run with a would-be productive out turned reached-on-error in the first before connecting for a two-run home run in the fourth.
- It was his 11th home run of the season, the most among GT freshmen and tied for the third-most homers by a Power 4 freshman this season.
- It was his sixth game of the season with at least three RBI, tied with Kyle Lodise for the second most on the tea, behind Drew Burress (nine).
๐ฏ๐ฌ๐น๐ต๐จ๐ต๐ซ๐ฌ๐ ๐ฏ๐จ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ป ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ!
His 11th ๐ฃ of the year gives him 3 RBI for the day and it's only the 4th inning ๐
388 ft / 105 mph / 36 degrees
ACCNX – https://t.co/ua2Ghd4tNO#StingEm๐ x #WreckHavoc x @_AlexHernandez2 pic.twitter.com/FO74w8lY2U
— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) May 6, 2025
- Freshman Will Baker stayed hot at the plate, connecting for a three-run blast in the five-run fourth inning. It was his 5th homer of the year and fourth in the last four weeks.
- The Australian posted his fifth multi-RBI game of the season and third game with at least three runs driven in, the 5th-most on the team.
- Baker leads the team with a .500 batting average over the current five-game winning streak.
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐!!
Will Baker CRUSHES one over the batter's eye! His 5th HR of the season
430ft / 103 mph / 26 degrees
ACCNX – https://t.co/ua2Ghd4tNO#StingEm๐ x #WreckHavoc๐ฆ๐บ pic.twitter.com/K6xTxXPL4n
— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) May 6, 2025
- Tech freshmen have accounted for 28 HRs this season โ led by 11 from Hernandez. GT had 32 homers from freshmen last year, headlined by a freshman record 25 off the bat of Burress.
- Sophomore Carson Kerce showed his power once again, launching a solo home run to give Tech the lead, 3-2, in the bottom of the third.
- It was his fourth home run of the season and third in his last seven games. He was the last GT starter to hit a home run this season, doing so in the 32nd game of the year (April 8 vs. Auburn). Since then, he leads the team in home runs (four โ tied with Baker) and extra base hits (eight, four 2Bs and four HRs).
๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐@CarsonKerce goes oppo for his 4th ๐ฃ of the year and 3rd in his last 7 games!!
377 ft / 100 mph / 25 degrees
ACCNX – https://t.co/ua2Ghd4tNO#StingEm๐ x #WreckHavoc pic.twitter.com/cfdTM13tFD
— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) May 6, 2025
- Sophomore Vahn Lackey matched his career-high for the fifth time this season with three hits tonight, going 3-for-5 with a double and a run scored.
- It was his team-leading 22nd multi-hit performance of the season, more than any Yellow Jacket not named Burress accomplished last season.
- Burress reached base for the ninth game in a row and 47th time out of 48 games this season, going 1-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored.
- He leads the team with 64 runs scored this season. There has not been a Jacket score 70+ in consecutive seasons since Richard Lewis in 2000 and 2001 โ Burress scored 73 runs in 2024.
- Freshman Caleb Daniel extended his on-base streak to 14 games, the longest active streak on the team. He went 1-for-5 with a run scored, his 46th this season, the third most among Power 4 freshmen.
- He extended his hitting streak to a career-best seven games with a leadoff single in the second inning.
- Freshman Drew Rogers filled the box score, in one column, going 0-for-0 with a career-high three walks and a SAC bunt to put Baker in scoring position for the top of the order in the seventh inning.
- The effort extends his on-base streak to a career-best six games while keeping his hitting streak at two, since he never officially recorded an at-bat tonight.
- Sophomore Kent Schmidt drove in yet another run tonight, doing it the hard way with a bases loaded HBP. He has 35 RBI on the year and has driven in at least one in six of seven games since returning from an injury that forced him out of the lineup for 20 games from March 18-April 25.
QUICK HITS: THE ARMS
- R-Sophomore Carson Ballard made his first start of the season and seventh as a Yellow Jacket. He pitched 2.0 innings and struck out three while allowing a pair of solo home runs.
- Junior Kayden Campbell enjoyed his best outing of the season, pitching a career-long 3.0 scoreless innings while striking out three. It was only his fourth outing of more than one inning all season.
- His effort was enough to get him the win, improving his record to 2-0, while lowering his season ERA back under 3.00 (2.45).
- Campbellโs 2.45 ERA is second best on the team among those with more than two appearances, behind only Jaylen Paden (2.25).
Soup is through a career-long 2.1 innings after pocketing his 3rd K of the day ๐
ACCNX – https://t.co/ua2Ghd4tNO#StingEm๐ x #WreckHavoc x @CampbellKayden pic.twitter.com/S0b5wMUoGT
— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) May 6, 2025
- Senior Mason Patel came in to close out the game in the ninth, facing four batters to collect three outs and earn his 5th save of the season.
- He struck out two batters to bring his season tally to 51, the first time he has ever recorded 50 Ks in a single season and the first Tech pitcher to reach 50 Ks without starting a game since Zach Maxwell in 2021 โ Maxwell is currently playing for the Cincinnati Reds AAA affiliate, the Louisville Bats.
- Patel has played a part in the end result in 15 of his 17 appearances this season, posting a 9-1 record with five saves.
- He is the only pitcher in Division I this season with at least eight wins and four saves.
Thanks for stepping into the box against @Mason_Patel ๐
That's his 50th K of the season ๐ค
ACCNX – https://t.co/ua2Ghd4tNO#StingEm๐ x #WreckHavoc pic.twitter.com/SaoudCWWS6
— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) May 7, 2025
UP NEXTยญยญ
Tech will look to take the winning momentum on the road with them tomorrow for a midweek trip to Mercer (31-19, 10-9 SoCon). First pitch from Macon is set for 6 p.m. tomorrow and will be streamed live on ESPN+. The Jackets are set to start freshman Connor Chicoli against Mercerโs Jeb Johnson.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athleticsโ 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 OโKeefe 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 visitย atfund.org/FullSteamAheadย 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.