GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS vs. KENNESAW STATE OWLS
MARCH 4, 2025 • 4 PM
Atlanta, Ga. (Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium)
Ticket Information | Parking | Promotions
Probable Starting Pitchers
GT – RHP Caden Spivey (0-0) vs. KSU – RHP Ryan Renfroe (1-0)
Tuesday – 4 PM
TV: ACC Network Extra | Watch Live
Play-by-Play: Wiley Ballard
Analyst: Dusty Isaacs
Radio: GT Gameday App
Play-by-Play: Colin Lacy
SERIES STATS
Overall: GT leads, 26-10
Home: GT leads, 18-5
Last Game: Georgia Tech won the only meeting of the season last year with the game at KSU being rained out. Tech won the game 13-2 in seven innings fueled by three runs from John Giesler and a 3-RBI day from Vahn Lackey.
GAMEDAY CENTRAL
Game Notes | Gameday Rosters
TOP STORYLINES
- Georgia Tech baseball concludes its season-long nine game homestand tomorrow when the Jackets host Kennesaw State.
- The Yellow Jackets are coming off a weekend series sweep of Western Michigan in which they out-scored the Broncos, 43-8 over 23 innings.
- Tech is led by reigning National Freshman of the Year, Drew Burress, who kicked off his sophomore encore with a walk-off grand slam during opening weekend, his first walk off HR at GT.
- The Houston Co. product leads Georgia Tech in RBI (16) this season and sits at 29 career home runs. He will almost assuredly become the fastest Yellow Jacket in program history to reach 30 career home runs – needing to hit just one over his next 23 games to unseat Kevin Parada who did so in 93 games.
- Tech leads the nation with 42 doubles this season, headlined by Carson Kerce, who leads the ACC with eight. The Jackets colelcted seven doubles as a team twice this past week – doing so on Wednesday vs. West Georgia and again, last game, vs. Western Michigan.
- GT is one of only two programs in DI (Utah) with three players at 6+ doubles this year – Kerce (8), Burress (6) and Kyle Lodise(6)
- Freshman Alex Hernandez leads the team with five home runs this season, including a walk-off HR on Sunday vs. WMU. Hernandez is tied with Tennessee’s Levi Clarke for the most home runs by a freshman across the NCAA and is the only player in the Power 4 with a save and 5 or more HRs this season (FR – 1 SV, 5 HR). He is one of only twoplayers in DI who can claim that– also Bryce Calloway, New Orleans (SR – 3 SV, 5 HR)
- Head Coach Danny Hall enters his 32nd season at GT and his 38th year as a college head coach. He currently has 1,421 career wins – the 11th most all-time and 2nd most among active NCAA head coaches after South Carolina hired Paul Mainieri (1,514) out of retirement this season. He is six wins away from tying Cliff Gustafson for the 10th most career wins by a D1 College Baseball coach.
- The emergence of the pitching staff has been the highlight of the season, boasting 11.5 strikeouts-per-game this season – a more than 2 Ks-per-game improvement over last season (9.2) – 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 11.5 Ks/9 number is 17th in the nation.
- That early bullpen success has been spearheaded by Mason Patel who was just named ACC Co-Pitcher of the Week last week after pitching 8.1 innings with a 0.00 ERA and 11 strikeouts, including 16 straight batters retired in his season debut at Georgia Southern.
- Patel has now pitched 9.2 innings this season with a 3-0 record and a 0.00 ERA and only three hits allowed to go along with 12 strikeouts and only one walk – – becoming the first Yellow Jacket pitcher to be 3-0 after only nine games since Xzavion Curry in 2018.
- The Jackets lead the ACC and are 9th in the nation with 137 hits this year, 4th among P4 teams.
- The top of Tech’s lineup has combined for 47 runs scored this year: Lodise(16), Burress (13) and Kent Schmidt (18). That’s more than 64 Division I teams this season – 21.4% of programs
- GT’s .344 batting average is second in the ACC and 8th in the country.
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.
