Jackets Dismantle Broncos, 14-1 in 7 innings

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech baseball (9-2) secured its second mercy-rule victory of the season, crushing Western Michigan (0-9) 14-1 in seven innings on a beautiful Saturday afternoon inside Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium. Junior RHP Brady Jones set a career high with nine strikeouts over 5.0 innings of work while the Tech bats went off for 14 runs on 17 hits, including a nine-run sixth inning.

The Jackets were driving the ball well all day, finishing with 17 hits, tied with Wednesday (vs. West Georgia) for the most in a game this season. Tech utilized small ball and productive outs through the first five innings before rattling off nine hits in the bottom of the sixth (seven singles, one home run, one double) to break the game open. In total, seven runs were driven in via single, one via double, two from a home run off the bat of Kyle Lodise, two from SAC flies, one via fielder’s choice and one off a WMU error.

QUICK HITS: THE TEAM

• The Jackets have begun March with a victory bringing the record to 9-2, the best start in the last three seasons.
• The Jackets connected for three doubles today off the bats of Drew Burress (5^th), Alex Hernandez (3^rd) and Tyler Neises (2^nd). Tech has hit 35 doubles this season – the 2^nd most in Division I and the most by a GT team through 11 games since at least the turn of the century.
• Georgia Tech pitching has posted a 4.07 ERA over the opening 11 games, its lowest in three seasons.
• The Yellow Jackets lead the all-time series with Western Michigan, 6-0, following today’s result.
• Tech swiped three bases today, courtesy of Vahn Lackey (4^th), Parker Brosius (7^th) and Carson Kerce (2^nd). The Yellow Jackets entered the weekend leading the ACC in steals, bringing that number to 25 after today.
• Georgia Tech’s top-three hitters, Kyle Lodise (15), Drew Burress (13) and Kent Schmidt (17) have combined for 45 runs scored this season after scoring 5 today – almost double the offensive output of Western Michigan – 27 runs scored in 2025.
• Brady Jones got the win today, marking the first time Tech starters have won consecutive games this season after Tate McKee picked up the win yesterday.

QUICK HITS: THE BATS

• Seven different Yellow Jackets registered multi-hit days today – the most in a game this season: Kyle Lodise (2), Drew Burress (2), Kent Schmidt (3), Alex Hernandez (2), Tyler Neises (2), Vahn Lackey (3) and Carson Kerce (2).
• Junior shortstop Kyle Lodise and sophomore third baseman Carson Kerce led the team with three RBI each. It was a season high for Kerce and his first multi-RBI day of the season.
• For Lodise, it was his second consecutive mutli-RBI day after driving in four yesterday. He has nine RBI on the season and seven of them have come in the last two days – he has scored at least one run in eight straight games.
• He launched the only Tech homer of the game, in the 6^th inning, his third of the season and second in as many games.
• Lodise leads the team with a .545 on-base percentage this season and is slashing .542 avg. (team-high) / .613 OBP (team-high) / 1.000 Slug. over his last six games.
• The Brunswick, Ga. native has reached base in a career-best 23 straight games dating back to his time at Augusta University.
• Sophomore Kent Schmidt continued his excellent season, going 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored.
• He has scored a team-high 17 runs this season, the most runs by a Yellow Jacket through 11 games since Chandler Simpson scored 20 at the start of the 2022 season
• Schmidt has recorded multiple hits in five-straight games this year and at least one RBI in seven straight – both career-long streaks.
• Schmidt extends his career-best on-base streak to 19 games with his performance today.
• Sophomore Drew Burress put together yet another multi-hit day, going 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored.
• Burress has gotten multiple hits in each of his last five games and scored multiple runs for the 4^th time this season.
• Freshman Alex Hernandez drove in a run in the sixth inning. He has recorded at least one RBI in five-straight games.
• Sophomore Carson Kerce drove in three runs today with a would-be SAC fly turned E8 and a two-RBI single in the sixth. It was his first multi-RBI game of the season and the most he’s had in a game since driving in four against Youngstown State last season (March 9).
• Junior Parker Brosius was back in the starting lineup, driving in two more runs for his 10^th and 11^th RBIs of the season.
• He has now driven in multiple runs in four of his last five games (9 RBI in total) while only getting four hits – SAC fly (twice), reached on an error off an attempted SAC bunt, bases loaded walk (twice), RBI single (twice) and two-RBI triple.
• Sophomore catcher Vahn Lackey went off for a 3-for-4 performance, driving in two and scoring twice. It was his third-straight multi-hit day, the longest such streak of his career. He is 8-for-13 (.615 avg.) over his last three games.

QUICK HITS: THE ARMS

• Junior RHP Brady Jones delivered his best start of the season, pitching 5.0 innings and allowing only one run, unearned, while striking out a career-high nine batters.
• He earned his first win in White & Gold in just his third-career start.
• Over his last two starts, Jones has pitched 10.0 innings with a 0.90 ERA and striking out 16.
• Senior RHP Sam Swygert was first out of the bullpen, striking out two in the sixth inning to keep WMU at bey. The graduate transfer from The Citadel has appeared in four games this season, allowing only one earned over 6.2 innings while striking out seven.
• Senior RHP Jaylen Paden stayed perfect on the year, securing the final three outs of the inning to maintain his 0.00 ERA. Paden has now thrown 4.0 innings this year, allowing only three base runners and striking out seven.

UP NEXT­­
The Yellow Jackets will go for the sweep in the weekend series against Western Michigan, tomorrow at 1 p.m. Georgia Tech is expected to start RHP Riley Stanford (0-0) against Western Michigan’s RHP – Zach Vriesenga (0-0). The game will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra.

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.

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