THE FLATS – No. 2 Georgia Tech baseball (50-10) ended a record-breaking season on a heartbreaker, falling to Oklahoma, 8-7, in extra innings of the NCAA Atlanta Regional Championship game on Monday afternoon.
Georgia Tech gained a 7-3 lead, scoring seven unanswered runs, but Oklahoma rallied back with five runs over the final four innings for the win.
The Yellow Jackets worked out of a 0-3 deficit as the Sooners plated three in the bottom of the first, but Drew Burress began Tech’s comeback, sending his 60th career home run 418 feet to deep center field, also scoring Carson Kerce who reached on a walk, to setup a 2-3 score in the top of the third.
In front of an electric crowd, Parker Brosius launched his 10th home run since May 8, and fourth of the regional, to tie the game 3-3 to open the fifth. Seconds after Brosius entered the dugout, the Yellow Jackets took their first lead of the game when Caleb Daniel sailed a solo shot to right field, putting Tech in front, 4-3.
Tech added to its lead, plating three in the sixth inning and capitalizing on a timely throwing error from the Sooners. With runners on first and third with one out, Brosius grounded out to first, but Dayton Tockey looked for a double play and threw it into the outfield, scoring Alex Hernandez and moving Kent Schmidt to third on the play. A pair of RBI singles followed from Daniel and Kerce to extend Tech’s lead to 7-3.
The Jackets posted seven unanswered runs behind the arm of Mason Patel who threw five scoreless innings out of the bullpen before Oklahoma got two across in the seventh, setting a 7-5 score entering the eighth. The Sooners made it a one-run game in the eighth, scoring on a fielding error, but Dylan Loy came in with runners on first and second and one out and forced Jason Walk into a line drive to Kerce who turned it into a double play at second to end the inning.
Oklahoma tied the game in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI single, forcing extra innings and took the win on a solo home run from Tockey in the 10th.
QUICK HITS: TEAM
- Tech has set a new BBCOR era record with 662 runs scored, tying the program record set back in 1987. The Jackets have scored those runs in four fewer games than the 65 needed in 1987.
- The Jackets hit three home runs today, bringing the regional total to 15 and the season total of 140 – 18 more than the previous program record set back in 2010.
- That 140 HR total is a new ACC record for a single season, shattering the previous record of 131 set by Florida State in 2024.
- Tech has hit multiple home runs in all four regional games this season and 16 of their last 17 games dating back to April 28.
- GT outscored its opponents 662-305 this season. The plus-357 margin is the largest in Division I this season and the largest in program history.
- Tech’s offense set program records in batting average (.356 – record was .347), on-base percentage (.467 – record was .434), slugging percentage (.639 – record was .575) and runs-per-game (10.9 – record was 10.3).
- Tech’s .356 average is new BBCOR era Power 4 record (NCAA record is .359 by Austin Peay in 2024).
- Tech’s .467 OBP is a new BBCOR era Power 4 record (NCAA record is .469 by New Mexico State in 2019).
- Tech’s .639 slugging percentage is a new BBCOR era Power 4 record (NCAA record is .661 by Austin Peay in 2024).
- Tech set ACC records for best batting average (.356), runs per game (10.9) and slugging percentage (.639 – the first ACC team to deliver a slugging % over .600).
- Tech finishes the season as the program’s sixth-ever 50-win team, joining 2006, 2002, 2000, 1994 and 1987.
- The Jackets 50-11 record is the highest winning percentage (.820) since 1971, and the highest winning percentage ever when playing more than 40 games.
- This was just the seventh team in program history to record a winning percentage over .800 along with 1920 (16-2, .889), 1906 (23-3, .885), 1923 (16-2-2, .850), 1971 (31-6, .838), 1926 (21-4-1, .827) and 1921 (18-4-1, .804).
- The pitching staff set a program record with 10.18 strikeouts-per-nine innings, shattering the previous record (10.00) set back in 1998.
QUICK HITS: THE BATS
- Junior Drew Burress became the only Yellow Jacket to ever hit 60 home runs, launching his 60th HR in the third inning.
- Burress is the first Power conference player of the 21st century to deliver 40 extra base hits in three consecutive seasons (43 in 2024, 43 in 2025 and 41 in 2026). He is just the second Division I player to do so this century, also DJ Peterson (New Mexico) 2011-13.
- Buress has hit 16 home runs this season, becoming just the second Yellow Jacket in program history to deliver three consecutive 16 HR seasons, along with Tony Plagman (2008-10).
- He has now scored 232 runs in his career, the most of any active DI player and tying Darren Bragg (1988-91) for the fourth most in program history.
- Burress holds the GT BBCOR era records for the most runs (232), RBI (189), doubles (61), home runs (60) and total bases (503). He is just the fourth Jacket to ever collect 500 total bases – also Andy Bruce (506: 1988-91), Tony Plagman (513: 2007-10) and Jason Varitek (610: 1991-94).
- His 189 RBI rank 12th all-time at Georgia Tech.
- He finishes his career with a .720 slugging percentage, the second highest all-time at GT behind only Tom Anley (.763 from 1925-27).
- Junior Jarren Advincula extended his hitting streak to 29 games, a streak that will go down as the 2nd longest in and the longest since Victor Menocal set the record (30) in 2002.
- He delivered 111 hits this season, the third most in program history and the most since 1994: Jay Payton (program record – 129) and Nomar Garciaparra (117).
- He recorded at least one hit in 44 of his last 45 games dating back to March 10 and 57 of 61 games overall this season.
- His batting average comes in at .434, the highest in Power 4, the 2nd best in the nation and tied for the 5th highest in program history. He is tied with Jay Payton (1994) for the best batting average ever recorded with more than 200 at bats and earned the highest batting average ever recorded by a Yellow Jacket this century.
- He recorded three hits in the final game, giving him 37 multi-hit games this season (60.6 % of all games played).
- Vahn Lackey completes what is likely his final year on The Flats with a program record .519 on-base percentage.
- He led the team in runs scored (85), the most in Division I at this point in the season, coming in as the sixth most runs scored in a single season in program history.
- His 78 RBI rank 12th most for a single season in school history, tied for the 5th most recorded this century.
- Junior Carson Kerce recorded his team-best 15th game with at least three hits, going 3-for-4 from the leadoff spot.
- He hit his program-record 29th double of the season, officially breaking the previous record by two doubles.
- He finishes his GT career with 54 doubles, tied for the 10th most ever recorded.
- Junior Ryan Zuckerman finished his season with 79 RBI, the 11th most in program history.
- Zuckerman (79) and Lackey (78) became just the third set a teammates in GT history to drive in at least 75 RBI in the same season, only accomplished by Bryan Prinve (77), Jason Basil (83) and Mark Teixeira (80) in 2000 and Riccardo Ingram (99) and Mike Fowler (87) in 1987.
- He delivered 23 home runs this season, the most on the team and tied for the 5th most ever recorded in a single season at Georgia Tech – tied with Kyle McCann (2019).
- Senior Parker Brosius put one last exclamation point on his GT career, launching a game-tying home run in the fifth inning, his 13th of the season and 10th since graduating on May 8.
- Brosius entered his senior year with just three home runs in his first three seasons and by the time he graduated on May 8th, had a career total of six. In the 14 games that followed, half of which were postseason games, Brosius delivered a team-best 10 home runs.
- His .859 slugging percentage over 85 at bats this season goes down as the third-best in program history (minimum of 75 at bats) and the best since 1926.
QUICK HITS: THE ARMS
- R-Junior Carson Ballard made his 8th start of the season and second of the regional, also Friday vs. UIC.
- This was the first GT loss in a game started by Ballard since March 28, 2024 (795 days).
- Mason Patel left it all on the field, pitching a season high 6.1 innings with a career high 100 pitches to get the Jackets into the late innings with a lead.
- He finishes his final season on The Flats with a team-best and career-best 2.91 ERA
- Junior Dylan Loy entered the game in a high leverage spot, with runners at the corners and one out in the eighth inning. He would induce an inning ending double play to get the Jackets into the ninth inning with the lead.
- Junior Tate McKee made his first relief appearance in nearly two years (since June 2 at Georgia in the regional final). He would suffer just his second loss of the season, bringing his career record at Tech to 21-10.
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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