Jackets Hit A Record 7 Home Runs in Dominant Quarterfinal Win

DURHAM, N.C. – No. 1 seeded Georgia Tech (40-16, 19-11 ACC) went off for an ACC Tournament record seven home runs to power past No. 16 seed California (24-31, 9-21 ACC) by a final score of 10-3 on Thursday afternoon inside the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in the quarterfinals of the ACC Championships in Durham, N.C. Drew Burress posted his second multi-HR game of the season alongside long balls from Kyle Lodise, Caleb Daniel, Drew Rogers, Alex Hernandez and an inside the park home run from Vahn Lackey to advance the Yellow Jackets into the semifinals against the winner of Clemson vs. NC State on Saturday.

Tech’s seven home runs sets a new postseason single game program record, ties the record for the most home runs in the history of the ACC tournament and is the most homers hit against an ACC opponent this century. The Jackets struck for four runs on three homers in the first inning to go in front, 4-0, before a five-run, three homer inning in the bottom of the eighth to secure the seven-run victory.

The home run barrage put runs on the board while sophomore Tate McKee delivered a career performance on the mound. The Kennesaw native pitched 6.1 innings for his fourth-career quality start, tying his career high with 10 strikeouts while throwing a career-high 104 pitches to record the win. Senior Mason Patel kept the Jackets in front with 1.2 innings of work before Brett Barfield recorded the final three outs in the ninth.

QUICK HITS: THE TEAM

• The Yellow Jackets have advanced to the ACC Championships semifinals for the 20^th time in program history and the first since 2019.
• Tech has won 40 games for the 16^th time under Head Coach Danny Hall and the 24^th time in program history.
• Tech is now 40-16, tied for the best record in 15 years (tied with 2019 for best since 2010).
• This was the first seven home run game since the season opener last year against Radford (Feb. 16, 2024). It is the fifth 7+ HR game in the last 18 years: 8 at Mercer – April 22, 2008 / 7 vs. California – May 22, 2025 / 7 vs. Radford – Feb. 16, 2024 / 7 vs. Presbyterian – May 3, 2009 / 7 vs. Alabama State – March 26, 2008
• It is the most home runs hit against an ACC opponent this century and ties last season’s Radford game for the most single game home runs in the BBCOR era (since 2011).
• The Jackets have tied Louisville for the most home runs in a single ACC Tournament game in conference history (since 1973).
• Tech pitching struck out 13 batters today – the most since 2018 (13 vs. Pitt in the ACC Tournament).
• GT struck for five runs in the bottom of the eighth, the 21^st 5+ run inning of the season. Tech is 18-1 when scoring at least five runs in an inning.
• This was just the fourth game all season in which Tech did not record a double.

QUICK HITS: THE BATS

• Sophomore Drew Burress recorded his second multi-home run game of the season and seventh as a Yellow Jacket, going 2-for-4 with two home runs and four RBI.
• It was his 17^th and 18^th HRs of the season, bringing his career total to 43, the 10^th most in program history, passing Billy Parham (1986-88) & Mark Fischer (1995-97) for sole possession of 10th on the home run leaderboard.
• He is four home runs shy of the BBCOR era program record (Kyle McCann – 47 (2017-19)) and 14 shy of tying Jason Varitek for the all-time record.
• The Houston County man has now scored a team-high 72 runs this season, one shy of his output from last season.
• His four RBI matches his season high as he ties Alex Hernandez for the team lead in RBI (61).
• The two blasts bring Burress’ extra-base hit tally to an ACC leading 42 (23 doubles, 1 triple, 18 home runs).
• Sophomore Vahn Lackey delivered an inside-the-park home run in the eighth inning, the first since Trey Yunger did so in the season opener against Radford last season. It’s the first recorded against an ACC opponent since 2018 and just the sixth by a Jacket in the last 20 years: Trey Yunger vs. Radford – Feb. 16, 2024 / Austin Wilhite vs. Florida State – April 8, 2018 / Coleman Poje vs. Savannah State – May 10, 2016 / Kyle Wren vs. Clemson – April 28, 2012 / Tyler Greene vs. Wake Forest – March 11, 2005.
• It was his 5^th home run of the season, a new career-best, after hitting four his freshman year, last season.
• Lackey leads all Power 4 catchers with 72 hits this season, three behind Burress for the most on the team.
• Sophomore Kyle Lodise proved why he was a golden spikes award semifinalist, launching his 15^th home run of the season in the first inning, a two-run blast to score both himself and Kent Schmidt.
• It was his first home run in the month of May and brings his RBI total to 58, the third most on the team.
• Freshman Caleb Daniel demolished a first inning pitch for his 7^th home run of the season to make it a 4-0 game before the Jackets had recorded three outs.
• Freshman Alex Hernandez connected for his 14^th home run of the season in the eighth inning, putting himself into the Top 10 of the ACC for extra base hits (27).
• It brings his season RBI total to 61, just seven away from the GT freshman record (68 RBI from Matt Wieters in 2005).
• Freshman Drew Rogers hit his fifth home run of the season in the seventh inning to make it a 5-2 ballgame, extending his on-base streak to five games in the process.
• Tech freshmen have accounted for 35 HRs this season – led by 14 from Hernandez – passing last year’s total (32) which included a freshman record 25 off the bat of Burress.
• Sophomore Kent Schmidt extended his hitting streak to a team-high 10 games with a 2-for-5 showing.
• Schmidt now has 21 multi-hit games in just 35 appearances with multiple ABs (60 percent of opportunities).

QUICK HITS: THE ARMS

• Sophomore Tate McKee delivered his best postseason appearance in White & Gold, pitching 6.1 innings, tying his career high with 10 strikeouts and setting a new career high with 104 pitches.
• He held Cal off the board through 4.1 innings, only allowing a run off an RBI groundout in the fifth inning before giving up a leadoff single in the seventh that would come around to score after he exited the game.
• This was his 15^th start of the season, his third quality start of the season and the fourth of his career.
• McKee earned the win to improve his record to 7-3 this season and 10-5 over his GT career. He joins Brady Jones (7-2) and Mason Patel (11-1) on the seven-win mountain top, becoming the first trio of Tech pitchers with seven or more wins since Connor Thomas (9-2), Jonathan Hughes (9-2) and Amos Willingham (8-2) in 2019.
• Senior Mason Patel pitched 1.2 innings, keeping Tech in front of a 4-2 and 5-2 game before giving way to Brett Barfield after the Jackets’ five-run eighth inning.
• This was just his third appearance of the season in which he didn’t contribute to the final result: 11-1, 5 saves.
• He recorded a pair of strikeouts while only allowing one hit, bringing his season total to 59 strikeouts in 61.2 innings of work.
• Brett Barfield made his postseason debut in White & Gold, pitching the final inning and recording one strikeout while allowing an earned run.

Multimedia

UP NEXT­­
Top-seeded Tech will take on the winner of No. 4 seeded NC State and No. 5 seeded Clemson in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament on Saturday, May 24^th at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ACC Network.

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 X (@GTBaseball), Facebook, Instagram (@gt_baseball) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com