Jackets Run Rule Marshall, 12-1

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech baseball (5-0) maintained its perfect record with a 12-1 run-rule victory over Marshall (0-5) in seven innings on Friday afternoon inside Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium. Alex Hernandez launched a grand slam in the second inning to go along with two-run shots from Drew Burress and Vahn Lackey while Tate McKee delivered another strong start for the Yellow Jackets first run-rule victory of the 2025 season.

Tech got after Marshall’s pitching from the start, with leadoff hitter Kyle Lodise working a five-pitch walk before Burress got ahold of his third homer of the year, a mammoth shot down the line that bounced off the ceiling of the John and Mary Brock Indoor Football Facility in left at an estimated 411 feet. That put the Jackets ahead by two runs before an out was recorded. Tech would add on one more run in the first inning, thanks to a SAC fly from Hernandez that brought home Kent Schmidt.

The Jackets would chase the Marshall starter in the second inning after Hernandez would connect for his first home run as a college hitter, launching a grand slam 427 feet over the wall in left center. That made it an 8-0 ballgame after Burress drove in Carson Kerce who had led off the inning with a double. Tech would extend the lead to 9-0 thanks to a SAC fly from Lackey to score Nathan Waugh, on-base for his 47^th consecutive game. A two-run blast from Lackey put Tech in front by 10 in the 6^th inning before a fielding error allowed Tech to score it’s 12^th run of the day later that same inning.

DB8 did it again 🤩

Looking back at this 411 ft 💣 from @drew_burress08

107 off the bat ☄️#StingEm🐝 x #WreckHavoc pic.twitter.com/Sg4Q10qYUj

— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) February 21, 2025

𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐌 @_AlexHernandez2

His 1st college HR breaks this one open!!

ACCNX – https://t.co/eLA7i9ucFt#StingEm🐝 x #WreckHavoc pic.twitter.com/auhCPkOu7D

— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) February 21, 2025

𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐁𝐘𝐄@LackeyVahn's 1st of the year to put us up 10

ACCNX – https://t.co/eLA7i9ucFt#StingEm🐝 x #WreckHavoc pic.twitter.com/nUG2cOkYGR

— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) February 21, 2025

QUICK HITS: THE TEAM

• Georgia Tech improves to 5-0 for the third year in a row and the 14th time under head coach Danny Hall.
• The Yellow Jackets lead the all-time series with Marshall 2-0 following today’s win.
• GT has hit a home run in seven-straight games dating back to last season, thanks to Hernandez, Burress, and Lackey.
• The Jacket pitchers struck out eight more batters today, ending the double-digit strikeout streak at four games to begin the season – the longest since at least the turn of the century.
• The Bullpen pitched 2.0 scoreless innings, allowing only one hit and striking out two, to extend its season numbers to 27.0 IP, 1.33 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 2025.
• Through five games the Georgia Tech pitching staff has a combined 2.51 ERA, the lowest since the 2016 season (0.69).

QUICK HITS: THE BATS

• Freshman two-way player Alex Hernandez recorded his first collegiate home run – a grand slam to left center to break open the game, 8-0, in just the second inning.
• He becomes the first Yellow Jacket to hit a grand slam as his first GT home run since Angelo Dispigna in 2023 and the first to do so for his first collegiate home run since Chandler Simpson did so as a junior back in 2022.
• He also made a SAC fly to finish the day 2-for-3 with five RBI – the most RBI by a freshman Yellow Jacket since Burress drove in six twice last season (vs. Georgia State (Feb. 27, 2024) and at Clemson (May 3^rd, 2024).
• It was his first multi-RBI game as a Yellow Jacket after recording the first of his career, last game, at Georgia Southern.
• Hernandez has recorded a hit in all five GT games this season, along with Vahn Lackey and Kent Schmidt. Hernandez is one game away from tying Burress’ six-game hit streak to begin a GT career, which he accomplished last season.
• Speaking of Drew Burress, he connected for his third homer of the season, and 28^th of his career, in the first inning. It was the 7^th time he has launched a 1^st inning HR in college.
• Burress leads all active players in the NCAA (all divisions with 200+ ABs) with an .826 career slugging percentage. He is the only active player in Division I to slug over .750 for his career.
• He added three more RBI to his tally today, giving him a team-leading nine RBI on the season and 76 over his career – playing in only 63 games (1.21 RBI/game).
• Burress has now recorded three or more RBI in 11 games (just over 17% of his total games) including twice this season after driving in four following his walk-off grand slam against Old Dominion.
• Burress has hit at least one home run against every opponent Tech has played this season.
• Sophomore Vahn Lackey maintained his hot bat, going 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBI. It was his first HR of the season and fifth of his career.
• The three RBI from Lackey tie a career high he set twice in his freshman season: vs. Kennesaw St. (April 23, 2024) and in the Regional Final of last season’s NCAA tournament against UGA (June 2, 2024).
• The Suwanee, Ga. native extends his hitting streak to seven games dating back to last year, the longest of his career.
• Senior DH Nathan Waugh extended his on-base streak to 47 games with a pair of walks today. He has reached base in all five games this season after doing so in all 38 games last year, playing for Cornell. Waugh has successfully reached base in every game he’s played in since April 29, 2023.
• Sophomore Kent Schmidt went 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored, he extends his hitting streak to a career-best 11 games and his on-base streak to 13 – also a career long.
• Junior Kyle Lodise reached base with a pair of walks and came around to score on Burress’ first inning blast. Lodise leads the team with seven free passes this season and has reached base in a career-best 17 consecutive games dating back to his time at Augusta University.

QUICK HITS: THE ARMS

• Sophomore RHP Tate McKee made his second consecutive Friday start, finishing with 5.0 IP, allowing just three hits and one earned run while striking out six to collect his first win of the season.
• McKee becomes the first GT starter to earn the victory this season after he was pulled from a 1-1 tie last weekend.
• It was McKee’s fifth victory in White & Gold as he improves his season numbers to 10.0 IP with a 0.90 ERA and nine strikeouts.
• Senior RHP Sam Swygert was first out of the bullpen to start the sixth inning, getting through the Marshall batters in order while picking up his third K in White & Gold.
• Junior LHP Kayden Campbell ended the game in the seventh, allowing one hit but working through the others unscathed, collecting his second strikeout of the season in the process.
• Swygert and Campbell are two out of the 11 pitchers from the GT bullpen to boast a 0.00 ERA early on in the season and join senior Jaylen Paden and r-soph. Caden Gaudette as the only pitchers to do so over multiple appearances.

UP NEXT­­
The Yellow Jackets continue the four-game series with Marshall tomorrow at 2 p.m. 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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