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McKee & Patel Shutdown NC State for a 3-1 Victory

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THE FLATS – Junior Tate McKee delivered a career high 7.1 innings in his best start of the season as No. 3 Georgia Tech (20-5, 7-3 ACC) shut down No. 14 NC State (18-8, 3-4 ACC) by a final score of 3-1 on Friday night inside Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium. The Jackets scored three runs in the first two innings off home runs from Jarren Advincula and Carson Kerce while McKee finished off 7.1 innings with only four hits and one run allowed to lift the Yellow Jackets to their 20th victory of the campaign.

McKee was excellent over his 7.1 innings, inducing 13 groundouts and striking out three in a very efficient start. He would hand the ball to Mason Patel in the eighth inning, who picked up right where he left off, recording five straight outs after giving up a hit to the first batter he faced and coming away with the save.

QUICK HITS: TEAM

  • Georgia Tech has won the series opener of all seven series this season for the first time since 2013, when Major Leaguer Buck Famer was the Friday night starter.
  • It is the first time Tech has won the series opener of its first four ACC series since 2013 as well.
  • Tech is outscoring opponents 82-24 in series openers this season and 40-11 in series openers in ACC play.
  • Tech has won 20 of its first 25 games for the second year in a row, the first time that’s been accomplished in back-to-back years since 2010 & 2011.
  • Tech has scored 291 runs through their first 25 games. It’s the most runs Georgia Tech has recorded after 25 games in the program’s 131-year history and the most runs any Power 4 team has scored through 25 games in the BBCOR era (since 2011).
  • The Jackets scoring average now stands at 11.64 runs/game this season. The program record is 10.3, set back in 1984.
  • GT is outscoring its opponents 291-120 through 25 games, that +171 margin is the highest through 25 games in program history.
  • The Jackets drew four walks today, bringing their season total to 181, the second-most in Division I.
  • Tech hit a pair of home runs today, marking the 17th multi-HR game of this season. Tech is hitting HRs at a 2.08 per-game pace, the sixth highest in Division I.
  • The pitching held NC State to just one run on five hits. It is the sixth time this season the pitching has allowed one or fewer, already just two shy of last year’s season total, while playing in less than half of the total games.

  QUICK HITS: THE BATS

  • Junior Jarren Advincula recorded his team-leading 15th multi-hit game of the season, going 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI.
  • He extended his hitting streak to a team-high nine games and has scored a run four-straight games.
  • Advincula has recorded extra-base hits in three straight games now, one game shy of tying his career high, set last season at Cal.
  • His home run was his 5th of the season and the 16th of his career, one shy of his career high from last year.
  • He is third on the team with 29 RBI, just four shy of the career high he set last season (33).

  • Junior Carson Kerce continued his incredible ACC season, connecting for a solo home run in the second inning to put GT in front, 3-0.
  • It was his second home run of the year and his team-leading 10th extra-base hit in 10 ACC games.
  • Through 10 ACC games, Kerce leads the team in avg. (475), hits (19), doubles (eight), XBH (10), OBP (.512), slugging (.825) and OPS (1.337) all while posting a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage at shortstop.
  • He extended his on-base streak to 18 games, two shy of his career high.

  • Sophomore Will Baker hit his 13th double of the season, a total that would be tied for the most in the country were it not for Kerce, who has hit 16.
  • Baker, who was recently tabbed as one of the Top 50 outfielders in Division I by D1 Baseball, has 13 doubles this season, which is half of his total hits from last year (26 hits in 2025).
  • Sophomore Alex Hernandez extended his on-base streak to a career best 27 games with a hit-by-pitch. He has reached base in every game this season.

QUICK HITS: THE ARMS

  • Junior Tate McKee made his 23rd consecutive series opening start, pitching a career-high 7.1 innings and allowing only one run on four hits while striking out three and inducing 13 groundouts.
  • He remains the only Yellow Jacket to breach the 30-strikeout mark, bringing his season total to a team high 34.
  • Tech improves to 19-4 in series openers started by McKee (.826 win %) and have won each of the last 10 series begun by him.
  • This was the third time in McKee’s career that he has pitched through the end of the seventh inning, after doing so twice last season (at Miami (Fla.)) and vs. Western Kentucky in the Oxford Regional). It was the first time he has recorded an out in the eighth, doing so with his 13th groundout of the game.
  • McKee has pitched a team-high 20.1 innings in ACC play this year, the next closest Yellow Jacket has pitched 10.1 innings – Sunday starter Jackson Blakely.
  • He improves to 4-0 on the season, collecting his first win since pitching 6.0 scoreless innings in a run-rule win at Clemson two weeks ago.
  • This was McKee’s fourth outing of the year with one or fewer earned runs allowed, matching his season total from last year when he did so over 16 starts.

  • Mason Patel got the ball in the eighth inning with one out, earning himself a 1.2 inning save by recording five consecutive outs after an initial single.
  • This was Patel’s seventh career save and second of the season. He recorded a team-high five saves last season on his way to becoming Tech’s first NCBWA All-American pitcher since 2019.
  • Since recovering from an injury that saw him miss 20 days, Patel has made three appearances out of the bullpen, pitching 5.1 scoreless innings with a victory and two saves.
  • Over the last two seasons, Patel has made 26 appearances out of the bullpen, posting 12 wins and seven saves.

Up Next

The Jackets continue the weekend series with No. 14 NC State tomorrow at 7 p.m. from Mac Nease Baseball Park. The Jackets will hand the ball to junior Porter Buursema for his first career start against NC State’s Jacob Dudan (4-1). The game will be broadcast live on ACC Network. Tickets are available HERE

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.

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