GREENSBORO, N.C. – Georgia Tech baseball was lauded in the annual end-of-year Atlantic Coast Conference honors as four student-athletes were named all-conference, the league announced Monday.
The Yellow Jackets’ two captains led the way as shortstop Luke Waddell was a first-team selection and LHP Brant Hurter took home second-team honors. Third-baseman Justyn-Henry Malloy and catcher Kevin Parada both made third-team all-ACC with Parada also garnering ACC all-freshman honors.
Rated as the No. 7 shortstop in the country, Waddell has been Georgia Tech’s table setter and lockdown defender throughout the regular season. As tough-nosed at the plate as he is in the field, the Loveland, Ohio native is currently the toughest to strikeout in the ACC and the sixth-toughest in the nation, averaging 14.2 at-bats per strikeout. He’s second on the team with a .322 average and six home runs, and has a .419 on-base percentage. He’s also eighth in the ACC in double plays fielded (25). Waddell has been red-hot in the month of May, leading the team by hitting .431 and reaching base at a .508 clip.
The Jackets’ bonafide Friday night ace, Hurter has been a deadly portsider this season. Currently sporting five winning decisions, Hurter ranks eighth in the ACC with a 3.39 ERA. The Canton, Ga. native has struck out 71 hitters and held opponents to a .246 average this season. Nine of his starts this season have held teams to two or fewer earned runs with nine appearances also going 6.0 or more innings. Hurter has been dialed in to close the season, working to a 2-0 record in three starts in the month of May, compiling a 1.71 ERA and an 18:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
In his first season on The Flats, transfer third-baseman Malloy has been both a protector of the hot corner and a patient hitter with clutchness in his DNA. The Bergenfield, N.J., native is third on the team, currently hitting .307 with a team-leading 10 home runs and 39 RBI. In addition to his power, Malloy also ranks second in the ACC with 44 walks and 10th in the league with a .445 on-base percentage. To go along with his SportsCenter Top 10 plays at third, he’s also been clutch at the plate, hitting the walk-off home run to defeat Clemson and the walk-off sac fly to down archrival Georgia in the 14th-inning.
One of the country’s top true freshmen, Parada has led the Jackets at the plate the entire season, recording a .328 average in 44 starts. The Pasadena, Calif., native leads the ACC and ranks 12th nationally with 19 doubles and has knocked in 34 runs this year. Named ACC Player of the Week (March 1) for his debut in the league, Parada hasn’t slowed down, amassing nine games with three-or-more hits, including a whopping four games with four hits. Parada has drawn lots of national praise for his work behind the dish, being just one of five freshmen to be named to the Buster Posey Award watch list, as well as making the Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list.
Parada also becomes just the fifth Yellow Jacket to be named to the ACC’s all-freshman team since its creation in 2015, joining Austin Wilhite (2017), Joey Bart and Tristin English (2016), and Kel Johnson (2015).
The ACC Coastal Division Champions, Georgia Tech enter the ACC Tournament this week as the No. 2 seed overall, first playing on Wednesday against Clemson at 7 p.m., before concluding pool play on Thursday, May 27 against Louisville at 3 p.m.
Tickets are available for the ACC Championship at Truist Field, home of the Charlotte Knights. Fans can visit CharlotteKnights.com or click HERE for more information.
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Support The Swarm Fund, which helps Georgia Tech athletics offset the significant financial challenges associated with Covid-19, and the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
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