Jackets Host Western Michigan For Weekend Series

GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS vs. WESTERN MICHIGAN BRONCOS
Feb. 28 – March 2, 2025 • 4 PM, 2 PM, 1 PM
Atlanta, Ga. (Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium)

Ticket Information | Parking | SATURDAY PARKING| Promotions

Probable Starting Pitchers

Friday: (GT) RHP – Tate McKee (1-0) vs. (WMU) RHP – Ty McKinstry (0-2)

Saturday: (GT) RHP – Brady Jones (0-0) vs. (WMU) LHP – Joey Wizceb (0-1)

Sunday: (GT) RHP – Riley Stanford (0-0) vs. (WMU) RHP – Zach Vriesenga (0-0)

Friday- 4 PM
TV: ACC Network Extra | Watch Live
Play-by-Play: Wiley Ballard
Analyst: Dusty Isaacs

Radio: GT Gameday App 
Play-by-Play: Colin Lacy

Live Stats

Saturday – 2 PM
TV: ACC Network Extra | Watch Live
Play-by-Play: Wiley Ballard
Analyst: Dusty Isaacs

Radio: GT Gameday App 
Play-by-Play: Colin Lacy

Live Stats

Sunday – 1 PM
TV: ACC Network Extra | Watch Live
Play-by-Play: Wiley Ballard
Analyst: Dusty Isaacs

Radio: GT Gameday App 
Play-by-Play: Colin Lacy

Live Stats

SERIES STATS

Overall: GT leads, 4-0

Home: GT leads, 4-0

Last Game: Tech welcomes Western Michigan for a weekend series for the first time in program history. The last meeting came in 2017 when Tech defeated Western Michigan, 8-3, at Mac Nease Baseball Park.

GAMEDAY CENTRAL
Game Notes | Gameday Rosters

TOP STORYLINES

• Georgia Tech baseball continues its season-long nine game homestand this weekend with a series against Western Michigan.
• Headlining the returners is 2024 National Freshman of the Year and No. 1 sophomore in college baseball (according to Perfect Game), Drew Burress. Burress has been dubbed a preseason 1st team all-American by multiple outlets for 2025 & is currently Division I’s active leader in slugging percentage (.810).
• Burress kicked off his sophomore encore with a walk-off grand slam during opening weekend, his first walk off at GT. He followed that with a solo shot at Georgia Southern, a part of GT’s first back-to-back homers of the season after Kyle Lodise launched his first as a Jacket one at-bat prior.
• The Houston Co. product leads Georgia Tech in home runs (3) and RBI (14) this season. His 14 RBI ranks 23rd in Division I and 4th in the ACC. He is currently on pace for 74 RBI this season, an improvement over his already stellar 67 from last year.
• The Jackets feature 10 transfers and 15 freshman – the No. 2 ranked recruiting class in the nation according to Perfect Game – Tech’s highest ranked class since PG started ranking in 2011.
• The class features 3 players ranked in PG’s National top-100: Drew Rogers (Catcher – No. 23), Connor Shouse (RHP/INF – No. 83), Alex Hernandez (RHP/INF – No. 96). It also contains one draft pick – Cole Royer – drafted in the 20th round (601st overall) by the Yankees).
• Hernandez is the only underclassmen in Division I with a save and multiple HRs this season (FR – 1 SV, 3 HR). He is one of only three players in DI and two in P4 who can claim that– also Bryce Calloway, New Orleans (SR – 1 SV, 5 HR) and Ethan Hedges, USC (JR – 3 SV, 4 HR)
• The Jackets lead the ACC and are 20th in the nation with 21 stolen bases this season – fresh off swiping six bags last time out vs. West Georgia, the most in a game since 2022.
• Parker Brosius leads the team with six stolen bases, the 2nd most in the ACC and 21st across Division I.
• Head Coach Danny Hall enters his 32nd season at GT and his 38th year as a college head coach. He currently has 1,418 career wins – the 11th most all-time and 2nd most among active NCAA head coaches after South Carolina hired Paul Mainieri (1,514) out of retirement this season.
• The pitching staff has been the highlight of the season, boasting 10.67 strikeouts-per-game – almost a 1.5 Ks-per-game improvement over last season (9.2) – Tech has not averaged double-digit strikeouts from the pitching staff since the COVID shortened 2020 season (10.9) and hasn’t done it over a complete season this century.
• The Tech bullpen has struck out 66 batters this year – the most through nine games since at least the turn of the century.
• That early bullpen success has been spearheaded by Mason Patel who was just named ACC Co-Pitcher of the Week and has pitched 9.2 innings with a 0.00 ERA and 12 strikeouts, including 16 straight batters retired in his season debut at Georgia Southern.
• Patel is Tech’s first ACC Pitcher of the Week since Andy Archer in 2021 and the first pitcher to boast a 3-0 record after only nine games since Xzavion Curry in 2018.
• The Knoxville, Tenn native is one of eight pitchers (two in the ACC) who haven’t allowed a run while pitching at least 9 innings with three or more appearances this season. His 0.41 WHIP ranks 3rd in the ACC and 14th in the nation.
• Offensively, GT is second in the nation with 29 doubles as a team – led by five from Kyle Lodise.
• Tech is the only program across Division I with four players at 4+ doubles this season: Kyle Lodise (5), Drew Burress (4), Kent Schmidt (4) and Carson Kerce (4).
• Lodise is on a considerable hot-streak, reaching base at least three times in each of his last six games and slashing .455 avg. / .613 obp / .818 slug % over that time .

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