THE FLATS – No. 15 Georgia Tech baseball (26-7) dropped its first midweek game of the season on Tuesday night, coming up short against No. 9 Auburn, 9-8 in front of 3,486 fans at Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium. The Yellow Jackets overcame a 5-1 deficit with a six-run bottom of the sixth but couldn’t hold onto the lead, walking 10 Auburn batters over the course of the evening and falling by one run.
The Yellow Jackets were without two of their top bats as Kyle Lodise missed his first game of the year while Kent Schmidt missed his 12th game in a row.
QUICK HITS: THE TEAM
- Tech is now 26-7. The best start to a season in 15 years (since 2010).
- The Jackets drop to 7-1 in midweeks this season, the best record since 2019.
- Auburn leads the all-time series, 129-113-5 following today’s result.
- The Jackets boast a +185 run differential so far this season, the best since 2010 (+199). Tech has scored 336 runs (most through 33 games since 2018) while only allowing 151 (fewest through 33 games since 2013).
- The Jackets posted three doubles and continue to lead the nation, now with 101 as a team, becoming the first program in Division I to reach triple digit doubles and doing so before anyone else even hit 90.
- Georgia Tech is averaging 3.06 doubles per game this season (101 in 33 games) – the program record for doubles/game is 2.51, set in the 1987 season.
- Tech pitching has struck out 10.48 per-nine-innings this season, the program record for a full season is 10.00 set back in 1998.
QUICK HITS: THE BATS
- Sophomore Drew Burress extended his on-base streak to 51 games dating back to last season, going 2-for-4 with a double and a triple, three RBI and one run scored. He has scored runs in 16 of his last 17 games dating back to March 11.
- He is on an 11-game hitting streak, his longest of the season and 2nd longest of his career, dating back to March 22 at Notre Dame, he has hit 11 extra-base hits over that stretch including four homers.
- Burress leads all of Power 4 with 18 doubles and secured his first triple of the year, becoming the second player in the ACC to hit 30+ extra-base hits (31), behind only Lodise (32)
- The Houston County man led the team with three RBI today, his team-leading eighth 3+ RBI performance of the season, one shy of his total number in his National Freshman of the Year season, last year.
- He tied Lodise with his 17th mutli-hit game this season, recording multiple base hits in more than half of his games played in 2025.
- Sophomore Carson Kerce hit his first home run of the season, and third of his career, in the six-run sixth – a two-run shot to the opposite field to cut the deficit to 5-3.
- He becomes the 15th Yellow Jacket to hit a home run this season, the most in a single year since 2009 (17) and the most in the BBCOR era (since 2011).
- Kerce came around to score, twice, for his eighth multi-run game of the year, twice his total number from his freshman season.
- Senior John Giesler recorded his third-straight multi-hit game, going 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. He reached base in the ninth inning to put the tying run on base.
- It is the first time he has recorded multiple hits in three straight since doing so against Miami (April 28) and Clemson (May 3 doubleheader) last season.
- Freshman Alex Hernandez posted his team-leading 14th two-hit performance tonight, going 2-for-4 with an RBI in the sixth inning. That brings his RBI total to 42 on the season, the most among Power 4 freshmen and tied for the most by any freshman in Division I.
- Freshman Caleb Daniel extended his hitting streak to five games with a double – his 11th of the year, tying him with Kent Schmidt for the fourth-most on the team.
- Sophomore Vahn Lackey extended his hitting streak to five games as well, going 1-for-4 with a run scored, batting in the cleanup spot for the first time in his career.
- Junior Parker Brosius came around to score twice. His 8th mutli-run game of the season and fifth in his last seven games.
QUICK HITS: THE ARMS
- Senior Sam Swygert made his third straight Tuesday start, but would give up a grand slam in the first inning.
- The Tech bullpen kept the team in the game for the next 5.0 innings as the combination of Brett Barfield, Riley Stanford and Carson Ballard held Auburn to only one run on one hit over that stretch.
- For Barfield, it was his fourth straight appearance without allowing an earned run, bringing his ERA down to 2.16 for the year.
- This marks the third time Barfield has come out of the pen in back-to-back games after he retired the side, in order during the sixth inning of Sunday’s series finale at Stanford.
- Stanford made his second appearance out of the bullpen today, retiring the side in order on only 13 pitches, including a strikeout. The former Sunday starter owns a 0.00 ERA over two games out of the bullpen.
- Ballard was excellent out of the bullpen today, recording three strikeouts in the fourth inning before finishing with 3.0 innings pitched and only one earned run allowed on one hit.
- After giving up a combined four runs in the seventh and eighth, Caden Gaudette came in to pitch the ninth inning, striking out three and walking two for a scoreless frame.
- He was back to his swing-and-miss self, recording all three outs via strikeout after not recording a K in each of his previous two outings. He has now collected at least one strikeout in nine of 12 appearances this year for a K/9 rate of 14.21.
UP NEXT
The No. 15 Jackets return to ACC play this weekend, hosting California (17-15, 6-9 ACC) for a three-game set at Mac Nease Baseball Park, beginning Friday, April 11 at 6 p.m. All games will be streamed live on ACCNX and tickets are available for purchase 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.
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