GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS vs. MERCER BEARS
APRIL 1, 2025 • 8 PM
Atlanta, Ga. (Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium)
Ticket Information | Parking | Promotions
Probable Starting Pitchers
GT – RHP SAM SWYGERT (0-1) vs. MU – LHP Wyatt Mummert (0-0)
Tuesday – 8 PM
TV: ACC Network | Watch Live
Play-by-Play: Matt Schick
Analyst: Devon Travis
Radio: GT Gameday App
Play-by-Play: Colin Lacy
SERIES STATS
Overall: GT leads, 118-58
Home: GT leads, 69-26
Last Game: The Yellow Jackets took the only meeting last season, a 9=5 final score in Macon. Carson Ballard made the start, pitching 7.0 innings of scoreless baseball, allowing only four hits to allow Tech to go in front, 8-0, holding on for the 9-5 midweek victory.
GAMEDAY CENTRAL
Game Notes | Gameday Rosters
TOP STORYLINES
- The Jackets are 22-6 for the first time in 14 seasons (2011) and are ranked in Perfect Game (No. 22) and D1 Baseball (No. 25) for the second week in a row – first time since 2022.
- Tech has won eight of their first 12 ACC games, the best start to a conference season since 2013.
- GT lost its first ACC series of the season over the weekend, dropping two of three to No. 3 Clemson despite outscoring the Tigers 28-15. The Jackets achieved that run differential after an 18-2 (7) victory in the 2nd game of the series, the largest against Clemson since a 22-4 beat down on April 16, 2006.
- That 18-2 victory featured a 10-run fourth inning with four home runs – the most runs scored in a single inning of an ACC game since hanging 12 runs on Duke back on May 18, 2018.
- Head Coach Danny Hall is one of the Top 10 winningest coaches in Division I history – 1,433 wins – 2nd most among active coaches – behind only South Carolina’s Paul Mainieri
- Georgia Tech has replaced Texas as the only program in Division I with two head coaches in the Top 10 for career wins – also Jim Morris (5th – 1,594 – at Tech from 1982-93)
- Tech is led by reigning National Freshman of the Year, Drew Burress. He leads all of DI with a .798 career slugging %. – the only player in Division I with a career slugging & above .725.
- The Houston Co. product became the fastest Yellow Jacket in program history to reach 30 career home runs – doing so in just 73 games, a full 20 games faster than the previous record holder, and 1st round draft pick, Kevin Parada
- GT leads the nation in doubles (84) and doubles per game (3.00) – the program record is 2.51, set in the 1987 season.
- Drew Burress leads all Power 4 players with 16 doubles (2nd overall). The Jackets are the only team in Division I with 4 players at 11+ doubles, led by Burress (16) along with Kyle Lodise (14), Carson Kerce (12) & Kent Schmidt (11).
- Kyle Lodise is fifth in the nation and tied for 2nd among Power 4 players with 14 doubles.
- Lodise is the only player in the nation to be ranked in the Top 20 in both doubles (5th – 14) and home runs (11th – 12)
- The pitching staff is boasting 11.0 strikeouts-per-game – nearly a 2 K-per-game improvement to last year (9.2) & the 10th best rate in the nation. Tech has not averaged 10+ Ks since the COVID shortened 2020 season (10.9) and hasn’t done it over a complete season this century.
- That early bullpen success has been spearheaded by Mason Patel who became the first Yellow Jacket pitcher this century to win each of his first six appearances in a season.
- He allowed his first run of the season after 22.2 innings of scoreless baseball – the best start to a season by any Yellow Jacket this century.
- Patel leads the nation with seven wins and is 2nd in 0.68 WHIP, 6th in hits allowed per nine (4.54) and 12th in ERA (1.60).
- Freshman Alex Hernandez is the only undergraduate Power 4 player with a save and at least 8 home runs this season.
- He leads all freshman in RBI (39) and is 2nd among freshman in HR (9).
- Tech is 1st in the nation in doubles (84), 4th in avg. (.336), 7th in OPS (1.019) and 7th in hits (320) & 9th in runs (271) and lead the ACC in each category.
- Senior Sam Swygert is making his second start of the season. He has pitched 7.1 innings across three games against Mercer before transferring into GT.
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.
