AUBURN, Ala. – No. 21 Georgia Tech baseball (29-12, 14-7 ACC) suffered a 1-0 defeat against Auburn (28-13, 9-9 SEC) on Tuesday night at Plainsman Park. It was the first time the Yellow Jackets were held scoreless all season, resulting in the one-run loss despite 6.1 scoreless innings out of the Tech bullpen.
The Jacket pitching showed tremendous fortitude throughout the night, working out of jams and leaving 15 Auburn runners on-base, tied for the most in a game this season – tied with the series finale against Clemson (March 29). The combination of Brett Barfield, Carson Ballard, Kayden Campbell and Connor Chicoli produced 6.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen, allowing only four hits and one walk while striking out five, headlined by a season high three Ks in 2.1 innings from Chicoli.
Unfortunately, the bats couldn’t get anyone across as Tech suffered its first shutout of the season, losing the season series to Auburn by a combined score of 10-8 over two games.
QUICK HITS: THE TEAM
- Tech is now 29-12, still the best start to a season in 14 years (since 2011).
- GT pitching left 15 Auburn runners on base today, tied for the most this season and the most since 2023 (16 – April 4 vs. Georgia Southern)
- This was the third time all season Tech has not recorded an extra base hit. Caleb Daniel seemed poised for at least a single when he laced a pitch headed into the gap in right-center, only for it to bounce off the umpire’s backside, directly into the glove of the Auburn 2nd basemen, resulting in a 4-3 putout.
- Georgia Tech is averaging 2.68 doubles per game this season (110 in 41 games) – the program record for doubles/game is 2.51, set in the 1987 season.
- This was the first shutout loss of the season and the first 1-0 defeat since April 28, 2017 – eight seasons ago vs. UIC.
- The Yellow Jackets were without Kent Schmidt who missed his 20th game in a row, with an injury.
QUICK HITS: THE BATS
- Sophomore Carson Kerce was the only Yellow Jacket to reach base multiple times, recording a single and a walk. He has reached base multiple times in 25 of Tech’s 41 games this season (61 % of games).
- Sophomore Vahn Lackey was hit by a pitch in the ninth inning, putting the tying run in scoring position and him, the would-be go ahead run) on base. It was his team-leading 8th HBP of the season.
- Sophomore Drew Burress hit a single for Tech’s other base hit, tying Kyle Lodise for the team-lead with 55 hits each.
- Lodise saw his on-base streak snapped at 47 games, marking the first time he has been held off the base paths while playing at Georgia Tech.
- Freshman Caleb Daniel extended his on-base streak to seven games with a walk.
- Freshman Connor Shouse made his third start of the season, one game after pitching 2.0 scoreless innings in the series finale at Miami. He would stretch his on-base streak to six games with a walk and suffered maybe the second-most unlucky out of the game, a 108-mph line drive directly into the Auburn left fielder’s glove in the fifth inning.
QUICK HITS: THE ARMS
- Senior Jaylen Paden made his first start of the season, pitching 1.2 innings and striking out four while working around five walks and a base hit.
- He would get tagged with the loss, his first in White & Gold, dropping his record to 4-1 on the year.
- Junior Brett Barfield did well to get the Jackets out of a jam in the second, coming in with the bases loaded and two outs, getting his man to fly out and keep the deficit at just one run.
- R-Soph. Carson Ballard posted yet another strong and lengthy outing out of the pen, pitching 3.0 innings with only three hits allowed and a strikeout.
- He brings his ERA down to 4.88 for the season, the lowest since his first appearance of the year
- Junior Kayden Campbell came out for the first two outs of the sixth inning (0.2 innings). He has recorded at least one strikeout in each of his 13 appearances and leads all GT pitchers with 10+ IP with 13.88 K/9 this season.
- Freshman Connor Chicoli continues to trend upward, pitching the final 2.1 innings of the game, allowing only one baserunner and striking out three, tying the season high he set over 4.0 innings against West Georgia (Feb. 26).
- That brings his season ERA to a new season-low 4.34 as he delivered his fifth scoreless appearance out of his last six games from the bullpen.
- The Yellow Jacket bullpen has pitched 11.0 consecutive scoreless innings, the second longest scoreless stretch of the season (22.0 scoreless from Feb. 28-March 8).
UP NEXT
The Jackets return to ACC play this weekend with a three-game set against Virginia. The series begins at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 25 and runs through Sunday April 27th. Tickets are available at ramblinwreck.com/tickets
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.
