THE FLATS – Drew Burress went 4-for-4 with two doubles, a home run, two RBI and three runs scored, Brady Jones and Jaylen Paden combined to toss a six-hitter and Georgia Tech baseball clinched its first outright Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season championship in 20 years with an 8-2 triumph at No. 20 Duke on Saturday.
Georgia Tech (39-16, 19-11 ACC) came out on top in a tight ACC race that saw six teams win at least 17 conference games, earning its first regular-season championship since it tied for first place in 2011 and its first outright title 2005. It is Tech’s sixth regular-season championship (fifth outright) under legendary 32-year head coach Danny Hall (1997, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2011), who announced in March that this would be his final season at the helm of the Yellow Jackets.
Top-seeded Tech has a double-bye in next week’s ACC Tournament and opens postseason play on Thursday at 3 p.m. against No. 8-seeded Wake Forest, No. 9-seeded Miami (Fla.) or No. 16-seeded California. The single-elimination tournament will be held at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C.
Georgia Tech head coach Danny Hall post-game after the Jackets clinch the regular season ACC title in his final regular season game: pic.twitter.com/b1y09kZKqX
— Monty Taylor (@Monty2740) May 17, 2025
Georgia Tech star Drew Burress went 4-4 with 2 doubles and a HR in the Jackets’ ACC title clinching win today. Hear from the slugger below: pic.twitter.com/UCS4gUhcx7
— Monty Taylor (@Monty2740) May 17, 2025
QUICK HITS: THE TEAM
- This was the 10th regular season title in program history: 1987, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2005 and now 2025 (Divisional titles in 2011, 2019 and 2021).
- The Jackets are tied with North Carolina for the 2nd most regular season titles since Danny Hall took over in 1994, with eight.
- Tech is now 39-16, tied for the best regular season record in 15 years (tied with 2019 for best since 2010).
- Tech connected for three doubles today, off the bats of Burress and Carson Kerce bringing the season total to 141, the most in the Power 4.
- Georgia Tech is averaging 2.56 doubles per game this season (141 in 55 games) – the program record for doubles/game is 2.51, set in 1987.
- The Jackets won their seventh series of the season, the most since winning eight in 2019.
QUICK HITS: THE BATS
- Sophomore Drew Burress came through with his second 4-for-4 performance of the weekend, reaching base five times with a single, two doubles a home run and a hit-by-pitch. It was his 5th-career four-hit game and his second of the weekend.
- The Houston County man hit multiple doubles in a game for the fourth time this year, bringing his total to 23 – tied for 7th most in program history and the most by any Yellow Jacket since 2011.
- Burress is in a five-way tie for seventh place, tied with GT legends Jason Varitek.(1994), Mark Fischer (1996), Jeff Kindel.(2005) and Jacob Esch (2011).
- He launched his 16th home run of the season in the eighth inning, putting him in a four-way tie for 12th place on the all-time GT home run leaderboard: tied with Daniel Palka (2011-13), Derek Dietrich (2008-10) and Tommy Thompson (1978-81).
𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐁𝐎𝐌𝐁!!
His 3rd HBH of the day. 8 understood the assignment 😤
His 41st career HR – tied for 12th most all-time
ACC Network – https://t.co/j5jactH2zR#StingEm🐝 x #WreckHavoc pic.twitter.com/x618TO5ATr
— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) May 17, 2025
- Freshman Alex Hernandez connected for his 13th home run of the season in the ninth inning, driving in two.
- It brings his season RBI total to 60, just eight away from the GT freshman record (68 RBI from Matt Wieters in 2005)
𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗡𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗭!! 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗨𝗟𝗟𝗣𝗘𝗡!
HIS 13th 💣 OF THE YEAR!
ACC Network – https://t.co/j5jactH2zR#StingEm🐝 x #WreckHavoc pic.twitter.com/KBnuSIFBzA
— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) May 17, 2025
- Tech freshmen have accounted for 32 HRs this season – led by 13 from Hernandez – matching last year’s total (32) which included a freshman record 25 off the bat of Burress.
- Sophomore Kent Schmidt extended his hitting streak to a team-high eight games with a 2-for-4 showing.
- Schmidt now has 20 multi-hit games in just 34 games with multiple ABs (58.8 percent of opportunities).
- Sophomore Carson Kerce connected for his 18th double of the season. The Jackets are the only Power 4 program in the nation with three players at 18+ doubles: Burress (23), Lodise (20) and Kerce (18).
- Sophomore Vahn Lackey delivered his team-leading 25th multi-hit effort, going 2-for-3 with a run scored and two walks.
- He leads all Power 4 catchers with 71 base hits this season, the 2nd most on the team behind Burress (72).
- Freshman Will Baker delivered his fifth mutli-hit game of the year. He led all Yellow Jackets with nine assists, defensively, this weekend.
QUICK HITS: THE ARMS
- Junior Brady Jones saw his draft stock continue to rise, making his 14th start of the season and delivering 5.0 innings with four hits, two earned runs and three strikeouts.
- He has completed at least five innings in eight consecutive starts, the longest streak by any Tech pitcher this season, and lowers his season ERA to 3.80 as he aims to be the first GT starter with an ERA under 4.00 since current major leaguer Brant Hurter did so back in 2021 (3.90 over 15 starts).
- His 3.80 ERA is the lowest of any Tech starter with 10+ starts since current major leaguer Connor Thomas posted a 3.11 ERA over 16 starts back in 2019.
- Jones brought his season strikeout total to 68, the most on the team.
- He got the win, improving his record to 7-2 for the year, the second most wins on the team behind Mason Patel (11-1).
- Senior Jaylen Paden kept Duke off the board for the final 4.0 innings, recording his second save of the year. He allowed only two hits while striking out three.
- Over his last three games, Paden has pitched 15.0 scoreless innings with only four hits allowed and 14 strikeouts.
UP NEXT
Top-seeded Tech has a double-bye in next week’s ACC Tournament and opens postseason play on Thursday at 3 p.m. against No. 8-seeded Wake Forest, No. 9-seeded Miami (Fla.) or No. 16-seeded California. The single-elimination tournament will be held at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C.
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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