THE FLATS – The 2025-26 Georgia Tech baseball team concluded its fall campaign with a dominant 26-6 victory over West Georgia on Friday evening at Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium. Twelve of the Jackets first 14 batters reached base to jump in front 11-0 through two innings and the pitching took care of the rest, using 10 pitchers for a combined 12 strikeouts and only one walk allowed.
The Jackets were swinging out of the gates, as West Georgia called an end to the first inning due to pitch count after eight straight GT batters reached base and scored: four walks, two singles, a double and a grand slam from Carson Kerce at the end of the frame. The bats stayed hot for the next 11 innings, as all 18 Jackets reached base at least once, headlined by home runs from sophomore Drew Rogers, junior Parker Brosius, junior Kent Schmidt and junior Drew Burress for a combined five home runs. All 12 of the batters in the starting lineup scored at least one run in a dominant offensive display.
Kerce finished a double short of the cycle, going 3-for-3 with a grand slam, a triple, a single and a walk before being pulled to allow others to get at bats as the team prepares for the regular season, next spring.
Last year’s Friday starter, junior Tate McKee picked up right where he left off in the spring, tossing two scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts on 23 pitches. After an unlucky third inning on the mound resulted in six UWG runs, the Jackets bounced back with 2.0 scoreless innings from junior transfer Ryan Shadek. Senior Caden Spivey delivered a 1-2-3 sixth inning before junior Porter Buuresema sent the dugout into a frenzy with a 12-pitch 7th inning featuring two strikeouts, a fastball as high as 99 mph and not a single pitch under 97 mph.
Senior Kayden Campbell got a strikeout to polish off his 16-pitch scoreless eighth inning before freshmen Jamie Vicens and Cooper Underwood combined for six straight outs, four via strikeout (two apiece), in the 9th and 10th. Redshirt freshman Dimitri Angelakos recorded the 12th punchout of the night in a scoreless 11th before redshirt sophomore Jake Lankie put the nail in the coffin with a 13-pitch, scoreless 12th.
Tech will turn its focus to the annual White & Gold World Series, beginning next Thursday, October 23, at Mac Nease Baseball Park.
2026 SEASON TICKETS
Season tickets for Georgia Tech’s 2026 regular season home schedule, including five ACC home series and a collection of non-conference games to be announced later, are on sale now. Visit ramblinwreck.com/tickets to purchase. For complete information on 2026 baseball tickets, including premium membership options, please visit the official Georgia Tech Baseball Tickets page.
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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