Tech Dominates in ACC Home Opener

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech baseball (15-3, 3-1 ACC) cruised to a 10-1 series opening victory over Pitt (10-6, 0-1 ACC) on Friday night inside Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium. Tate McKee delivered his best outing of the season on the mound, going 6.0 innings and allowing only one run on two hits while Drew Burress and Carson Kerce drove in eight of Tech’s 10 runs to give the Yellow Jackets a victory in the ACC home opener.

QUICK HITS: THE TEAM

• Tech improves to 15-3 this season, the best 18-game start to a season in 12 years (since 2013).
• The Jackets are 3-1 in ACC play for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
• GT has won its ACC home opener for the fourth year in a row.
• The Jackets were in control throughout, leading from the 2^nd inning onward and adding in three insurance runs in the seventh. Tech is outscoring their opponents 11-1 in the final three innings over the last five games.
• The Yellow Jackets lead the all-time series with Pitt, 74-14, following today’s result.
• This was head coach Danny Hall’s 1,426^th victory as a college baseball coach, putting him just one win away from tying Cliff Gustafson (1,427) for the 10^th most in NCAA history.
• The Jackets allowed only three hits for the second straight game, the fewest allowed over a nine-inning ACC game since May 5, 2023 (vs. Pitt).
• Today marks the first time Tech has allowed three or fewer hits in back-to-back games since a doubleheader against Duke in 2012 (March 31^st – 3 hits in game one / 2 hits in game two) – those games featured a complete game shutout from Buck Farmer and 4.1 innings from Luke Bard – both future major leaguers.
• The bullpen allowed only one hit over 3.0 innings (3.0 hits/9) – it is the sixth time this season the bullpen has allowed three or fewer hits-per-nine innings.

QUICK HITS: THE BATS

• Sophomore Drew Burress connected for his team-leading 7^th home run of the season and the 32^nd of his career as a Yellow Jacket, passing Georgia Tech legend Scott Byers (1993-96) on the all-time home run leaderboard as he creeps closer to the Top 20 in program history (36).
• Burress has hit home runs in back-to-back games for the second time this season and the fifth time in his career.
• The home run drove in two, himself and Kyle Lodise. Burress would add two more RBI off a double in the seventh inning for a 4 RBI game, his second 4+ RBI game of the season and sixth of his career.
• The Houston County, Ga. native has now reached base in a career-best 36 consecutive games dating back to April 28 of last season.

𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐆𝐎𝐄𝐒 𝐘𝐀𝐑𝐃@drew_burress08 made no mistake. 105 off the bat, 396 to left. His 7th of the season and 32nd in White & Gold!

ACCNX – https://t.co/xCB1MjDFqv#StingEm🐝 x #WreckHavoc pic.twitter.com/MwmQNlXb78

— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) March 14, 2025

• Sophomore Carson Kerce, the ACC leader in defensive runs saved, had himself a day at the plate, matching his career high with 4 RBI thanks to a 3-for-4 performance including his ACC leading 9^th double of the season – tied with Kyle Lodise.
• It’s the third time in his career he has delivered 4 RBI in a game, and the first time doing so against an ACC opponent.
• He has reached base safely in nine straight games, scoring 10 runs over that stretch.

Kerce comes through AGAIN! He's got three 🥩 on the night. Jackets by 6⃣

ACCNX – https://t.co/xCB1MjDFqv#StingEm🐝 x #WreckHavoc x @CarsonKerce pic.twitter.com/VVe2dj2MCg

— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) March 14, 2025

• Sophomore Kent Schmidt has now driven in at least one RBI in 11 of his last 13 games after driving in Burress for the second run of the game in the second inning.
• He extends his career-best on-base streak to 26 games and sets a new career-best with a 12-game hitting streak.
• Junior shortstop Kyle Lodise hit a single in the fourth inning to extend his team-best hitting streak to 12 games.
• The Brunswick, Ga. native has reached base in a career-best 30 straight games dating back to his time at Augusta University and is reaching base safely an absurd 69% of the time when leading off an inning this season (20-of-29).
• Freshman Caleb Daniel extended his hit streak to seven games with a base hit today and has reached base safely in eight straight dating back to Feb. 28.
• Sophomore Vahn Lackey extended his on-base streak to 23 games dating back to last season, the longest of his career.
• Sophomore Tyler Neises has now reached base safely in a career-best 11 games in a row after drawing a walk as a pinch-hitter today.

QUICK HITS: THE ARMS

• Sophomore RHP Tate McKee delivered his best outing as a Yellow Jacket, pitching a season-long 6.0 innings, allowing only four base runners (two hits, two walks) while striking out six and allowing only one run.
• It was his fifth-consecutive Friday start as Tech improves to 5-0 on Fridays in 2025.
• McKee got the win to improve to 3-0 on the season, dropping his ERA to 2.49 in the process. He leads the Yellow Jackets with 32 strikeouts this year – 11.47 K/9.

Tate's mowing 'em down 😮‍💨 That's punchout No. 6 on the day

ACCNX – https://t.co/xCB1MjDFqv#StingEm🐝 x #WreckHavoc x @TateMckee1 pic.twitter.com/P8e1DPazNW

— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) March 14, 2025

• Junior RHP Caden Spivey was first out of the bullpen, going 2.0 innings and allowing only one hit while striking out two. He has delivered back-to-back scoreless outings for the first time as a Yellow Jacket.
• Freshman Cole Royer shut the door in the ninth inning, collecting two of his three outs via strikeout to bring his season K/9 number to 11.74.
• He has also thrown back-to-back scoreless outings after doing so in his first two collegiate appearances earlier this year.

UP NEXT­­
The Jackets will look to take the series against Pitt tomorrow at 2 p.m. – the game was moved up two hours from its original time due to expected weather tomorrow night. It’s Bark in the Park at Mac Nease Baseball Park. All dog owners must sign a waiver – HERE and Email completed waiver(s) to gtmarketing@athletics.gatech.edu The game will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra.

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.