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Tech Smashes Five Homers to Sweep Northwestern

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THE FLATS – Georgia Tech baseball (11-1) polished off another perfect weekend on the diamond, defeating Northwestern 14-6 on Sunday afternoon to sweep the series inside Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium. Junior Ryan Zuckerman posted his first career three-home run day while sophomore Drew Rogers earned his first two-HR performance as the Yellow Jackets erased an early 4-0 deficit with 8.2 innings of excellent pitching out of the bullpen to sweep their third weekend series of the season.

The offense utilized the long ball to great success today, getting a season high five home runs from Zuckerman (three) and Rogers (two). Those home runs all came in the 4th inning or later, helping the Jackets erase a 4-0 deficit from the top of the first, taking the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth off Zuckerman’s second homer of the game, 6-5. Tech hit three home runs in the 7th and 8th, scoring eight runs over those two late innings to break the game open, all while the Jackets’ bullpen delivered one of its most complete performances of the season, allowing only two runs over 8.2 innings.

The bullpen effort was headlined by 4.0 innings from r-sophomore Justin Shadek who entered the game to start the fourth inning, while GT was down, 4-2. He struck out seven Northwestern batters over his 4.0 innings of work, matching the career high he set while playing for Rutgers last season. That, along with a career long 2.2 innings of scoreless work from r-junior Caden Gaudette kept Northwestern from capitalizing on the momentum they grabbed in the first inning, only adding their sixth run of the game in the ninth inning after the Jackets had opened a nine-run lead.

QUICK HITS: TEAM

  • Tech has scored 174 runs through their first 12 games. The most runs Georgia Tech has ever recorded through the first 12 games of a season in the program’s 131-year history and the most runs any Power 4 team has scored through 12 games in the BBCOR era (since 2011).
  • Incredibly, the Jackets scoring average drops to 14.5 runs/game this season with today’s result. The program record is 10.3, set back in 1984.
  • The Jackets have now scored 10 or more runs in 10 of their first 12 games for the first time in program history.
  • GT is outscoring its opponents 174-51 through 12 games, that +123 margin is the highest through 12 games in program history.
  • Tech outpaced Northwestern 45-12 across the weekend for a +33 margin of victory. This marks the third weekend series in which the Jackets have outscored their opponents by at least 30 runs: +39 vs. Bowling Green, +33 vs. Stony Brook and +33 vs. Northwestern
  • Tech improves to 11-1, tied for the best start to a season since starting 12-0 back in 2016.
  • James Ramsey now holds the best record by any first-year head coach in GT Baseball history through 12 games, 11-1.
  • The Jackets have recorded 183 hits in their first 12 games, a new record for the BBCOR era (since 2011).
  • The Jackets have hit 40 doubles this season after connecting for three more today. The Jackets are hitting doubles at a 3.33/game rate, which would put them on pace for 180 doubles this season, which would break the program record of 164 set back in 1994.
  • Tech now leads the all-time series against Northwestern, 6-3, sweeping the Wildcats for the first time in program history.
  • GT has now swept each of its first three weekend series for the first time since 2009.
  • The Tech bullpen set a new season high with a 12.1 inning scoreless streak over the course of the last four games. The streak was halted in the 5th inning today.
  • Zuckerman and Rogers become the fourth and fifth Yellow Jackets to hit multiple home runs in a single game this year, joining Vahn Lackey, Jarren Advincula and Caleb Daniel.

QUICK HITS: THE BATS

  • Zuckerman delivered the best offensive game of his career, setting career highs with three home runs and four runs scored.
  • His three home runs bring his season total to four and his career total to 26.
  • Zuckerman is now second on the team with 18 RBI, tied with Advincula and two RBI behind Vahn Lackey for the team lead.

 

 

  • He becomes the third Yellow Jacket in the last three season to record a three-HR day, joining Kyle Lodise (2025) and Drew Burress (four HRs in 2024).
  • Sophomore Drew Rogers recorded his first career two-home run game, smashing a three-run HR in the seventh inning before hitting a two-run blast in the eighth for a total of five RBI for the game.
  • The five RBI are the second-most he has recorded in a game, after setting his career high last weekend against Stony Brook (six RBI).

 

  • Rogers brings his season HR total to four and his career total to 10.
  • He scored a career high three runs today. Georgia Tech has 10 different players with 10+ runs scored this season.
  • Sophomore Will Baker drove in another run today with a double in the 1st He recorded eight RBI over the course of this series, a new career high for a single series.
  • Junior Drew Burress came across to score in the first inning. It was his eighth run of the series, matching his career high for a single series (eight runs at UVA in 2024 and eight runs vs. Youngstown State in 2024).
  • Lackey extended his on-base streak to 22 games with an RBI double in the first inning. He is now tied with Kent Schmidt for the longest active on-base streak on the team and five games shy of his career-long.

QUICK HITS: THE ARMS

  • R-Junior Caden Gaudette came out of the bullpen with one out in the first inning after Northwestern scored four early runs. He recorded a pair of strikeouts to get the bats to the plate and would go on to pitch a career long 2.2 scoreless innings with only one hit allowed.
  • This was his team-leading fifth appearance of the season. He has allowed only two hits and struck out six batters over his 4.2 innings of work in 2026.
  • R-sophomore Justin Shadek produced his best appearance in White & Gold, taking the ball to begin the fourth inning and pitching 4.0 innings with only one earned run allowed while matching his career best with seven strikeouts.
  • He entered the game with the Jackets trailing, 4-2, and handed the ball to the next pitcher with a 9-5 lead heading into the eighth.
  • Shadek has pitched as many as 5.0 innings in his career after being a weekend starter for Rutgers last season.
  • He would get credit for the win, his first as a Yellow Jacket, bringing his career record to 5-5, and his GT record to 1-0.

  • Senior Caden Spivey got the ball for the eighth inning, recording a strikeout and keeping Northwestern off the board to allow the Tech offense to break the game open with a five-run eighth.

Up Next

The Jackets will be looking for revenge for their lone loss in 2026 when they rematch with Georgia State (9-4) on Tuesday, March 3. The game will be held at Gwinnett Field, the home of the Gwinnett Stripers, with first pitch set for 6 p.m.

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 X (@GTBaseball), Facebook, Instagram (@gt_baseball) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com.

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