THE FLATS – Georgia Tech baseball (35-15, 15-10 ACC) saw its season-long win streak halted at six games, falling 16-2 to No. 20 Louisville (34-15, 14-11 ACC) on Friday night at Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium. The Cardinals broke the game open with 13 runs in the top of the second as the Jackets suffered their first loss in the month of May.
QUICK HITS: THE TEAM
- Tech is now 35-15, tied for the best record through 50 games in 15 years (tied with 2019 & 2011 for best since 2010).
- This was the first run-rule loss of the season after being on the winning end of a program record 11 mercy-rule results.
- The Jackets hit into four double plays tonight, the most in a game in 13 seasons, since May 11, 2012 at UVA.
- Tech connected for one double today, off the bat of Carson Kerce. That brought the season total to 129, the most in Division I.
- Georgia Tech is averaging 2.58 doubles per game this season (129 in 50 games) – the program record for doubles/game is 2.51, set in 1987.
QUICK HITS: THE BATS
- All seven players that entered the game with lengthy on-base streaks extended them tonight: Caleb Daniel reached base for the 16th game in a row, one shy of his career high. Drew Burress has reached base in 11 straight games. Kerce for 10, Kent Schmidt and Alex Hernandez improved their streaks to 7 games while Drew Rogers (8) and Will Baker (7) each extended their career-long on-base streaks.
- Hernandez matched his career-best by extending his hitting streak to seven games, going 2-for-3. He was the only Yellow Jacket to achieve multiple hits tonight, he is tied with Vahn Lackey for the most multi-hit games of anyone on the team, with 22.
- Kerce hit his 17th double of the season. Georgia Tech is the only Power 4 program with three players at 17 or more doubles – also Burress and Kyle Lodise with 19 each.
- Lodise hit a triple in the seventh inning, his team-leading third triple of the year. He takes sole possession of 1st place in the ACC extra-base hit race, now with 36, one more than Burress who was tied with him entering the weekend.
- Burress drove in both of Tech’s runs with a two-RBI single in the fifth inning. That hit gave him 120 RBI over his GT career.
QUICK HITS: THE ARMS
- Sophomore Tate McKee made his 13th straight Friday night start. He would suffer the loss, dropping his record to 6-3 for the year.
- Freshman LHP Adam McKelvey recorded his second career strikeout in his third-ever appearance, pitching a career-long 1.2 innings.
- Senior RHP Sam Swygert returned to the mound for the first time this month, pitching 2.0 scoreless innings and allowing only one base runner, off a walk.
- It was the third time this season he has pitched more than one inning without allowing a run.
- Sophomore RHP Porter Buursema pitched the final two innings. It was his longest outing since recovering from an injury that forced him to miss all of March.
UP NEXT
The Jackets get a second shot at No. 20 Louisville tomorrow. First pitch is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. but with inclement weather in the forecast, be sure to follow GT Baseball on X (@GTBaseball), Facebook, Instagram (@gt_baseball) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com to stay up to date on any potential time changes. The game will be broadcast on ACC Network.
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
