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Vahn Lackey Does It All as Jackets Blank West Georgia

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Box Score Season Stats Vahn Lackey Postgame Press Conference James Ramsey Postgame Press Conference

THE FLATS – Junior Vahn Lackey (Suwanee, Ga./Collins Hill HS) played in eight different defensive positions and finished a single shy of the cycle on Tuesday night, lifting No. 3/4 Georgia Tech (15-2, 2-1 ACC) to a 14-0 (7) mercy-rule victory over West Georgia (3-14) inside Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium. The offense combined for five home runs while the pitching staff delivered a two-hit shutout in yet another dominant victory.

Lackey becomes the first Georgia Tech player in recorded history to play all eight defensive positions in the same game, and the first to do so since Buster Posey played all nine positions back in 2008. While the ball never went his way in the field, Lackey made up for it at the dish, going 3-for-4 with a double, a triple and a home run and ended up on base after all five of his plate appearances (a walk and a fielder’s choice).

Lackey’s ultra-impressive performance at the plate was one of many for the Jackets’ record-breaking offense. In total Georgia Tech launched five home runs over the course of only six innings of opportunities. Drew Burress, Alex Hernandez, Jarren Advincula, Caleb Daniel and of course, Lackey each went deep while the pitching staff comprised of Dimitri Angelakos, Adam McKelvey, Charlie Willcox and Porter Buursema combined for a two-hit shutout, Tech’s first of the season.

QUICK HITS: TEAM

  • Tech improves to 15-2, the best start to a season since 2013 and tied for the best start since 2006.
  • Tech has scored 228 runs through their first 17 games. It’s the most runs Georgia Tech has ever recorded after 17 games in the program’s 131-year history and the most runs any Power 4 team has scored through 17 games in the BBCOR era (since 2011).
  • The Jackets scoring average now stands at 13.41 runs/game this season. The program record is 10.3, set back in 1984.
  • GT is outscoring its opponents 228-67 through 17 games, that +161 margin is the highest through 17 games in program history.
  • Tech has now scored at least 10 runs in 13 of 17 games this season.
  • James Ramsey holds the best record by any first-year head coach in GT Baseball history through this point of the season.
  • The Jackets have recorded 247 hits, a new Power 4 record for the BBCOR era (since 2011) through 17 games.
  • The Jackets have hit an ACC best 49 doubles this season and are hitting doubles at a 2.88/game rate.
  • GT hit five home runs today, bringing the season total to 38. Tech has hit multiple home runs in 11 of 17 games this season including 13 in the last three games alone.
  • Tech leads the all-time series with West Georgia 13-9 following today’s win. The Jackets are 2-0 against the Wolves this century after renewing the in-state rivalry for the first time since 1988 last season.
  • This was the first shutout of the season for Tech pitching after allowing just one run in three of the previous games this season, including two straight one-run games last Tuesday and Friday.
  • The Jackets lower their season ERA to 3.60 heading into this weekend, the lowest team ERA through 17 games in a decade (since 2016).
  • The Tech bullpen did not allow a run over 3.2 innings of work, already the seventh scoreless outing for them this season and the third in the last four games.
  • The GT bullpen has allowed two or fewer earned runs in 13 of 17 games this season.

QUICK HITS: THE BATS

  • Junior Vahn Lackey set multiple career highs tonight, hitting his 7th home run of the season while extending his on base streak to 27 games and becoming the first Yellow Jacket in recorded history to play all eight defensive positions in a single game.

  • His 7th home run of the year already surpasses his previous career high (six) set last season as a sophomore and tied him with Ryan Zuckerman for the most on the team.
  • He has tied his career-long on-base streak from last season with an opportunity to continue it this weekend at Clemson.
  • He finished the day with two RBI, giving him a team-high 28 for the season and his 85th as a Yellow Jacket.
  • Lackey also stole his team leading seventh base of the season. He is 7-for-7 in stolen bases this year after recording 18 stolen bases last season, the most by any full-time catcher in Division I.
  • Junior Drew Burress delivered his third home run of the season and the 47th of his career, tying him with Kyle McCann (2017-19), Mate Skole (2009-11) and Luke Murton (2006-09) for the 5th-most in Georgia Tech program history while also tying McCann for the most ever recorded in the BBCOR era.
  • Burress is now five home runs away from tying Andy Bruce (1988-91) for the fourth-most HRs by a Yellow Jacket and 10 homers shy of the record (57) set by Jason Varitek (1991-94).

 

  • Sophomore Alex Hernandez opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with his fourth HR of the season, and 20th of his career. He would finish with two RBI, bringing his total to 87 RBI over 75 career games. He will need 13 RBI over his next 10 games, or fewer, to become the fastest Yellow Jacket ever to reach 100 career RBI – a record shared by both Burress and Matt Wieters (86 games).

  • Junior Jarren Advincula led the team with three RBI, a two-run home run in the second inning and an RBI single in the third. He is now tied with Ryan Zuckerman for the team lead with eight multi-RBI games this season.
  • His home run was his fourth of the season, just two shy of the career high he set last season while playing at Cal.
  • Advincula has recorded 22 RBI this season in just 17 games, already 11 shy of his career high.

  • Sophomore Calen Daniel connected for his sixth home run of the season in the sixth inning. He is one HR shy of matching his total from his freshman year, despite playing in less than a third of the total games.
  • His six HRs are the third-most on the team, behind Lackey and Zuckerman.

  • Junior Ryan Zuckerman went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 11 games, matching the career-long he set while playing for Pitt.
  • Senior Parker Brosius recorded a sacrifice fly in his only plate appearance off the bench. He has now recorded 12 RBI with only 10 at-bats this season and becomes the 10th Yellow Jacket to reach a dozen RBI this year.

QUICK HITS: THE ARMS

  • R-Freshman Dimitri Angelakos continued his excellent form. After pitching 5.0 scoreless innings in his first career start last Tuesday against Georgia State, Angelakos delivered 3.1 scoreless frames this time out, striking out two and allowing only two hits.
  • The β€œMidweek Greek” has now pitched 8.1 innings scoreless innings with four hits allowed, seven strikeouts and zero walks in his two career starts.
  • He lowers his season ERA to 1.38 over 13.0 innings with a 0.62 WHIP, the lowest on the team among pitchers with at least 4.1 innings pitched.
  • The only Yellow Jacket with a lower WHIP got the ball next as sophomore Adam McKelvey entered the game in the fourth inning, making his first appearance since exiting the game vs. Stony Brook on Feb. 20 with an apparent injury.
  • He would pitch 0.2 innings to keep the Wolves at bey in the fourth inning, recording one strikeout and retiring both batters he faced.
  • That appearance lowered his WHIP to a team-best 0.50 while he maintained his 0.00 ERA over 4.0 innings of work.
  • Freshman Charlie Willcox was next out of the pen, delivering a purely dominant showing. The freshman retired all six batters he faced, with three strikeouts.
  • He was one strike away from an immaculate inning in the sixth, throwing a ball with his ninth pitch after striking out the previous two batters on three pitches each. He would induce a 1-3 groundout on pitch No. 10 to preserve 2.0 perfect innings out of the bullpen for his first scoreless outing as a collegiate pitcher.

  • Junior Porter Buursema got the ball for the seventh inning, recording a pair of strikeouts around a couple of walks to put the game to bed.

Up Next

Georgia Tech begins a three-city, seven-game road trip with a Top 15 Atlantic Coast Conference series at No. 11 Clemson this weekend. The series will begin on Thursday, March 12 at 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live 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 furtherΒ advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visitΒ atfund.org/FullSteamAheadΒ 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 onΒ X (@GTBaseball),Β Facebook,Β Instagram (@gt_baseball) or visit us atΒ www.ramblinwreck.com.

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