Jackets finish sweep of Duke; Burress, Kerce tie program records
Georgia Tech completed yet another ACC series sweep on Sunday afternoon and once again left no doubt in a 14-1 run-rule shortened victory over Duke at Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium.
The Jackets (42-8, 22-5 in ACC) hit a pair of grand slams, coming from Kent Schmidt and Parker Brosius, and added a three-run homer by Drew Burress, which etched his name alongside another Tech legend in the record-books, as they completed a fourth-straight ACC series sweep at home for the first time in program history.
Burress launched his 57th career homer in the fifth inning to tie Jackets’ legend Jason Varitek for the all-time lead at Georgia Tech. Teammate Carson Kerce made a little history of his own on Sunday as well, hitting his 27th double of the season to tie another GT legend, Jay Payton, for the most in a single season for the program, a mark which he set back in 1994.
Jackson Blakely (6-1) was stellar on the mound to earn the win for Tech as he limited Duke (23-28, 9-19 in ACC) to just three hits on the day.
Another huge day for Tech’s lineup…
After Duke scored a run in the top of the first to take a brief lead, Georgia Tech’s bats got to work, immediately scoring five in the bottom half with the big blow coming from Schmidt’s grand slam.
From there, the Jackets continued to add on with two in the third, three in the fifth (on Burress’ three-run homer) and four in the sixth for the final blow on the Brosius grand slam, which was Tech’s third in the past two days.
Burress finished 2-for-4 with his homer, three RBIs and two runs scored while Brosius added his slam, five RBIs and two runs scored. Schmidt’s grand slam accounted for his four RBIs on the day while he also drew two walks and scored three runs.
Kerce finished 4-for-5 in the leadoff spot with his landmark double, drove in a run and scored a run. Alex Hernandez added two hits, two walks and two runs scored, Vahn Lackey had a pair of hits and scored a run and Jarren Advincula chipped in with a hit, and RBI, two stolen bases and two runs scored. Advincula became the first player in the country this season to 90 hits.
Rounding out the offensive stats was Ryan Zuckerman who drew three walks, stole two bases and scored two runs.
Blakely continues Sunday surge on the mound…
As mentioned above, Blakely was impressive in his Sunday start once again, going 5 1/3 innings to earn the win as he allowed just one run on three hits with seven strikeouts and two walks.
Two Tech pitchers followed Blakely in relief with Caden Gaudette tossing 2/3 of an inning and allowing no runs or hits and Cooper Underwood finishing things out with a scoreless, hitless seventh as he struck out one.
Up Next…
Georgia Tech will be back on its home field one final time for the regular season on Tuesday to host Mercer at 6 p.m. at Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium.
The Jackets will then head to Chestnut Hill, Mass. to open the final series of the regular season on Thursday at 6 p.m. for the first of three against Boston College.
Georgia Tech will enter that series with a two-game lead on UNC for the top spot in the ACC and needing some combination of two wins or UNC losses to clinch a second straight regular-season conference crown and the top spot in the ACC Tournament in Charlotte the following week.
