Jackets roll past rival Bulldogs in 14-4 beatdown at Truist Park
Georgia Tech keeps facing tough tests, and they just keep passing them.
The Jackets rolled to a 14-4 victory over rival Georgia in seven innings on Tuesday in front of a crowd of 20,000 strong at the Spring Classic at Truist Park to give Georgia Tech its 11th win of the season over a top-15 opponent and fifth over a top-five opponent.
Georgia Tech, which tied its best start in program history with the win to improve its record to 33-7, fell behind 2-0 after one half inning but proceeded to put on a hitting exhibition against the Bulldogs’ midweek pitchers with 14 total hits spread among seven different players, including a 4-for-4, three-RBI effort from junior star Drew Burress.
Jackets’ head coach James Ramsey said it was a perfect night for his team, all the Tech fans that came out to support them and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta who benefitted from the ticket sales for the huge matchup between top-5 nationally-ranked opponents.
“I’m really proud of the guys’ effort. Anytime in this game, you’re playing for a lot of people. You’re playing for all the supporters at Georgia Tech. You’re playing for administration. You’re playing for the other sports that get to face off against the Bulldogs. I think it’s just fun being a part of this community. I think our team has been something that people can really rally behind because we’re made of the right stuff,” said Ramsey following Georgia Tech’s first win over the rival Bulldogs since March of 2023. “So you give the credit to the players. It’s a really good team over there (with Georgia). So anytime you get in a building like this, I can’t say enough about it. It’s bigger than baseball. I mean, what CHOA does for people all across Atlanta, across the country, just an unbelievable game to be a part of. We feel really fortunate to be a part of it.
“But it’s a big deal for college baseball, bringing together this many people to watch it.And I’m glad that our group could showcase,” added Ramsey. “But on top of that, our supporters, everybody that showed up in this building tonight has an equal share in this win. And now we’ll enjoy this one tonight for sure.”
Georgia Tech fell behind 2-0 in the top of the first inning but quickly answered with two in the bottom half to tie the game up.
From there, the Jackets grabbed the momentum with starter Carson Ballard bouncing back from giving up the two early runs to hold Georgia (32-10) scoreless over the next three frames and saw his own offense grab the lead at 7-2 thanks to two runs in the second and three more in the third.
After the Bulldogs pulled within three thanks to back-to-back solo homers in the top of the fifth, Tech busted the game open with a five-run bottom half of that inning and added two more in the sixth to eventually force the mercy rule following Georgia going down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh.
Ballard (5-0) earned the win thanks to 4 1/3 innings of work as he gave up four runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and two walks.
“Yeah, I mean, I thought he made really one pitch that I think was bad (in the first). You’ve got to give credit where credit’s due. Guy put a great swing on it, put a couple good swings tonight. That was the thing I felt like he responded from it to his own, still had both fastballs going. Gives us a chance every time out,” said Ramsey of Ballard’s effort. “And I think the panic thing to do is get somebody hot in the bullpen. And we kind of scripted. We let him go as long as he felt comfortable. And offensively, we kind of kept playing complimentary baseball, which when this team does that, we can beat anybody in the country. So I think it was really proud up and down. Have to shout out the way we ran the bases too. I thought all around, we played our game really well, and I think it showed.”
Along with Burress’ perfect night at the plate mentioned above, Jarren Advincula added two hits and three RBIs and Alex Hernandez had a pair of doubles, an RBI and two runs scored. Carson Kerce continued his incredible season with a pair of hits, including his nation-leading 22nd double, to go with three runs scored.
Will Baker finished 2-for-3 with a solo homer and three runs scored as he went deep for the second straight year in this particular game, and Ryan Zuckerman launched a two-run homer into the waterfall past the center field wall at Truist Park. Vahn Lackey and Caleb Daniel each drove in a run apiece as well.
Following Ballard on the mound, Georgia Tech used two other pitchers that each had scoreless outings as Jake Lankie went 1 2/3 and didn’t allow a run on two hits with three strikeouts. Brett Barfield then came in the seventh and got the final three outs, not allowing a run and striking out one.
It was a rough night on the mound for the Bulldogs pitchers, all six of them, with only one (Grant Edwards) pitching a scoreless inning. Paul Farley (4-1) took the loss as he started and gave up four runs on six hits with one strikeout and one walk. Kenny Ishikawa had the roughest outing of the bunch, going 2/3 of an inning and allowing five runs on five hits with two walks.
At the plate for Georgia, Micheal O’Shaughnessy had two homers and three RBIs and Henry Allen was 3-for-4 with a solo homer. Brennan Hudson also had a pair of hits, including a double, and Ryan Black finished with two hits.
Scoring recap…
The Bulldogs jumped on top early with a two-out, two-run homer by Michael O’Shaughnessy in the top of the first to make it 2-0.
Georgia Tech answered in the bottom half to tie it at 2-2 thanks to an RBI single by Jarren Advincula and another run coming home on a double play grounded into by Kent Schmidt.
The Jackets did some two-out damage, much like they have all year, in the second with two runs thanks to a solo homer by Will Baker followed by an RBI single a few batters later from Drew Burress to take a 4-2 lead.
Tech’s offensive momentum continued in the third with an RBI double from Alex Hernandez, Schmidt coming home to score on a wild pitch and Caleb Daniel driving in Hernandez on a sac fly to make it 7-2 in favor of the Jackets.
Georgia got a pair of runs back in the top of the fifth on back-to-back solo homers by O’Shaughnessy and Henry Allen to cut the deficit to 7-4. But Georgia Tech quickly answered in the bottom half on a two-run bomb to center field by Ryan Zuckerman to push the lead back to 9-4.
They weren’t satisfied there, however, in the bottom of the fifth as Advincula drove in two more with a single and Vahn Lackey followed with sac fly to make it 12-4 before the teams headed to the sixth.
Burress continued his big night in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run single to push Georgia Tech’s lead to 14-4.
Up next…
Georgia Tech will return to the friendly confines of Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium this weekend to open a three-game ACC series vs. Wake Forest starting on Friday at 7 p.m.
Georgia will open a three-game SEC series on the road Friday at Ole Miss with Game 1 scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
