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#14 GT Baseball falls to #5 uga 5-2 in Truist Park 4:22 AM (5 hours ago)

Not a good day for the bats

TRUIST PARK —#14 Georgia Tech Baseball (29-8) fell 5-2 to #5 Georgia in the Spring Classic benefitting Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Tech’s second dropped game in their last eight after sweeping Stanford and Cal.

Georgia implemented essentially a one pitcher per inning strategy, which did a number on Tech’s ability to find a groove at the plate all game.

“It’s hard when you’re facing one guy every inning and gets hard to kind of get in a rhythm. Usually if you see a guy twice, you’d have a chance to make adjustments,” said Georgia Tech Head Coach Danny Hall after the game.

Tech only managed four hits, half of them coming from Will Baker, who hit his fourth homer of the season.

The announced crowd was 15,000 people, seemingly evenly divided between the third and first base side, but easily the biggest crowd Tech has played in front of all season.

Tech next plays this weekend at Miami hoping to stay atop the ACC, where they’ll shoot for their 30th win of the season and more.

How It Happened

The Jackets got in early trouble as starting pitcher Brett Barfield only got one man out through Georgia’s first six batters, allowing two runs on a single, two walks, and a hit batsman before getting pulled. Carson Ballard came in with bases loaded down 2-0, inducing a ground ball to short that initially was called a fielder’s choice at second base with a throwing error by Alex Hernandez that allowed a second run to score. The runner coming into second though didn’t slide, which Danny Hall was able to successfully protest that interference should’ve been called, and then was after the SEC umpires discussed the play, turning what was a 4-0 UGA game with 2 outs to a 2-0 game and the end of the inning.

Will Baker’s third inning solo home run to the Chophouse cut Georgia’s lead to 2-1. After Justin Byrd walked Parker Brosius and struck out Vahn Lackey, Zach Harris came in and struck out Drew Burres and Hernandez to keep Georgia’s lead at 2-1.

Baker again came in clutch during the fourth inning, driving in a run on a bloop single over the shortstop to tie it at 2-2.

The tie lasted all of two batters into the bottom of the inning before Devin Obee hit a tailing fly ball that looked like it might get foul, but snuck inside the foul pole and barely cleared the wall in right field to put Georgia back ahead 3-2. Henry Hunter follwed up with a double off the right field wall, then Kolby Branch drove him in with a two-run homer, putting Georgia ahead 5-2.

Things sad mostly quiet until the top of the eighth inning when Tech got two on with two out, but Carson Kerce struck out swinging on a blistering 97 mile per hour high fastball to keep it 5-2. Jordan Stephens then retired Tech in order to close the game in the 9th.

#14 Tech heads to Truist Park for COFH + USI Bracketology Update 14 Apr 4:51 PM (yesterday, 4:51 pm)

The most anticipated game of the year heads back to Braves Country

COFH Preview

Tech heads up I-75 on April 15 for the 390th baseball edition of Clean Old Fashioned Hate. The Jackets carry a top-15 ranking into the matchup with top-5 u[sic]ga, rising to No. 13 after a pair of ACC sweeps out west. The in-state rivals both enter with momentum; u[sic]ga pulled off an upset series win over top-ranked Arkansas over the weekend.

The Jackets carry balanced strengths into the tilt, with several stats placing at or near the top of D1 or Power 4 ball. Tech sits in the top four in all of D1 in doubles, batting average, and runs per game, and adds a pitching staff that boasts a top-25 ERA. Kyle Lodise, Drew Burress, and Alex Hernandez all have double digit home runs, and Lodise and Burress are two of five Tech players with at least 11 doubles.

All three Jacket pitchers with at least 30 innings pitched have a sub-4 ERA, led by Mason Patel’s mark of 1.87. Projected started Brett Barfield has posted a 2.00 ERA in a dozen appearances in relief, and will look to begin this bullpen game with more of the same.

Tech has a 10-1 record so far this season away from Russ Chandler Stadium — the best start in program history, and has not lost any games by more than two runs regardless of venue. Their 29-7 record is the best at this point since 2010, and the only non-conference loss since February is a one-run decision to top-10 Auburn.

u[sic]ga holds an ERA a few ticks below 5, and complements that mark with clean fielding, holding a top-10 fielding percentage even after a five-error performance over the weekend. They hold opponents to a batting average of .227, but give up walks and extra base hits at a higher rate than Tech. Tuesday starter JT Quinn has posted a 2.50 ERA in 10 appearances, including four starts.

u[sic]ga’s batting average ranks within the top 40, but they pace the country in home runs, racking up nearly 100 long balls already this season. They are paced by Ryland Zaborowski and Robbie Burnett with 16 home runs apiece. Five different players with at least 29 appearances boast an OPS over 1.000.

Both teams are looking to boost their resume with a win as the two clubs seek a top-16 overall seed and hosting rights for the NCAA tournament. Tech looks to bounce back from a season-ending loss in Athens during the tournament last year and avoid another road trip in the postseason.

USI Bracketology

In our proprietary USI rankings, we currently have Georgia Tech slotted as the #8 team in the country, good enough for a hosting slot. That current projection has Tech hosting Vanderbilt, Dallas Baptist, and Tennessee Tech. Among ACC teams, Tech is the 2nd highest ranked team behind Clemson at #3. North Carolina sits right behind Tech at #9. Four ACC teams are currently in line for hosting spots, five more are projected to make the tournament, and two additional teams are in the first four teams outside the field.

Jake Grant

Jake Grant

Tech getting a run of Quad 1 wins and hopefully some future Quad 2 wins are doing good work to bolster their tournament projection profile. A win over Georgia likely won’t create a guarantee that Tech ends up hosting a regional, but it can be one of those differential games when it comes to seeing. Of Tech’s most recent ACC opponents, Stanford (away) currently rates as Quad 1 games while Cal (at home) would be considered Quad 3. Miami on the road would be considered Quad 2 currently. Tech will have four Quad 1 games left on the schedule (at Duke x3, at Auburn) after this midweek.

Full Projected NCAA Tournament Field (regionals not adjusted for geographic considerations), 4/14/2025

#1 Texas Regional: Kansas, Stanford, Alabama State

#2 Arkansas Regional: Troy, Richmond, Holy Cross

#3 Clemson Regional: USC, Florida, Penn

#4 Tennessee Regional: Virginia Tech UT-Rio Grande Valley, NJIT

#5 Georgia Regional: Lamar, Northeastern, San Jose State

#6 West Virginia Regional: Oregon, Mississippi State, Central Connecticut State

#7 LSU Regional: Wake Forest, Kansas State, Gonzaga

#8 Georgia Tech Regional: Vanderbilt, Dallas Baptist, Tennessee Tech

#9 North Carolina Regional: Coastal Carolina, ETSU, Bowling Green

#10 Alabama Regional: Cal Poly, Southern Miss, Oral Roberts

#11 Florida State Regional: Arizona, Western Kentucky, High Point

#12 TCU Regional: Louisville, Southeastern Louisiana, Fairfield

#13 UCLA Regional: Auburn, NC State, Wright State

#14 Ole Miss Regional: UC Irvine, Liberty, Murray State

#15 Oregon State Regional: UTSA, Texas A&M, Xavier

#16 McNeese Regional: Oklahoma, Stetson, Grand Canyon

Scions E268: Spring Winning (feat. Jackson Caudell) 14 Apr 4:26 PM (yesterday, 4:26 pm)

Tech Spring Game, Baseball to #14, and more!

Jack and Jake are joined by Jackson Caudell from Georgia Tech on SI to give his scoop from the Georgia Tech Football spring game and the notables from that afternoon in Bobby Dodd Stadium. Then an update on #14 Georgia Tech Baseball, where they stand in the ACC, and their NCAA Tournament outlook before quick hits on softball, tennis, and Hiroshi Tai.

Hosts: Jake Grant, Jack Purdy

Guest: Jackson Caudell

Production: Jack Purdy

Music: ⁠⁠Georgia Tech⁠⁠ Glee Club, Georgia Tech Marching Band

#18 GT Baseball takes series opener vs. Cal 8-5 11 Apr 5:57 PM (4 days ago)

Alex Hernandez 4-4 night

MAC NEASE BASEBALL PARK — The Cal Bears came to town to finish up the California stretch of #18 Georgia Tech Baseball’s ACC schedule, Tech winning game one of the matchup 3-0 behind an excellent Tate McKee start with six strikeouts, only three hits allowed and two earned runs.

“I thought he did a great job, he was pretty much in command,” said Georgia Tech Head Coach Danny Hall.

McKee cruised through his first five innings, reaching the 6th at under 70 pitches. Two walks and two singles in the 6th inflated his pitch count enough that his night was done after 5.2 innings and two runs allowed.

Vahn Lackey took the leadoff spot for the first time while usual leadoff man, Kyle Lodise, is out battling injury (Danny Hall said he is day-to-day at this point).

“I used to hit lead off in high school, so I was like, ‘finally, I’m back!’” said Lackey.

While McKee was mowing down batters, Tech got their initial lead on a Will Baker three-run homer in the second inning, then another three-run bomb via Alex Hernandez in the 5th inning. Hernandez’s homer was nearly a two-run homer as the ball was so close to the wall in right field that Drew Burress at first base had to stay near the base in case it was caught, resulting in Hernandez nearly passing Burress on the base paths after rounding first base. The umpires did review it, but said the runners did not cross, allowing all three runs to stand for Tech, giving Tech a 6-0 lead.

“It was an interesting play, because I knew I didn’t get all of it, but I thought I got enough of it with the wind blowing out. [Burress] went back because he saw Vahn tagging up, so he thought the [right fielder] caught it, so he kind of jumped back for a second and I looked up and saw him and tried to stop as good as I could. I’m not sure I stopped [soon] enough, but as far as I know the camera said I did,” said Hernandez after the game.

After McKee’s aforementioned allowed runs, Mason Patel came in, finishing the sixth inning, had a clean seventh inning, but allowed a three run homer to Max Handron to make it a 6-5 game in the eight.

Needing insurance runs, John Giesler popped a single to center field to lead off and pinch hitter Connor Shouse walked to put two on for Will Baker. Baker laid down a magnificent sacrifice bunt to move Giesler and Shouse into scoring position with one out. Parker Brosious was unable to land a squeeze bunt, eventually striking out. Lackey then nailed a hard hit double to center field, scoring Giesler and Shouse to make it 8-5, giving all the runway Patel needed as he retired the side in order in the 9th.

“Those three run homers were big,” noted head coach Danny Hall after the game. “Their starter has been really good and going deep into games in the conference. Kerce hit that double and then we got Baker up, hitting a home run in that inning. Then Hernandez had a big night going 4-for-4. His three run homer was huge,” said Hall.

Overall, on a night where runs came at clutch moments and the team is not fully healthy, getting an ideal McKee + Patel night, it’s certainly a night to be proud of as Tech tries to catch Clemson in the ACC standings and potentially climb into a hosting spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Mailbag 4/11 11 Apr 2:02 PM (4 days ago)

Got a favorite Caddyshack line?

Dinowizerd: Any players you will be keeping your eye on during the Spring Game?

Jack: The entire defense to be fully honest. The cornerback situation should be good but even then from the defensive line all the way to the secondary will be a focus spot for me. We know we have some dudes, but then a lot of new dudes too. Probably won’t see much of Kyle Efford, which is fine. Ultimately, this is just practice, what they look like now will only be a small indicator as to what they’ll look like in Boulder.

Logan: I’ve been waiting on Isiah Canion to break out for a while now. News has been good from camp so far so I hope to see him get big catches in the spring game.

Dinowizerd: Looking into the Crystal Ball, who has a better end of the season GT baseball or Braves baseball?

Jack: This feels a lot like the 2021 season for the Braves. Barely anything is going right aside from Ozuna hitting a game winning home run. Plus they aren’t hitting up to their standard.

Tech on the other hand...things are really moving in the right direction for them. Even the losses against top quality teams aren’t all that bad. We have so much lockdown pitching and so much depth in the lineup that we are really setup for a good run. They’re all rallying around Danny Hall too, so this very well could be a special year for them if we keep this up.

Logan: Braves still have the talent to turn things around, but currently I’m expecting Danny Hall to have a decent post season run to end his career.

Partywaggin: Should we just hand the Thrillerdome over to the volleyball team?

Drew: Things aren’t looking fantastic for the men’s basketball team, although it’s still early in the portal. Things are looking up more for the women even with the unfortunate transfers. But I loved going to volleyball games in college so I hope they don’t move.

Jack: Ha! They certainly would sell well and the environment has proven to be electric in there. I know in the past they’ve explored putting a second game in there during a season but it just hasn’t panned out yet. The home court advantage in O’Keefe is so strong as well that there isn’t really a wrong answer for where they play their matches. They can win in both buildings.

Partywaggin: I saw on Twitter that the UT severely vandalized the Reck many years ago and never paid for the damages. How would extract your pound of flesh, so to speak, from UT?

Jack: Hand them an invoice at the coin toss in 2026.

Logan: Their mascot is a dog, and while I’m not a fan of dawgs I’m certainly not going to hurt or vandalize one. Given what Tech is good at maybe we can hack their computers for some friendly pranking.

DressHerInWhiteAndGold: Favorite Caddyshack lines? Mine:

“You’ll get nothing, and like it”

“Come and loofa my stretch marks”

“Wanna tie me up with your ties, Ty?”

Logan: “Remember Danny, two wrongs don’t make a right but three rights make a left”, not sure if that was a Caddyshack original but I use that one pretty often.

Georgia Tech Announces Home and Home Series with Tennessee 10 Apr 9:13 AM (6 days ago)

Rocky Top comes calling

Yesterday Georgia Tech and the University of Tennessee announced a home and home series in football for the 2026 and 2027 season. This decision came in the wake of Nebraska dropping their scheduled home and home between Tennessee for the same period. In order to add the games to their schedule Georgia Tech had to cancel their remaining away game with Georgia State which was scheduled for 2026.

Adam Cairns-Imagn Images

This news came as a surprise to most and the response from the Georgia Tech faithful seems mixed. While this is another big game which would put eyes on the Jackets it is certainly more difficult than playing Georgia State (apologies for the hard truth Georgia State fans) and could hurt our chances of becoming ranked or even making a bowl game.

Personally, I have 3 thoughts that I keep coming back to in response to the scheduling news:

1. I’m sad that we have to miss out on another game against Georgia State. I liked the idea of a game against our neighbors from 1.6 miles down the road (about a 30-minute drive depending on Atlanta traffic). I don’t think most people think much of Georgia State’s football program but having an Atlanta centric game was a fun concept and I’ll miss it.

2. Georgia Tech is not making things easier on themselves, and that’s a good thing. One of the big things that J Batt and Brent Key have done a great job of is establishing GT as a brand people want to watch. We’re a fun team that fights hard and gets big upsets, who doesn’t love a hard fighting underdog. Right now, the ACC is increasing payouts for teams who can get viewership, so Georgia Tech needs to strike while the iron is hot and keep making a name for themselves.

Is Tennessee and easy matchup? Absolutely not, but they are a matchup that will draw in more fans and get us more money. Georgia State just cannot bring the same viewership unfortunately.

3. This is the kind of challenge Georgia Tech needs to take on. Right now, fans are happy coming off the coach 404 era. Pretty much any winning season is a good one, but that will not last. If GT is going to remain competitive and keep moving forward, we will need to be taking on teams like Tennessee. It’s a challenge, but we’ve won tough games before so there is no reason to think we can’t rise to the occasion.

3a. Side thought, it’s not like playing worse teams have guaranteed wins for us. If we’re going to lose, I would rather see us lose trying to take on a team like Tennessee than lose embarrassingly to a team like Bowling Green or Citadel

3b. Also, if things start leaning towards the ACC falling apart it doesn’t hurt for us to be building relationships with SEC schools.

Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Overall, I think this was a great move by J Batt and I am looking forward to the series. I know not everyone agrees with me, so let me know what you think in the comments. Go Jackets!!!

Mailbag 4/11 Questions 10 Apr 4:14 AM (6 days ago)

News keeps happening, can’t it take a rest!

Welcome to Masters weekend everyone! We’ve got reigning national champion Hiroshi Tai out taking on Augusta National, a new women’s basketball head coach, baseball doing its thing, softball looking good, and a new football opponent. Hit us with your questions in the comments, in our replies on social media, or email us at fromtherumbleseat@gmail.com!

Eva on Survivor: Episode 7 Recap 9 Apr 6:18 PM (6 days ago)

Another potential threat goes home

Welcome back to our weekly update series on Eva Erickson, Georgia Tech graduate playing on Survivor 48. You can check out last week’s episode 6 recap here. We’ll be here until she gets voted out or makes the finale! Now on with episode 7!

SURVIVOR SEASON 48 EPISODE 7 SPOILERS AHEAD

We’re now one vote old into the merged portion of the game, Eva surviving a slight scare but eventually getting no votes at tribal council on the backs of her strong alliance members fending off any momentum to put votes on her.

This week, her highlight was in the immunity challenge. The challenge split the 12-person tribe into two randomly sorted groups of six. The best of each group of six would win immunity, with the longest lasting player earning food for their group of six. Additionally, both groups would go to tribal council separately. The winning group would go to tribal council second, and the person voted out from that group would be on the jury, unlike with the first group.

The challenge required each player to hold up a bucket of water (proportional to a percentage of each player’s pre game bodyweight) attatched to a string that wrapped around a spool that each player had to keep spun against the water weight of the bucket.

For Eva, this challenge suited her well along with every other strong player in the game. Her group was her, Joe, Star, Mitch, Chrissy, and Sai. If you had forearm strength or any significant upper body strength, this challenge is for you. We got to a point where Eva, Joe, David, Kyle, and Shauhin (Eva’s primary alliance members) were the last ones standing, eventually turning into a David vs. Joe showdown (they were on opposite groups) after Eva and the rest of them fell off. After a record near hour long challenge, David got the win, meaning Eva’s group would go to tribal council first and vote someone out who would not be on the jury.

For that group, it ended up being a very simple vote. Sai had no protection and had received the second most votes in the previous tribal council. Chrissy is on nobody’s radar. Mitch may technically be on the outs and now without his main ally in Charity, but at no point had he shown the threat level and brought chaos in the way that Sai had basically every tribal council.

Once together after the challenge (this group went to the old Civa camp before tribal), Sai did what anyone on the bottom does; try to make a case that someone else is more dangerous and offer to be a number against them. Ultimately, because Mitch had a block a vote, he could turn a theoretical tie of votes between him and Sai into a five vote tribal, blocking Sai’s vote against him and sending her home.

That move was enough to shift the tide. Mitch played his block a vote to ensure Sai both couldn’t vote, but also to block her shot in the dark (if a player can’t vote, they then can’t trade in their vote to play a shot in the dark), guaranteeing that Sai would stay vulnerable unless she had an idol (she didn’t). Sai went home on a 5-1 vote. Cedrek would then be voted out in the next tribal council.

For Eva, nothing changes for the most part. Sai, who actively wanted to move against her at one point because of her idol, is gone. Before that, Charity put her name out, and she’s gone. Cedrek and Eva basically never overlapped strategically.

The biggest active threat to Eva at this point is her immunity idol. Everyone knows she has it. Flushing it is critical for everyone else’s gameplay to make sure she eventually is vulnerable. While she’s very well protected with her strong person alliance, that won’t last forever. The longer this alliance sticks together, the longer that idol can stay unused.

Right now, Mitch, Chrissy, and Mary are the least entwined with everyone else. Those three likely won’t be winning any immunity challenges. Obviously, the best way for Eva to stay safe is to start winning immunity. With 11 people left, lots is still to be determined.