No.3 Georgia Tech Completes Sweeps No.5 Florida State
Photo from the Press Box after series sweep
The most anticipated matchup of the weekend in the College Baseball world took place in Atlanta, Georgia. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets hosted the Florida State Seminoles in a top-5 ACC matchup.
After winning the first two games of the series, 4,326 fans crowded into Russ Chandler Stadium on Saturday afternoon to watch the top offense in the country break out the brooms.
The game was back and forth early on, with the Noles’ hitting two solo homers in the early innings as Tech scratched across a couple to keep the game tied – but as we got to the middle innings, the flood gates opened up.
It’s hard to find the right words for what Tech did offensively in the 5th and 6th innings, so let me just break the stats:
The Jackets scored 15 runs on 13 hits, six of which were extra-base-hits and three were home runs, 22 batters came to the plate. Meanwhile, the 5th ranked team in the country with a top-25 team ERA, Florida State, had to use six different pitchers to get through those two innings.
The Jackets would win in 7 innings by a score of 17-3.
Tech now owns the country’s second longest active win streak (12), behind only No.1 UCLA (26). They have the country’s highest runs per game at 11.2, highest batting average (.359), OBP (.477), slugging (.630) and OPS (1.107).
Georgia Tech’s total runs scored this season are not only the most in the country, but the most any team has ever produced in the BBCOR era (2011).
The Game:
Needless to say, if you’re going to have a chance to beat Georgia Tech, you need to score a lot of runs. The Seminoles certainly know that, wasting no time to get on the board. Junior outfielder Brayden Dowd hit a solo home run to set the tone.
Tech responded the best way they know how. Junior Drew Burress led off the bottom of the 1st with an opposite field single, followed up by a Vahn Lackey walk, completed with a Jarren Advincula RBI single, his sixth hit of the series.
The first three Jackets had reached base, but Florida State’s starter Bryson Moore proceeded to strikeout three straight to limit the damage in the first.
In the top of the second, Noles’ Carter McCulley hit his first home run of the year to straightaway center. Jackets’ Carson Kerce followed it up with a solo shot of his own in the bottom of the inning to tie it right back up 2-2. Kerce leads the team with 35 extra-base-hits this season – and bats 8th.
Tech continued to pressure in the second inning. Burress walked and stole second. Lackey had his second long at-bat of the game that resulted in reaching on a throwing error from Noles’ shortstop Carter McCulley. But It was all for nothing as Advincula would fly out to center to end the inning.
The two starters seemed to settle in after the second, but pitch counts were high. Florida State’s Bryson Moore was done after just three innings and 67 pitches. He allowed just two runs on three hits. Junior right-hander Cole Stokes came in and threw a scoreless 4th inning.
Noles’ left fielder Chase Williams led off the top of the 5th with a triple to the right field corner. Dowd brought him in with a sac fly to left to retake the lead 3-2 and collect his second RBI of the game. Although the play resulted in a run for Florida State, the highlight was undoubtedly Caleb Daniel’s catch in left, running into the fence and falling into the bullpen after making the grab.
This would be the last inning that Tech starter Jackson Blakely would throw. He got his 5th win of the season going 5 complete innings, allowing three runs and striking out five.
In the bottom of the 5th, Tech followed up FSU’s run with a score of their own for the 3rd time in the game – but this inning it wasn’t just one run.
Burress led off the inning with his second single of the game. Second baseman Jarren Advincula brought him in with a double.
Sophomore Alex Hernandez singled up the middle to bring in Advincula which prompted a pitching change for the Noles. Kent Schmidt singled, Sophomore Will Baker hit an RBI double down the right field line, then Carson Kerce brought in two more with his 7th hit of the series and the lead had quickly grown to 7-3 for Tech.
It took the third pitcher of the inning for the Noles to get out of it. It just seemed like they couldn’t keep the Jackets from scoring no matter what they did – although nobody has been able to do that all season.
On the first pitch of the bottom of the 6th, left fielder Caleb Daniel hit a moon shot home run over the right field wall. Drew Burress followed it up with another single. Lackey walked, Schmidt walked, and the bases were loaded for Ryan Zuckerman. The Junior hit a ball 112 MPH up the middle to bring in two more runs, 10-3 in favor of Tech.
Another run scored on a wild pitch, Kerce brought in two more with an RBI single, making it 13-3 Yellow Jackets. Caleb Daniel got on base and Burress crushed a ball for his seventh homer of the year and second hit of the inning, tacking on three more runs. But it wasn’t over yet…
Junior catcher and projected first rounder, Vahn Lackey hit the third home run of the inning and brought his team-high RBIs to 45. 17-3 Jackets.
As I mentioned above, in the 5th and 6th innings alone the Jackets scored 15 runs on 13 hits, six of which were extra-base-hits. Meanwhile, Florida State had to use six different pitchers to get through those two innings.
Georgia Tech Baseball X @GTBaseball
At the end of the inning, the entire crowd gave a standing ovation as if it was a play on Broadway. Advincula was stranded on-base, but gave head coach James Ramsey a big high-five after the side was finally retired. It was truly remarkable to witness that showing, it felt like it would never end – the crowd getting louder with each hit.
Senior lefty Brett Barfield came in to close it down and Tech earned the sweep over No.5 Florida State, leaving no doubt with a 17-3 run-rule score.
Every starter for Tech had at least one hit in the game. Drew Burress went 4-4 and scored four runs, extending his team-high hitting streak to 10 games. Jarren Advincula went 3-5, marking his 22nd multi-hit game of the season – over this 12 game win streak he is slashing .500/.552/.750, all team highs and bringing his season batting average to .422. Carson Kerce had a career high 5 RBIs in the game and had eight hits in the series.
Tech is now 30-5, 21-2 at home, 15-3 in the ACC and 9-2 vs top-15 teams. Over the 12 game win streak, they are outsourcing opponents 117-32. The pitching staff has held opponents under five runs every game of this win streak.
Offense will always be the first thing people talk about when Tech gets brought up – that’s what happens when you set an all-time record for runs per game. But, if their pitching staff continues what they’ve done the past few weeks, they’re going to be tough for anyone to beat.
James Ramsey’s first year at the helm has been magnificent – they’ll take home many program records when it’s all said and done. This was the first time in program history that every game of a weekend series was sold out. We could be witnessing the blossoming of a dynasty in Atlanta.
Tech will play their mid-week game versus Georgia Southern Tuesday, April 14th before heading to Chapel Hill to take on the No.6 North Carolina Tar Heels in another heavily anticipated weekend series.
For Florida State, this marks the first series loss of the season. Aside from game three, the Noles actually held Tech well under their normal runs per game and had it not been for some poor base running late in Game 1, the Noles might’ve came away with a win. They’ll take on Stetson for their mid-week matchup before a home series versus Notre Dame.
Ramblinwreck.com photos
About the Author:
Cody Hamilton is the writer behind The Data Dugout that launched at the end of 2025. As a lifelong fan of baseball, he writes with the goal to educate and foster a real community of readers behind his words and stories. He writes in-depth player and prospect analysis articles, along with pieces that analyze front office moves, and highlights classic baseball stories that make the game unique.