Georgia Tech baseball earns national rankings

Staff Reports

For the first time in two years, Georgia Tech baseball is back in the national rankings — and they’ve earned every bit of it.

The Yellow Jackets (20-4, 7-2 ACC) have surged into the national spotlight behind a red-hot start, earning the No. 19 spot in the Perfect Game Top-25 and coming in at No. 25 in both the D1 Baseball and USA Today Coaches Polls. It’s the program’s first Top 25 ranking since 2022 and their best start through 24 games since the 2011 season.

Georgia Tech capped its case for national recognition over the weekend with a dominant road sweep at Notre Dame, winning 18-7 (8 innings), 9-5 and 10-2 — marking its first ACC road sweep in nearly three years and propelling the Jackets to their best conference start since 2011.

“This team has shown maturity, depth, and toughness,” said head coach Danny Hall, now with 1,431 career wins — second-most among active Division I coaches. “They’ve earned this opportunity.”

The Yellow Jackets are doing it with both bats and arms. Tech leads the country in doubles (73) and doubles per game (3.04), and ranks sixth nationally in batting average (.333), hits (273), and slugging percentage (.565). Center fielder Drew Burress, the fastest player in program history to reach 30 career home runs, leads Division I in slugging (.795) and ranks second nationally in doubles (13).

Third baseman Carson Kerce (.417) and first baseman Kent Schmidt (.415) are both hitting above .400, something Georgia Tech hasn’t seen through 24 games since 2013. Freshman Alex Hernandez has been a revelation as a two-way threat, slugging seven home runs while also earning a save and making his first start on the mound last week.

On the hill, the Jackets have been equally impressive. Tech’s pitching staff has struck out 12 or more batters in four straight games — a feat not accomplished in over 20 years — and holds a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.58. Junior Mason Patel leads the nation in wins with seven, while Georgia Tech ranks 19th in strikeouts per nine innings (10.7), a mark not seen in the program since before the turn of the century.

This week, Georgia Tech will look to defend its new ranking with a Tuesday road test at Kennesaw State before hosting No. 6 Clemson (23-3, 4-2 ACC) in a highly anticipated weekend series at Mac Nease Baseball Park.

Promotions for the weekend include rally towels and Coach Hall Top 10 Wins posters on Friday, GT chain giveaways on Saturday, and All Abilities Day on Sunday.

“We’ve got a long way to go, but this group is built to compete,” Hall said.

And now, the rest of the country is starting to take notice.