Georgia Tech shuts down Western Carolina

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech baseball (32-14, 15-9 ACC) secured the series victory over Western Carolina (23-23) on Saturday afternoon, using strong pitching from Brady Jones and Mason Patel to earn a 4-2 win inside Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium. Jones threw his third quality start of the year, racking up a career-best nine strikeouts before Patel tossed the final three innings to record his team-leading fourth save, just hours after graduating from Georgia Tech, earlier that morning.

QUICK HITS: THE TEAM

·         Tech is now 32-14, tied with 2019 for the best start to a season in 14 years (since 2011).

·         The Tech offense delivered 13 runs, its 20^th double-digit scoring output of the season, Tech is 19-1 when scoring 10 or more in a game.

·         The Jackets connected for two doubles today, bringing the season total to 121, the most among Power 4 schools.

·         Georgia Tech is averaging 2.63 doubles per game this season (121 in 46 games) – the program record for doubles/game is 2.51, set in 1987.

·         Kyle Lodise recorded an RBI off a SAC fly. Georgia Tech leads the nation with 37 SAC flies this season, nine behind the program record (46) set back in 2000, and the most in a season since 2019 (41).

·         The pitching staff struck out 13 batters today, marking the 34^th time this season that the pitchers have struck out at least one-per-inning pitched (73.9 percent).

·         13 strikeouts is the most in a game since the series finale against Clemson (March 29).

QUICK HITS: THE BATS

·         Freshman Alex Hernandez put the Jackets in front with a two-run double in the sixth inning, scoring Lodise and Drew Burress. It was his 50^th and 51^st RBI of the season – the most on the team and the most among Power 4 freshmen.

·         Freshman Caleb Daniel extended his on-base streak to 12 games, the longest active streak on the team. He would go 2-for-4 with a run scored.

·         It was his third straight multi-hit game, the first time he has accomplished that, and his 15^th multi-hit game of the year.

·         Daniel as scored 43 runs this season, the fifth most among Power 4 freshmen.

·         Junior Kyle Lodise reached base with a hit-by-pitch in the sixth inning, stealing his third bag of the weekend before coming around to score on Hernandez’ double, his 57^th run of the year.

·         Sophomore Drew Burress reached base for the seventh game in a row and 45^th time out of 46 games this season, drawing a walk in the sixth before scoring on the Hernandez double.

·         He leads the team with 60 runs scored this season, becoming the first Yellow Jacket to score 60+ runs in back-to-back seasons since Jeff Rowland and Derek Dietrich in 2009 & 2010. There has not been a Jacket score 70+ in consecutive seasons since Richard Lewis in 2000 and 2001 – Burress scored 73 runs in 2024.

·         Freshman Will Baker added an insurance run in the seventh to make it a 4-1 game. He has either scored or driven in a run in each of his last three games.

QUICK HITS: THE ARMS

·         Junior Brady Jones made his 12^th straight Saturday start, pitching 6.0 innings with a career-high nine strikeouts, allowing only four hits and one earned run.

·         Jones becomes the second GT pitcher to reach 60 strikeouts, joining Tate McKee (65).

·         He lowers his ERA to 4.33 this season and takes over the team lead with three quality starts, all coming in his last four games.

·         The effort sent him back to the win column, giving him a 5-2 record.

·         Senior Mason Patel pitched the final three innings, allowing only one run and striking out four to collect his team-leading fourth save of the season.

·         He graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in Applied Languages (Spanish) earlier in the day.

·         Patel has played a part in the end result in 14 of his 16 appearances this season, posting a 9-1 record with four saves.

UP NEXT­­
The Jackets will go for the sweep over Western Carolina (23-23) tomorrow, May 4, at 1 p.m. Tech is expected to start senior RHP Jaylen Paden (4-1 / 2.67 ERA). Tickets are available at ramblinwreck.com/tickets.