Georgia Tech is one win from playing for a conference tournament title — what would be its first since 2014.
The Yellow Jackets (40-16) face Clemson in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament at 1 p.m. Saturday at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, North Carolina. They need to win that one to move on to Sunday’s title game against Florida State, Duke, North Carolina or Boston College, who all play Friday.
Tech reached the semifinals by crushing California 10-3 on Thursday. The Jackets hit seven home runs in that game, a feat that tied the ACC tourney record, and broke open a 4-2 game with a five-run eighth.
The Jackets have won 40 games in a season for the first time since 2019 and are playing in the ACC semifinals for the first time since 2021. They almost certainly have done enough to be rewarded as one of 16 NCAA regional host sites next weekend, and if they’re able to claim to a conference tourney title for the first time in 11 years, they could strengthen their case to play in Atlanta throughout the road to the College World Series.
“You win the ACC Tournament, I would never rule out that we wouldn’t be a top-eight seed,” Tech coach Danny Hall said. “Just because, you win the regular season, now you kind of go in and whoever you have to beat to win an ACC championship in a tournament, that’s gonna carry a lot of weight.”
Clemson (43-15) will be trying to derail Tech’s title quest. The Tigers, the tourney’s No. 5 seed, eliminated North Carolina State with a three-run eighth inning Thursday to win 7-6.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Tech and Clemson met at the end of March at Russ Chandler Stadium, the Jackets first series after Hall announced the 2025 season would be its last. Clemson took two of three by winning a 9-7 game March 28 and a 4-3 game March 29 as part of the second game of a doubleheader. Tech won the middle game of the series 18-2 in eight innings.
Clemson has an RPI of eight and is the only top-five team in the final ACC standings that Tech played this season.
“Everybody gets a chance to play 30 games in the ACC. We don’t make our schedule and went out there and did what we were supposed to do,” Tech center fielder Drew Burress said after Thursday’s win. “At the end of the day, when you win 19 games in the ACC, there’s something that should be said for that. It’s tough that some people try to take that away from us, but at the end of the day we just gotta continue to go out there and prove what we can do and that we’re a really good ball team.”
Tech is expected to start junior right-hander Brady Jones (7-2, 3.80 ERA) on the mound Saturday. Jones threw five innings and allowed one run (unearned) on three hits and struck out six March 29 against the Tigers.
“Georgia Tech is gonna be just as tough as an opponent,” Clemson coach Erik Bakich said Thursday after his team defeated N.C. State. “They won the league for a reason.”
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