‘We really can do it all:’ Georgia Tech baseball puts on show in win vs. Georgia

Picture the bus ride home after run-ruling your in-state rival in a Top 5 showdown played in front of a crowd of 20,000 at the Atlanta Braves’ stomping grounds.

“This is one you wish it was longer than 20 minutes,” Georgia Tech coach James Ramsey said after the Yellow Jackets’ 14-4 win vs. the Georgia Bulldogs Tuesday at Truist Park.

The No. 3 Jackets (33-7 overall, 16-5 ACC) and No. 5 Bulldogs (32-10 overall, 13-5 SEC) both feature loaded lineups that can hit for power, but it was Tech that put together a showcase in multiple facets.

Tech tallied 14 hits, with three doubles (one from shortstop Carson Kerce and two from right fielder Alex Hernandez) and two home runs (one from designated hitter Will Baker and one from third baseman Ryan Zuckerman). The Jackets drew seven walks, with centerfielder Drew Burress going 4-for-4 with three RBI and a stolen base.

“We really can do it all,” Burress said. “We’re such a dynamic team. We have guys who aren’t playing every day that should be in the three-hole for any other team in the country. We have guys that can run, we have guys can pitch, we have guys that can throw hard… Guys that hit the ball out of the yard, guys that hit for contact. It’s really, there’s not a single aspect of baseball that we don’t have somebody or someone that does really well with.”

Tech went 6-for-12 with runners in scoring position and did not commit an error defensively.

Against a Bulldogs offense that leads the nation in home runs with 116, including three Tuesday, the Jackets limited the damage.

Starting pitcher Carson Ballard got the win, going 4 1/3 innings, giving up four earned runs on eight hits, striking out four. He gave up two solo shots in the top of the fifth inning, with relievers Jake Lankie and Brett Barfield combining for a scoreless 2 2/3 innings.

In the bottom of the fifth, after Georgia narrowed Tech’s lead to 7-4, the Jackets responded with five runs of their own, the first runs coming on Zuckerman’s two-run home run. They loaded the bases off a single from Baker, who advanced to second off a wild pitch, and walks from Kerce and Burress. An RBI single from second baseman Jarren Advincula and a sacrifice fly by catcher Vahn Lackey put Tech back in the driver’s seat.

“I think it was just, we showed power, we showed speed, we showed contact, we showed using the whole field,” Ramsey said. “And so these guys were ready to play, for sure.”

The Omaha-hopeful Jackets continue to show they’re not one-dimensional and bounced back from losing two of three at No. 2 North Carolina over the weekend.

“I told Baker, he’s gonna make a good Atlanta Brave right with the homers here, back-to-back times he’s played here,” Ramsey said of the designated hitter, who batted ninth and also hit a home run in last year’s Spring Classic, a 5-2 Georgia win. “I mean, the guy had a tough weekend, you know, talked through some approach stuff and really, all these guys, they go through it where, they’re going to play at this level.