Georgia Tech baseball isn’t looking past ACC Tournament despite lofty goals
As much as the accolades, wins and hype continue to pour in for No. 3 Georgia Tech and with the College World Series the ultimate goal, the Yellow Jackets know there’s a more immediate task at hand.
This is the second consecutive season Georgia Tech has won the ACC regular season title and entered the conference tournament as the No. 1 seed. But the Yellow Jackets will aim for a much different ending than last year’s 9-4 loss to No. 5 seed Clemson in the semifinals.
They lost in pool play the prior season.
“The past two years, we honestly have not had great ACC Tournament performances, and I think this team is the team to change that,” said center fielder Drew Burress, one of five Yellow Jackets named first-team All-ACC on Monday. “ … I think everyone on this team knows that this is a great weekend to do something Georgia Tech hasn’t done a long time, winning the ACC Tournament and put our best foot forward and get it rolling to go into regionals.”
The Yellow Jackets last won the ACC Tournament in 2014.
After conference tournaments conclude, seeding and the 64-team field for the NCAA Tournament will be revealed May 25. Regionals begin May 29 and super regionals start June 5, with the final eight teams advancing to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
But the Yellow Jackets, ranked No. 2 in the RPI, aren’t looking past the ACC Tournament, where they receive a double bye and will play in the quarterfinals Thursday at Truist Field in Charlotte. The tournament switched to single elimination in 2025.
And Georgia Tech is more equipped for this stage this go-round, said pitcher Tate McKee, who was named second-team All-ACC on Monday.
“It’s huge for us,” he said. “We’ve performed terribly there the past couple years, and that was one of our big goals going to the year, being able to do it in a big situation. You know, the stadium gets packed out. It’s very similar to Omaha, in a situation of you have mutual fans, you have George Tech fans, you have other teams’ fans, you know, all around. I think the moment got too big for us in the past years, and you know, we are very experienced for this, this moment now.
“ … It’s a big goal for us. I think it’s up there near Omaha, and things like that.”
Georgia Tech finished this year’s regular season with a sweep of No. 23 Boston College to get to 45-9 and tie a conference record with 25 ACC wins. The offense owns the best batting average (.357) and on-base percentage (.468) in a regular season in the BBCOR era (a standard for bats introduced in 2011). It could set program records in those figures (current batting average record is .347, current on-base percentage record is .434) plus slugging percentage (.626, record is .575) and runs per game (10.6, record is 10.3).
Among ACC teams, its pitching staff allowed the fewest runs (136) in conference play.
Georgia Tech has built up an impressive résumé, from winning every series this season outside its matchup with No. 2 North Carolina in April to run-ruling No. 4 Georgia at Truist Park on April 21.
This year’s Yellow Jackets have more big-game experience, which could pay off this postseason, Burress said.
“We had a lot of guys that were younger (last season), and a lot of guys that were just kind of, even if they weren’t younger, it was a lot of guys’ first year playing ACC baseball,” he said. “ … Just realistically, there was some times last year where the game got a little quick on us and things got out of control, and it was hard to bring it back to it in big moments.
“ … And I think this year is one of the most winningest group of guys I’ve ever seen, and watched throughout the season, whether it’s a 3-1 game or a 20-to-nothing game or a 12-15 game, we’ve managed to win them all, and I think that is something of very large importance to be said, that we can win all different types of games, and when the pressure is on, that’s when a lot of these guys on this team step up the biggest.”
About the Author
Sarah Spencer, a Georgia native and UGA alum, serves as a general assignment and features writer for sports. She previously covered the Hawks from 2019-22.
