Sixteen games into the 2023 season, Georgia Tech sat at 13-3 and had just taken two of three from ACC-rival Notre Dame, a 2022 College World Series participant.
But the Yellow Jackets couldn’t sustain that early-season success. They were 17-24 the rest of the way and missed making an NCAA Regional for the first time since 2018 (not counting the COVID-19-shortened 2020 campaign).
Tech’s 30 wins was its fewest since winning 27 in 2017. Its 12 league wins were its least since 11 triumphs during that same ‘17 season.
“We lost too many games,” Tech’s veteran coach Danny Hall said. “We put ourselves in position down the stretch, particularly going into the last weekend, that if we could have had a good weekend against Virginia we would have probably kept playing, quite honestly. Then the only option we had was to try to win the ACC tournament. Didn’t do that.
“We just didn’t have a complete team. We had a lot of guys on the hitting side that had great years. We just didn’t do enough on the pitching and defense side to help us win games. So from that standpoint it’s definitely not up to my standard of what I think Georgia Tech baseball is. I think we had a lot of players in our locker room that were hurting. You’re watching teams play (in the postseason) and we’re not one of them.”
Hall, who will be going into his 31st season at Tech in 2024, didn’t wait long after his team’s final out May 24 to make some changes. Pitching coach Danny Borrell was fired a day later, and Hall brought on Matt Taylor to reverse the pitching staff’s fortunes.
The Jackets had the second-worst ERA in the ACC at 7.10. They allowed a league-worst 300 walks and a league-worst 431 runs.
In the past three seasons, Tech has allowed 7.1 runs per game.
Taylor has been charged with reversing those alarming trends. Hall said that Taylor, a former Alabama pitcher and a Columbus High graduate, has hit the ground running – quite literally as he left Atlanta early Wednesday to drive to North Carolina and back to see a recruit pitch.
“Acquire talent,” Hall said of Taylor’s immediate challenge. “Just bringing guys in here to give us some depth, hopefully give us more quality arms, give us more options.”
Tech did show signs of life at the plate, hitting .323 as a team and slugging .538, the latter number second only to one of the nation’s better teams in Wake Forest. Kristian Campbell was named a freshman All-American after hitting .376, and Angelo Dispigna, Jackson Finley, Stephen Reid and Jake DeLeo all put up all-conference campaigns.
All five of those standouts are eligible to return in 2024, but even if any (or all) of those top-line performers opt for professional baseball moving forward, Hall said he is confident in the ‘24 recruiting class to help move the Jackets forward.
Hall also expressed a continued openness to utilize the transfer portal to bring in more experienced talent.
As for Hall’s future, the 68-year-old still intends to coach the 2024 season and beyond. Hall has the most wins of any active coach in Division I and is 22 wins shy of 1,400.
Tech will be a decade removed from its most recent ACC tournament title when the 2024 season starts and 18 years from its last trip to the College World Series. At the June 6 Georgia Tech Athletic Association Board of Trustees meeting, Tech athletic director J Batt gave a full vote of confidence in Hall and in the direction of Georgia Tech baseball.
“I love it. I’m in good health, knock on wood. I still enjoy it,” Hall said of his future. “(Associate head coach) James Ramsey is a great assistant. I’m confident that Matt Taylor is going to be just like James Ramsey on that side of it. I’m on my sixth athletic director, and I think (Batt) is going to do a lot of great things here. Jon Palumbo, I think he’s an ace (executive) deputy AD.
“I think they’re both passionate that they both want Georgia Tech baseball to be a nationally ranked team. I think we’ve done a great job of that (in the past). We’ve been in NCAA Regionals consistently. Of late we’ve had a hard time advancing. But it’s not like this is broken, it’s just not what we expect.”
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