Coming off of their first loss of the season at the hands of their crosstown rivals Georgia State, the Yellow Jackets look to get back in the win column against their first power-4 opponent of the year as Northwestern comes to town. It’s the first time since 2019 that these two teams have met. Georgia Tech won the last meeting, a three game series in Atlanta in which the Jackets won two of three, including the rubber match. Prior to that, you would have to date all the way back to 1985 when the Wildcats took two of three from the Jackets in another series hosted at Georgia Tech.

Northwestern hasn’t seen a whole lot of success in recent seasons, but are off to a solid start thus far in 2026, coming into the series 5-2 on a five game winning streak which includes two game series sweeps over Boston College and Cornell. The weekend rotation for the Wildcats will feature sixth year senior right-hander Sam Hliboki on Friday, senior left-hander Ryan Weaver on Saturday, and junior right-hander Garrett Shearer on Sunday. Weaver, the Saturday starter, has been the best pitcher for the Wildcats thus far, allowing just three earned runs in 12.2 innings across two starts while his opposition is hitting just .190 off of him.

On the offensive side, the Wildcats have some bats that might give the Jackets pitching some problems. First baseman Noah Ruiz is leading the offense with a 1.315 OPS and a team-leading 14 hits so far. Outfielder Jackson Freeman has hit a team-leading three home runs and owns a 1.267 OPS. Their freshman catcher Jay Slater is worth noting as well as he owns a 1.058 OPS with a home run. The offense collectively is averaging nearly ten runs a game during this five game win streak they’re currently on, having scored 49.

Georgia Tech will counter the Northwestern offense with Tate McKee on Friday, Dylan Loy on Saturday, and Cooper Underwood on Sunday. The addition of Dylan Loy in place of Mason Patel may come as a surprise, but it seemed inevitable that Loy would find his way into the weekend rotation at some point given his early success. The southpaw is one of the best pitchers in the nation at the moment by a number of metrics. He of course has yet to give up a run while his 1.77 FIP and 0.44 WHIP both rank 16th in the country while his 46.7% strikeout rate ranks 12th in the country. With a 6.7% walk rate, his 40.0 K-BB% ranks 11th in the country. His last start was just a two inning stint against Georgia Southern in last week’s mid-week, so the Jackets will look to stretch him out some more. He’s coming off of 5.2 no-hit innings out of the bullpen against Stony Brook last weekend, so there’s certainly reason to believe he can handle longer outings. In fact, his previous outing was the longest of his career and the most innings he has thrown in an appearance since a 4.2 inning outing out of the bullpen in his freshman year in 2024.

The freshman left-hander Cooper Underwood remains in the Sunday role after two impressive outings to open his college career. He has given up just two earned runs across 7.2 innings with eight strikeouts while opposing hitters own just a .436 OPS off of him.

Dating back to late last season, junior Tate McKee continues to post on Fridays and there’s no reason to believe that trend won’t continue tomorrow. He’s working on a career-high 33.3% strikeout rate and a 22.2 K-BB%, along with a career-low 1.11 WHIP through his first two starts of the season.

Despite posting their lowest run-total of the season on Tuesday against Georgia State, the offense is still among the best in the country and should be back to regularly scheduled business this weekend. Eight regulars still own an OPS north of 1.100, led largely by Vahn Lackey and Alex Hernandez while guys like Drew Burress and Jarren Advincula continue to heat up. Although it’s only 10 plate appearances thus far, it’s worth noting Parker Brosius is off to a scorching start with a 1.933 OPS, which consists of two doubles, a home run, and nine runs batted in.

This is Georgia Tech’s final non-conference “tune-up” series of the season as they will welcome in Virginia Tech next weekend to kick off conference play.

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