Georgia Tech was tasked with their toughest challenge yet on Thursday night as they had to go into Clemson and take on the ace of arguably the best pitching staff in the nation in Aidan Knaak.
The right-handed junior came into the game with a 2.77 ERA and a 40.7 K% across 13 innings due to his solid command and truly elite changeup. Both of those things were on display early against the Jackets lineup as Knaak struck out five of the first seven batters he faced in the first two innings, with only Vahn Lackey reaching base via a double. That would quickly change as the lineup flipped and the Jackets got a second look at him.
Carson Kerce got the third inning rally started on a 1-out double (one of two doubles he had on the night that helped him re-take the nation lead in doubles with 12), before Drew Burress stepped to the plate and hit his fourth home run of the season. It was on a breaking ball on the outer third of the zone that Burress got just enough of to sneak over the right field wall with some help from the wind at Clemson. The hottest player on the planet, none other than Vahn Lackey, got in on the fun later in the inning by hitting his eighth home run of the season that scored Jarren Advincula, bringing his RBI total on the season up to 30 which now ranks ninth in the nation. It was on a 2-1 fastball that Knaak unwisely left over the inner-half of the plate that Lackey launched 412 feet at a 106 mph exit velocity.
While Knaak managed to get through the fourth inning unscathed, the Jackets got on the board once again in home run fashion. Drew Burress led off the inning with an absolute moonshot that traveled beyond the bleachers in left field at 112 mph off the bat and a projected distance of 429 feet. After parking a home run in the third inning that likely doesn’t leave most fields on most nights, there was no doubt or uncertainty about this one from Burress as he showcased the power that makes him such a special prospect. Following a dropped fly ball by the right fielder that advanced Alex Hernandez all the way to third, and back to back singles off the bats of Jarren Advincula and Vahn Lackey, Aidan Knaak’s night was done. With six earned runs across 4+ innings of work to his ledger on nine hits, it was Knaak’s poorest outing of the season. Once the lineup saw him once, they were able to recognize the secondary stuff and sit on the fastball, spitting on the changeup and breaking balls.
The Jackets put up three more runs in the fifth inning against junior left-hander Justin LeGuernic who threw the remaining three innings for the Tigers. They added one more run in the top of the seventh via a Carson Kerce RBI-single, putting Georgia Tech over the run-rule threshold entering the bottom of the seventh.
On the pitching side of things, the Jackets managed to pitch their second consecutive shutout. Granted, both shutouts came in seven inning run-rule games, but it shows the strides the pitching staff is making to support the high-powered offense. Believe it or not, there are nights when the lineup won’t score 10+ runs and it will fall on the pitching to do their job. Fortunately that wasn’t one of those nights, but they still went out there and did what they were supposed to do.
Starter Tate McKee delivered six shutout innings, his longest outing of the season thus far. When he took on Clemson at home a year ago, he gave up three earned runs on seven hits and a walk in five innings while striking out seven. He managed to match that strikeout total on Thursday night which is a season-high to this point. He only gave up one hit but he did walk five Tigers. As he has done all year to this point, he grinded through traffic and managed to leave every runner on base. In fact, McKee recorded a three-pitch inning in the third, recording a ground-out on the first pitch before giving up a single on the next pitch and then immediately inducing an inning-ending double play. McKee did truly deploy the “kitchen sink” approach in this one, throwing everything from his fastball, sinker, changeup, slider, and sweeper in any count to either handed hitters. With the scoreless outing, McKee’s ERA dips below 3.00 on the season to 2.82.
The right-handed sophomore Jake Lankie was on clean-up duty following McKee, closing out the game in the seventh in his fifth appearance out of the bullpen on the season. With a scoreless frame, Lankie has yet to give up a run in his 7.1 innings of work thus far and has allowed just one walk to ten strikeouts.
Coming off of a win in which both sides of the roster performed at its highest level, the Jackets head into the rest of the series on a high note. The left-handed junior Dylan Loy will take the mound tomorrow night against Clemson’s left-handed senior Michael Sharman who is certainly aware that he has his work cut out for him if he watched what happened on Thursday night. Check back here on Friday and Saturday night for game recaps and subscribe below to be notified of new posts!
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