Georgia Tech Falls to Clemson in Final Game of Series

While Georgia Tech secured the road series win over Clemson in the first two games of this match-up in convincing fashion, the Tigers had the Yellow Jackets number in the final game of the series to avoid getting swept. At a score of 13-7, it was Georgia Tech’s largest margin of defeat thus far in 2026, the most runs they’ve allowed in a single game, and the first time they’ve given up a double-digit run total to this point.

The sophomore right-hander Jackson Blakely took the mound for the Jackets in what was his first weekend start and first start in conference play in his career. Prior to Saturday, Blakely had thrown nine scoreless innings across three appearances, including a four inning shutout performance over Georgia State in the first collegiate start of his career. Unfortunately for Blakely, his first taste of conference play as a starter wasn’t nearly as dominant. The Clemson offense opened the scoring with two runs off of Blakely in the first inning after a leadoff double and a few unlucky hits. He managed to settle in over the next three innings, striking out three while allowing two hits and a walk during that span before Clemson broke through in a big way in the fifth. After a hit-by-pitch to open the inning, Clemson’s Jacob Jarrell hit his third home run of the series, bringing the score to 4-1. That was immediately followed by another hit-by-pitch and a wild pitch before Jack Crighton drove in another run via a double. At that point Blakely’s day was done with a final line of six earned runs on seven hits, one walk, three hit-by-pitches, and three strikeouts in 78 pitches.

The Tigers went on to score a total of eight runs in the fifth inning, the highest total the Jackets have given up in a single inning in 2026. Georgia Tech had taken the lead in the top half of the fifth with a four run inning of their own, but Clemson’s big fifth inning gave them a 10-5 lead that they would not relinquish. They manufactured three more runs in the bottom of the sixth through some timely hitting and defensive miscues by the Jackets. Following Jackson Blakely, Georgia Tech used eight different pitchers to piece together the rest of the game, with the entire staff combining to give up nine walks while recording just six strikeouts. The pitching staff has exceeded expectations to this point, but games like this one are bound to happen on any caliber of college baseball program. Credit is given where credit is due, and Clemson’s offense showed up after scoring a total of three runs across 16 innings in the first two games of this series. The top performers in the Tigers lineup on Saturday included Tryston McCladdie, Jack Crighton, and Ty Dalley, all of which had at least three hits.

As for Georgia Tech’s offense, they got off to a slow start relative to how they’ve performed recently, but did end up coming around to break through for four runs in the fifth inning. Will Baker got the scoring started for the Jackets in the top of the second, hitting a solo home run, his second of the season. Ryan Zuckerman added a solo shot to open the top of the fifth, his eighth of the season. Carson Kerce gave the Jackets the lead with a three run home run to get on the board for the first time this year, but of course that lead did not last too long. Kerce drove in another run in the top of the seventh on his 13th double of the season in which he re-took the nation lead. With another single, Kerce was certainly the Jackets player of the game on the offensive side of the ball while Will Baker also had three hits including his home run early on in this one. Vahn Lackey had a quiet day with just one hit, but continued his streak of reaching base safely in each game to start the season thus far, and extending his streak dating back to last year to 30 games.

CK LAUNCHED IT 🚀

His 1st of the year is a 3-run BLAST!

These Yellow Jackets…

378 ft. / 104 EV

📺 ACCNX#StingEm🐝 x #WreckHavoc pic.twitter.com/Mrxcqe2t4f
— Georgia Tech Baseball (@GTBaseball) March 14, 2026

Clemson advances to 16-4 overall and 1-2 in the ACC while Georgia Tech falls to 17-3 and 4-2 in the ACC. The Jackets will head over to Auburn to take on a strong Tigers team before traveling north to take on Pittsburgh for the weekend series. Clemson will travel to the College of Charleston and The Citadel for two mid-week games before heading up to Notre Dame to continue conference play next weekend.

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