Coming off of their first losing streak of the season, the Jackets made the trip up north to Pitt to take on a sneaky Panthers team in their third conference series of the year. The Jackets fell to Clemson in their series finale last Saturday and then to Auburn in their mid-week, but managed to get back on track in a high scoring series with the Panthers this weekend.
Game 1
The Jackets were held to their lowest single-game run total with just two against Auburn on Tuesday, but they quickly returned to form on Friday afternoon against Pitt’s David Leslie. They jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, capped off by the Pitt transfer Ryan Zuckerman who hit a three-run home run in his first at-bat back in Pittsburgh as an opposing hitter. It was his ninth of the season for Zuckerman, tying Vahn Lackey for the team lead. The scoring was far from over for the Jackets lineup as they added four more runs in the second inning via a grand slam off the bat of Alex Hernandez for his fifth home run of the season. Between the third and fourth inning, Caleb Daniel drove in three runs for the Jackets, one via groundout in the third and with the other two coming on a single in the top of the fourth. Those 11 runs through the first four innings would be it for the Georgia Tech lineup, leaving it up to the pitching to hold on for the win.
With six scoreless innings at Clemson a week prior, Tate McKee was coming off of his best start of the season thus far. However, Pitt has deployed a pretty strong offense and it showed against McKee on Friday. They got their scoring started in the bottom of the second on a Trey Fenderson solo shot, and then added five more off of McKee between the third and fourth inning. Fenderson drove in another run on a single in the third and then a wild pitch scored another later in the inning. In the fourth, McKee fell victim to two more home runs. The first was a solo shot off the bat of Carter Dierdorf before AJ Nessler added a two-run home run, bringing the score to 11-6. That was as far as McKee would go, finishing with six earned runs on six hits, five walks, and six strikeouts across four innings.
As Adam McKelvey took over for McKee in the fifth, Pitt managed to close the gap further, adding another three runs to bring the score to 11-9. Trey Fenderson hit another lead-off, solo home run, good for his first multi-home run game in his collegiate career. The bases were then loaded before a walk and a sacrifice fly added two more for Pitt. Fortunately for the Jackets, that’s as close as the Panthers would come to tying the game as the bullpen shut down the Pitt lineup in the final four innings. Caden Gaudette pitched the sixth and seventh inning while it was Mason Patel covering the eighth and ninth to close out the game. Between the two of them, they didn’t allow a single hit and allowed just two walks while striking out two. It also happened to be Patel’s first multi-inning appearance since returning from injury.
Game 2
The match-up on Saturday was another high-scoring effort from both teams, but it fell in favor of the Panthers. Dylan Loy made his fifth start of the season, and it was unfortunately his roughest appearance of the season thus far. Loy came into the game with a 2.45 ERA which jumped all the way up to 4.30 after giving up five earned runs in just an inning of work before the bullpen took over. The Jackets jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top half of the first, but it was an RBI-single off the bat of Sebastian Pisacreta and back-to-back home runs via Kai Wagner and Jackson Cooke that gave Pitt a lead they would not relinquish.
Five more pitchers pieced together the rest of the game for the Jackets, but also were hit around by the Panthers. Carson Ballard, Charlie Wilcox, and Porter Buursema were the three relievers that followed Loy, and combined to give up nine runs across six innings on seven hits and six walks. Jamie Vicens and Brett Barfield were the only pitchers to come away unscathed, but combined for just one total inning in the eighth.
Although Pitt got out to a big lead in the early innings, the Georgia Tech lineup managed to stay in it. Granted, “staying in it” is different for Georgia Tech compared to plenty of other offenses just because of the Jackets ability to put up a crooked number in a single inning. They scored a total of nine runs and reached base 22 times, 10 via hit and 12 via walk, once again showcasing their strong plate discipline across the entire lineup. Carson Kerce had a three-hit game which included two doubles, increasing his nation-leading doubles total to 12. Drew Rogers also had a multi-hit game that included his fifth home run of the season. At 117 mph off the bat, Rogers’ home run was the hardest hit ball by a Jackets hitter thus far in 2026. Parker Brosius also left the yard for the second time this year.
Game 3
In the rubber match on Sunday afternoon, the Jackets managed to come away with their sixth series win in as many weeks and their third conference series win. It was a performance more in line with the early season Jackets as they outscored Pitt by a score of 12-4 in a game called in the seventh inning due to inclement weather.
After a rough start in his first appearance out of the weekend rotation last week, Jackson Blakely was given another shot this Sunday, and seized the opportunity. He threw four scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and two walks on five strikeouts, returning his best appearance of the season thus far. Even with the six earned runs in 4.1 innings last week, Blakely now owns a 3.12 ERA across 17.1 innings with a 29.6% strikeout rate to just a 6.2% walk rate.
The Georgia Tech lineup was as advertised as they brought their run total on the weekend up to 32. Although they put up 12 runs, they didn’t leave the yard once, but rather got it done via 14 hits which included five doubles. Carson Kerce added yet another double, his nation-leading 13th of the year, while Kent Schmidt, Vahn Lackey, Jarren Advincula, and Ryan Zuckerman all got on the board with two-baggers as well. Kerce and Advincula both came through with three-hit games while Alex Hernandez added a multi-hit performance as well.
With the series win, Georgia Tech advances to 19-5 on the season and 6-3 in conference play while Pitt falls to 15-6 and 3-3 in conference. The Panthers will hit the road next weekend to take on Louisville, but will make a quick trip to Kent State on Tuesday and then return to Pittsburgh for Youngstown State on Wednesday before making the trip down to Louisville. For the Jackets, they will take the mid-week off as they prepare for arguably their biggest series of the season yet as they will welcome in NC State for a three game weekend series starting on Friday at 7 PM. Check back here for a series preview and game recaps for the big conference match-up and subscribe below to be notified of new posts!
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