Following their road series win over Pitt last weekend, the Yellow Jackets are back home in Atlanta to welcome in the NC State Wolfpack, a program currently ranked #14 in the nation by both D1 Baseball and Baseball America coming into this match-up. Depending on how much stock you put into previous rankings, it’s the highest ranked conference series for the Jackets thus far. Clemson was ranked within the top ten when they faced off with Georgia Tech a few weeks ago, but now find themselves either outside of, or towards the back of many top 25 rankings. NC State has stuck around in the 10-20 range for the majority of the season as they come into this series 18-7 and 3-3 in the ACC.
This is the first time since 2024 that these two programs have met. They faced off in a three game set in Atlanta in March of 2024 in which the Jackets swept the Wolfpack by a combined score of 31-17. The Jackets are certainly looking to do the same this weekend and are in good position to do so. The offense came alive in a big way this past weekend at Pitt as they scored at least 11 runs in all three games, and they should bring that momentum into this series as the offense hasn’t taken many days off this season regardless of who has been the opposing team. NC State on the other hand is scuffling at the moment, dropping their last three games, two at Florida State over the weekend, and a loss to Campbell at home in their mid-week.
While they are coming off of a tough stretch, it’s not a team to take lightly. Junior left hander Ryan Marohn will take the mound for the Wolfpack in the opener, and he has looked every part of a Friday night ace for NC State thus far. In five starts this season, he owns a 2.02 ERA, a 33.3% strikeout rate, and a .217 batting average against. He’s coming off of an outing in which he struck out 10 Florida State Seminoles across six innings of work last Friday, and seven shutout innings against Boston College a week prior. He has a strong four-pitch mix, featuring a fastball, changeup, curveball, and slider that he commands and sequences well, and will definitely challenge Georgia Tech hitters. Junior right hander Jacob Dudan will follow on Saturday, and he has been just as impressive as Marohn. Dudan owns a 3.72 ERA across six starts and 36.1 innings, posting a 31.5% strikeout rate to just a 5.5% walk rate and a 1.02 WHIP while opposing hitters are hitting just .215 off of him. Although his overall numbers look great, he has ran into some trouble in conference play, allowing 12 earned runs across 12 innings between starts against Boston College and Florida State. Regardless, Dudan should still be an arm to watch out for with a truly elite slider and a strong mid-90s fastball. NC State’s Sunday starter is still to be announced.
Per usual, it will be Tate McKee taking the mound for the Jackets on Friday night. McKee is coming off an interesting pair of starts as he threw six scoreless innings against Clemson two weeks ago, but walked five, and then walked five once again last week against Pitt while allowing six earned runs across just four innings of work. The command and control for McKee hasn’t necessarily been a glaring weak point for him in his collegiate career, so it will be interesting to see the game plan for him to find more of the strike zone in this one. He’s currently running a career-high walk rate at 15.3% but is still managing to put hitters away via the strikeout at a 26.3% clip.
The Saturday starter is still yet to be announced as Dylan Loy has regressed a bit after a strong start to the season, while the sophomore Jackson Blakely is penciled in to start on Sunday. Blakely is making his third straight start out of the weekend rotation and is coming off of a strong performance against Pitt last week in which he threw four scoreless innings while allowing just two hits and two walks with five strikeouts. It was quite the bounce back after he gave up six in 4.1 innings of work a week prior in the finale at Clemson. Among the 10 Georgia Tech pitchers to have logged at least 10 innings so far in 2026, Blakeley’s 3.12 ERA is the best as well as his 29.6% strikeout rate.
NC State’s offense isn’t lighting up any leader boards by any means, but there are a few hitters in the lineup that could give the Jackets pitching staff some problems. Sophomore outfielder Ty Head currently leads the team with eight home runs and 15 steals and has drawn 24 walks to just seven strikoeuts. Junior first baseman Chris McHugh leads all Wolfpack regulars with a 1.111 OPS and has seven home runs of his own. Senior designated hitter Dalton Bargo is another hitter to watch for as he is already up to five home runs in just 70 plate appearances.
While the Yellow Jackets pitching silencing the Wolfpack lineup will certainly play a part in taking this series, the success of this Georgia Tech team still lives and dies with the lineup which continues to be one of the best in the nation. Following their high-scoring affair in Pittsburgh last weekend, the Jackets still own the highest team batting average (.372) and on-base percentage (.496) in the country, while ranking top five in both home runs (50) and slugging percentage (.648). The majority of the offense still owns an OPS north of 1.000 while it’s Vahn Lackey that continues to lead the regulars with an OPS of 1.396. Ironically enough, it’s Drew Burress that currently has the lowest OPS among the regulars, but it’s still at .963 which is not up to par with recent Drew Burress seasons, but is still a solid mark. The process still looks good for Burress as it’s nearly a 1/1 strikeout to walk ratio while he’s still hitting the ball hard but may be experiencing some bad batted ball luck as he owns the second lowest batting average on balls in play on the team at .297. Don’t be surprised if the superstar center fielder has a big series this weekend.
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