The high-powered offense is of course the premier producer of success for this Georgia Tech program, but Friday night was a reminder that the Jackets can still get it done on the mound when they need to. With a total of four runs scored between the two teams, Friday night’s match-up with NC State was the lowest scoring Georgia Tech game of the season thus far. The Jackets only put three runs on the board which is the lowest run scoring total for this elite offense all year, but they still managed to come out on the other side victorious large in part due to the strong performance from the pitching staff.
Tate McKee was on the mound for the Jackets coming off of a rough start at Pitt in which he allowed a season-high six earned runs across four innings while walking five for the second straight week. Fortunately for the Jackets, that was far from the case this Friday as McKee delivered a career-high 7.1 innings pitched on a season-high 99 pitches. He was pretty efficient early on, attacking the strike zone and inducing ground balls and soft contact early in counts. In fact, 13 of the 22 NC State batters put away by McKee were via groundout. He mentioned post game that inducing ground balls has been one of his strengths throughout his college career and how he trusted more in his ability to do that this week which is why he was able to last much longer into his outing than he did last week. McKee took the mound in the eighth for the first time in his career but was removed after surrendering a one-out walk as he was facing the top of NC State’s order for the fourth time with just a two-run lead. McKee’s final line consisted of just the one earned run in the fifth on four hits, four walks, and three strikeouts.
Mason Patel relieved McKee in the eighth with one runner on before surrendering a single to NC State’s Chris McHugh to set up a legitimate scoring threat for the Wolfpack. Patel delivered in the big moment however, getting Dalton Bargo to fly out before punching out Sherman Johnson to end the threat. Patel came back out for the ninth for his second consecutive multi-inning save, and comfortably sent the Jackets home winners. NC State went down in order in the top of the ninth as Patel finished with just the one hit allowed on two strikeouts in an inning and two-thirds of work.
As for the Jackets offense, they got off to a hot start per usual, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. After Drew Burress led off with a walk, Jarren Advincula launched a one-out, two-run home run over the right field fence off of NC State’s Ryan Marohn. The NC State lefty had been pretty impressive for the Wolfpack to this point until the Jackets ambushed him with two home runs, the first time this season he had given up multiple home runs in a start. The next long ball came via Carson Kerce in the second inning, his second of the season and 19th extra-base hit on the year, a mark that now leads the team after him and Vahn Lackey both came into the game tied with 18.
After the Jackets tagged him for three runs in the first two innings of play, Marohn settled in, pitching into the 7th inning. It typically ends up being a long night for opposing pitchers when the Jackets jump on them early, so what Marohn was able to do on Friday night was a bit rare for an opposing pitcher. Following the Carson Kerce solo shot, Marohn allowed just four base runners while striking out six across 5.1 innings. His total line consisted of three earned runs on four hits, three walks, and eight strikeouts. Only Clemson’s Aidan Knaak and Auburn’s Andreas Alvarez are the only other opposing pitchers to have struck out at least eight Georgia Tech hitters in an outing this year.
The win on Friday night is the Jackets 20th of the season, bringing their record to 20-5 and 7-3 in the ACC while NC State falls to 18-8 and sub-.500 in the ACC at 3-4. Per @GTBaseball on X, Friday night’s win marks seven straight wins in series openers to start the season, something the Jackets haven’t done since 2013. Georgia Tech will face off with NC State’s junior right-hander Jacob Dudan on Saturday, another pitcher expected to challenge the Jackets lineup in the same way Ryan Marohn did on Friday night. Georgia Tech’s starter on Saturday is still to be announced, but it’s likely that Dylan Loy ends up getting the nod again.
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