The Jackets are getting into the meat and potatoes of their 2026 season as they prepare for their fifth conference series in which they will travel across the country to Cal this weekend, but before they hit the road, they will have some business to take care of at home on Tuesday evening. Georgia Tech will be taking on the Auburn Tigers for the second time this year as they look to get revenge over the Tigers after they handed the Jackets their biggest loss of the season a few weeks ago in Auburn. With their recent 9-2 victory over Georgia Tech, the Tigers are currently working on a five-game win streak over the Jackets dating back to 2024.
When these two teams last met, it was a consensus top five match-up, but that isn’t quite the case this time around. The Jackets remain as the consensus #3 team in the country while Auburn has fallen outside of the top ten on many rankings and are ranked 18th by D1 Baseball. Since these two programs met on March 17th, the Jackets are 5-1 with series victories over Pitt and NC State while Auburn is 2-5, coming off of a series sweep at the hands of Alabama and a series loss to Texas a week prior. While both teams are sort of headed in different directions at the moment, Tuesday’s match-up is a big one for both clubs regardless of just how meaningful or meaningless mid-week games are.
On March 17th, it was all about Auburn’s starter Andreas Alvarez who still owns the best start against this Georgia Tech lineup all year as he threw five scoreless innings while striking out ten Jackets on just two hits and three walks. However, despite being Auburn’s mid-week starter all year, it won’t be Alvarez taking the mound on Tuesday for the Tigers as he is moving up to the weekend rotation to take on Arkansas this Thursday. Instead of Alvarez, it will be sophomore right-hander Christian Chatterton making his first start of the season. Chatterton has made six appearances out of the bullpen thus far in 2026, posting a 2.84 ERA while opposing batters are hitting just .213 off of him in 12.2 innings of work. He does have plenty of experience starting. He made 14 starts last year as a freshman in a mid-week role, making two starts against Georgia Tech, both of which resulted in wins for the Tigers. Between those two starts, Chatterton threw seven innings and allowed just one earned run on two hits, four walks, and eight strikeouts. He also saw the Jackets out of the bullpen on March 17th where he allowed an earned run on one hit, two walks, and four strikeouts in two innings. You’ve got to imagine that Georgia Tech seeing Chatterton for the fourth time now only works in their favor.
For the Jackets, it will be the freshman left-hander Cooper Underwood getting the nod as the starter. It will be the southpaw’s first appearance since he pitched against Clemson on March 14th, and his first start since March 8th against Virginia Tech. His last couple of outings have been a bit shaky as he’s up to eight earned runs across just 10.1 innings of work. With some time off, Tuesday evening will be a great opportunity for Underwood to get right against a solid Auburn lineup. The Jackets only had to use five relievers over the weekend against NC State, and just one for one inning on Sunday, so the entire bullpen is fresh and ready to go as reinforcements when needed.
Although Auburn put up nine runs against Georgia Tech the last time these two teams met, it is an offense that hasn’t been at it’s best since. In their last seven games, they are averaging just 3.43 runs per game, which includes a 10-run game against South Alabama. Take away that game and it’s just 2.3 runs per game in their last six match-ups. For the Jackets, it’s been 8.5 runs per game since while the pitching staff is also coming off of a series in which they allowed just five runs in their three-game set with NC State. With that being said, all signs point towards the Jackets getting back in the win column against Auburn, however, this is still college baseball we are talking about where anything can happen.
Check back here following Tuesday’s game for a game recap and subscribe below to be notified of new posts throughout the rest of the season!
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