After arguably their best performance of the season with an easy sweep across the country over California, Georgia Tech returns home to Atlanta for a massive top five matchup with Florida State over the weekend. Before the fireworks on Thursday however, the Jackets will have to take on Kennesaw State on Tuesday night at 6 PM as the Owls make the quick 20 mile trip down I-75 south from Kennesaw.
The Jackets are currently working on a three-game winning streak over the Owls dating back to their second meeting in the 2024 season. They swept the two-game season series a year ago, outscoring Kennesaw State by a score of 26-8, and hold a comfortable lead all-time over the Owls with a 27-9 record.
It has been a bit of an up and down ride for the Owls thus far in 2026 as they currently own a 15-13 record and sit at an even 6-6 in Conference USA play. They’re coming off of a home series loss at the hands of Dallas Baptist over the weekend, but are not far removed from a mid-week win over #4 Georgia on the road in Athens. Junior right-hander Nate Hellman is getting the start for the Owls on Tuesday in his first start of the season and just his third in his three year career with Kennesaw State. In 12 innings across seven appearances thus far, Hellman’s posting a 5.25 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP, however, opposing batters are hitting just .163 off of him as he’s striking out 35.8% of the hitters he has faced. He is also walking 18.9% of hitters, so expect the disciplined Georgia Tech lineup to force him into the strike zone where they know they can do damage.
For the Jackets, it will be the freshman right-hander Charlie Willcox making his first career start at the collegiate level. Working exclusively out of the bullpen thus far, Willcox owns a 7.15 ERA and a 1.76 WHIP in 11.1 innings across eight appearances but is trending in the right direction as he has thrown scoreless frames in three of his last four relief appearances. He has yet to throw more than two innings in a start, so Tuesday might be a chance for him to be stretched out a bit. The three Kennesaw State hitters that will pose the biggest threat to Willcox and the rest of the pitching staff are senior first baseman Jackson Chirello, junior left fielder Cooper Williams, and sophomore catcher James McGee. All three hitters own an OPS north of 1.000 while Chirello leads the team with seven home runs. Williams on the other hand is the biggest threat on the base paths with a team-leading 12 steals.
After their big weekend in California, Georgia Tech’s offense remains among the top teams in the nation in a number of categories. Their .364 team batting average and .486 on-base percentage is the best in the country, while their .633 slugging percentage ranks second and their 58 home runs rank fifth. Hopefully a strong win for Georgia Tech over this sneaky Kennesaw State team will carry a lot of momentum into their biggest series of the season to date with Florida State over the weekend.
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