With Georgia Tech’s 11-4 win over the Kennesaw State Owls on Tuesday night, the Jackets extended their winning streak to a season-high nine games, their longest since their nine-game win streak in the middle of the 2024 season. The Jackets are now 27-5 on the season while Kennesaw State falls to 15-14 as they lose their fourth consecutive game against Georgia Tech dating back to 2024.
It was definitely an all hands on deck approach from the pitching staff for Georgia Tech on Tuesday night as seven different pitchers appeared in this one and no pitcher faced more than 10 batters. The freshman right-hander Charlie Willcox made his first career start at the college level, and unfortunately lasted just one inning as the Owls tagged him for three runs. All three runs came with two outs in the first as Willcox issued three free passes, two via hit-by-pitch, while Kennesaw State strung together three hits to jump out to a 3-0 lead.
Nate Helman, Kennesaw State’s starter in this one did his job, holding the Jackets scoreless through the first two innings, allowing just two hits and a walk with three strikeouts. It wasn’t until the third inning that the Jackets got on the board as Vahn Lackey tripled before Jarren Advincula drove him in with a ground out. It was in the fourth inning that Georgia Tech’s lineup would jump out to a lead they would not relinquish as they put up a three-spot to take a 4-3 lead. Ryan Zuckerman hit his team-leading 12th home run of the season before Drew Burress and Vahn Lackey both added RBI-singles later in the inning. The offense pulled away in the fifth as they added five more to extend the lead to 9-3. Kent Schmidt hit the first of two home runs he would hit on the night and then was followed by an RBI-double off the bat of Caleb Daniel and a bases-clearing double via Vahn Lackey. The final two runs in the sixth inning came via Kent Schmidt’s second home run of the night and fourth of the season. It was the second multi-home run game of Schmidt’s career.
Schmidt was of course the top offensive performer in this one. Elsewhere in the lineup, Vahn Lackey had three hits while Drew Burress, Ryan Zuckerman, and Carson Kerce all had multi-hit games. Carson Kerce also added to his nation-leading double total with his 18th on the season. Unfortunately for Jarren Advincula who has been on a torrid stretch, his 15-game hit streak came to an end on Tuesday night as he went 0-5.
After Charlie Willcox left the game, the Georgia Tech bullpen only gave up one earned run in the final eight innings of the game. Dylan Loy took over for Willcox, throwing two scoreless innings while giving up just one baserunner. Carson Ballard covered the most outs out of the bullpen, throwing 2.1 innings while getting tagged with the only earned run among the relievers. Brett Barfield, Caden Spivey, Jamie Vicens, and Dimitri Angelakos combined for a near-perfect 3.2 innings to close out the game, giving up just one baserunner on a hit-by-pitch. The six relievers in this one combined for just the one earned run across eight innings on just four hits, one walk, and 12 strikeouts. The bullpen continues to be one of the strong points of this unit over the past couple of weeks.
The win for the Jackets on Tuesday night was a good tune-up as they are now gearing up for their biggest series of the season starting on Thursday. They’ll be welcoming in a 24-8 Florida State team that has yet to lose a series in the ACC as they sit at 9-3 in the ACC standings right behind the Jackets. As for Kennesaw State, they head to South Florida to take on Florida International over the weekend.
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