Georgia Tech, the number three ranked team in the country by a number of college baseball outlets, has been tested by a number of ranked teams thus far in 2026, whether it was Clemson, NC State, or Auburn. Now they have their biggest test in front of them as they welcome in Florida State, a consensus top five team in the country at the moment.
With the Jackets at 12-3 in the ACC and Florida State at 9-3, these two programs sit at #1 and #2 in the conference standings right now, and this series could have huge implications if the regular season championship comes down to a tie-breaker, which could also be a factor when deciding who hosts a super regional. These two ACC juggernauts haven’t met since they faced off in a four-game set in May of 2024, a series in which Florida State took three of four from the Jackets in Tallahassee. It has been since April of 2022 that Florida State went on the road to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech. That was the last time the Jackets took a series from the Seminoles, winning two of three.
Not only is this the highest ranked series taking place this weekend, but it is also a duel between one of the best offenses in the country and one of the best pitching staffs in the country. At 3.90, Florida State’s ERA ranks second in the ACC along with their 1.25 WHIP. They are also among the best when it comes to punching out opposing hitters as their 11.7 K/9 ranks first in the conference and sixth in the entire country. They’re 2.80 strikeout to walk ratio also ranks second in the ACC and 19th in the country.
As it has been all season, Florida State’s rotation will be headlined by a trio of juniors – Wes Mendes on Thursday, Trey Beard on Friday, and Bryson Moore on Saturday. Mendes has been one of the best pitchers in the entire country thus far in 2026, owning a 1.97 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, .188 batting average against, and a 28.2 K-BB% in 45.2 innings across eight starts. Bryson Moore doesn’t trail too far behind Mendes as he has a 2.86 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and a .197 batting average against in 34.2 innings across seven starts. Trey Beard’s numbers are slightly inflated due to a six run outing against Duke a few weeks ago, but other than that he hasn’t given up more than three runs in a start and has two outings in which he threw at least five scoreless innings. While he has a 4.54 ERA, 1.27 WHIIP, and a .234 batting average against – three respectable marks but tiers below his rotation mates – Beard is also striking out 31.9% of the hitters he has faced and is one of the top left-handed college pitching prospects in this year’s MLB draft alongside Mendes.
Georgia Tech will look to match Florida State’s strong weekend rotation with the same three starters they ran out last week against California – Tate McKee on Thursday, Porter Buursema on Friday, and Jackson Blakely on Saturday. McKee has been excellent in ACC play thus far, posting a 2.96 ERA in 24.1 innings across five starts while opposing ACC offenses are hitting just .205 off him. This will be Buursema’s third start of the season in as many weeks against the ACC, having thrown a total of 6.1 innings while allowing three earned runs between his starts against NC State and California. Jackson Blakely who will be pitching the finale has been one of the more productive pitchers in the entire country over the past couple of weeks as he’s working on 16.1 inning scoreless streak dating back to his start against Pitt on March 22nd. 14 of 17 Georgia Tech pitchers have thrown at least 10 innings this year, and among those 14, Blakely’s 1.82 ERA ranks second, his 1.01 WHIP ranks third, and his 21.8 K-BB% ranks third.
Offensively, Florida State’s lineup has been a middle of the pack offense in the ACC. As a team, they’re slashing .270/.380/.474, good for a .854 OPS in conference. They unfortunately lost Myles Bailey, arguably the top slugger in all of the country, a few weeks ago to a season-ending injury, but still managed to scrape across enough runs to win their series over a strong Virginia team on the road last weekend.
Both Georgia Tech and Florida State are the only remaining ACC teams that have yet to lose a conference series this year. On top of that, neither of these teams have lost a series all year. Florida State did drop two of three in an early season showcase and dropped all three of their mid-weeks against Florida, but if you don’t count those as conventional series, the point still stands. One of these programs will walk away from this weekend with their first series loss under their belt while the other will come away with an even stronger case to be recognized as one of the top teams in the nation.
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Georgia Tech Wins Extra-inning Thriller Over Duke in Series Opener
On senior weekend and Georgia Tech’s final home series of the season, they squared off with the Duke Blue Devils, a team that has underperformed all year, but looking to end their season on a high note. For Georgia Tech, it’s an opportunity to secure their postseason positioning and another step toward winning a consecutive…
Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State Meet For Their Second Mid-week Match-up of the Season
They’ll look to improve it to seven games on Tuesday evening as they hit the road to make the quick trip up I-75 to take on the Kennesaw State Owls of Conference-USA.
Georgia Tech Completes Series Sweep Over Wake Forest in Another One-run Game
they managed to complete the series sweep, this time in the same fashion they did on Friday night, winning 6-5 in a back and forth one-run contest
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