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 ACC regular season title.

For the Jackets, it was of course Tate McKee on the mound making his 13th start of the season. For the Blue Devils, it was junior right-hander Peter Lemke making his sixth start in his 16th appearance of the season.

After a scoreless first for McKee, it didn’t take long for the Jackets to get on the board in the bottom half. Drew Burress got the Jackets out to a 1-0 lead with one out as he hit a solo home run 114 mph off the bat, nearly hitting his own picture on the scoreboard in left-center field. It was his 11th big fly on the season, and 55th of his career, bringing him into a tie for third place all-time on the Georgia Tech home run leaderboard with Tony Plagman. He’s now just three shy of breaking Jason Varitek’s program-record of 57.

Ryan Zuckerman added to his team-leading home run total in the bottom of the third to extend Georgia Tech’s lead to 3-1, his 19th of the season, a 436 foot bomb beyond the trees in left field. After Caleb Daniel tagged on another run via sacrifice ground-out, Carson Kerce got on the board with his sixth home run of the season, a solo shot hit on a line 366 feet over the right-center field wall to extend Georgia Tech’s lead to 5-1. Vahn Lackey added one of his own in the bottom of the fifth, a 404 foot solo shot out to the batter’s eye in center field. Seeing one go over the wall for Lackey was a welcomed sight as he had been homer-less since his last long ball on April 11th against Florida State. That would end Lemke’s night with no outs in the fifth, closing his line at six runs, five earned, on nine hits, one walk, and three strikeouts. He was replaced by left-handed sophomore Jack Feehery. The scoring wasn’t done however as Kent Schmidt drove in Will Baker with an opposite field double to drive in Will Baker. Feehery only managed to record one out before loading the bases and was then replaced by sophomore right-hander Jack Hedrick who was able to get Duke out of the jam with Georgia Tech leading 7-3.

For Tate McKee, his outing started strong, but Duke managed to tag him for multiple runs later on to stay in the game. Through the first four innings, he allowed just three base runners, two of which were gunned down by Vahn Lackey, and one of which was a solo home run off the bat of Duke’s catcher, Matthew Strand, his team-leading 12th home run of the season. He also struck out six Duke hitters through the first four innings. The Blue Devils tagged him for two more in the fifth, one coming on a lead-off home run off the bat of second baseman Colin Anderson, his fifth of the season, and then one more on an Adin Zorn sacrifice groundout after a single and a fielding error by Ryan Zuckerman at third base.

Before McKee was able to record an out in the sixth, Duke added three more runs to close the gap to just one run. After back-to-back singles to open the inning, designated hitter Kaden Smith hit a three-run home run over the left field wall, his 11th of the season to end McKee’s night at five innings with six runs, five earned, on seven hits and six strikeouts. The encouraging part of McKee’s night was the fact he didn’t surrender a single walk, the first time he has done so all season. Caden Gaudette replaced him, an although he would give up two base runners, he held Duke scoreless as the Jackets held on to their 7-6 lead going into the bottom half of the sixth.

The Jackets managed to extend their lead to 8-6 in the sixth on Will Baker’s second base hit of the night to bring his multi-hit game total up to 16 on the season. The Blue Devil offense just kept coming however as they added three more in the top of the seventh to take their first lead of the game. Caden Gaudette remained in the game but was replaced by Mason Patel after RJ Hamilton singled home a run to make the score 8-7. With runners on second and third and nobody out, it looked like Mason Patel was going to pitch his way out of the jam with a strikeout and a pop out, but with two strikes and two outs, Colin Anderson drove in two on a single up the middle, his second and third runs batted in on the night. The lead for Duke didn’t last long though as Parker Brosius launched his fourth home run of the season with one out in the bottom half of the seventh. After all of the offense, it was actually a quiet eighth inning as Patel and Hedrick who was still on the mound for Duke retired each side in order to send the game into the ninth still tied at nine. A single was all the Blue Devils would get off Patel in the ninth as he tossed another scoreless frame. For Hendrick, it wasn’t as easy in the bottom half, but he managed to throw another scoreless inning of his own with some help from his catcher Matthew Strand who threw out pinch-runner Dominic Stephenson trying to advance to third on a wild pitch after he surrendered a single and a walk.

One extra inning is all it would take for the Jackets to finally bring this one home. Mason Patel through another scoreless inning in the tenth, finishing with four scoreless innings on just two hits, one walk, and six strikeouts – his highest strikeout total since his season debut in Georgia Tech’s opening weekend.

In the bottom half of the tenth, right-hander David Boisvert took over for Hendrick. Carson Kerce led off the inning with a triple that nearly snuck over the center field wall for his second home run of the game. With a five-man infield deployed by the Blue Devils, Drew Burress followed with a sacrifice fly to left field to bring home Kerce and give the Jackets the walk-off 10-9 win.

With the win, the Jackets advanced to 40-8, the fastest path to 40 wins in a season in program history. They also improved to 20-5 in the ACC as they inch closer to a consecutive ACC regular season title. For Duke, they fell to 23-26 on the season and 9-17 in the ACC. On Saturday, Georgia Tech’s starter is still to be announced, but for Duke, it will be senior right-hander Aidan Weaver.