Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Diamond Buzz
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
As we hit mid-March on the calendar, most sports fans are filling out a bracket for the March Madness college basketball tournament, but in Atlanta the focus is solely on the diamond.
Georgia Tech baseball is off to a historic start at 17-3 and winning each of their first two ACC Series against Virginia Tech at home then on the road against #8 Clemson. The 17-3 mark on the year is the best start to a season since 2013.
When folks think about Ramblin Wreck Baseball, offense is the first thing that comes to top of mind and that’s still the case in 2026. The “Buzz Bombers” have scored 254 runs thru the first 20 games (12.7/game) which are the most runs in the first 20 games in program history.
Every Yellow Jacket has an average over .300 with 4 Jackets boasting an average over .400. Vahn Lackey has been off to a hot start after entering 2026 projected as a top 15 pick in the 2026 MLB Draft.
Lackey (who played all 8 defensive positions in one game last week against West Georgia) has already launched a career high 9 homeruns and driven in 31 this season.
Reigning ACC Freshman of the Year, Alex Hernandez has also followed suit in his sophomore campaign. “Herny” is hitting .449 and driven in 18 with 4 long balls.
The question around Georgia Tech in recent history has been the pitching. Well guess what, they’ve answered that too in 2026. Georgia Tech finds the team ERA under 4.00 two weeks thru conference play and are striking out just shy of 10 per game.
The pitching staff is anchored by Friday night starter Tate McKee. McKee has made every single game 1 start for the Jackets each of the last 2 years including 6 scoreless innings against the #8 Clemson Tigers this past weekend. Tate (who pitched on both sides of a 2-hour first-inning rain delay against Virginia Tech to open ACC play) sits at a 2.82 ERA through 5 starts and a 3-0 record.
The numbers for this squad are impressive, but off the field, the 2026 Jackets are just special.
First-year Head Coach James Ramsey made it quite clear early on in his official tenure as the head man at Georgia Tech that two important pieces of his philosophy were consistency in the coaching staff, and emphasis on the high school recruiting while sprinkling in transfer pieces.
As far as the coaching staff goes, Ramsey did just that. Matt Taylor stays in Atlanta as the pitching coach, Jason Richman as the director of pitching, and Josh Schulman remains as an assistant on staff.
Coaching veteran Scott Stricklin moves from Director of Ops into the vacant assistant position (with Ramsey being promoted to head coach). The consistency with the staff is huge for this Jackets team that has used the high school recruiting approach to build a core that has been together 2 and 3 years.
That said, Georgia Tech was able to add a few transfer portal pieces, but they have had to be the right fits. James Ramsey has talked about the importance of fitting not only into the lineup or rotation, but also the fit in the clubhouse. This is as close-knit of a college baseball clubhouse as you’ll find in the game.
The additions of Jarren Advincula (Cal transfer) and Ryan Zuckerman (Pitt transfer) have been impressive in the heart of the dangerous Jackets order but have been a puzzle-piece fit into the clubhouse as well. Zuckerman has talked about it feeling like a “kid in a candy store” of the feeling being in Atlanta part of this team.
Another big addition has been Dylan Loy who bolsters the pitching rotation from Tennessee and has secured the Saturday starter role in the rotation.
Getting to travel and be around this team day in and day out is special. I know it’s an overused term, but there’s no other way to describe it.
Talented players, elite coaches, unbelievably great people make for a special season on the Flats with hopes for Omaha on the horizon.
Diamond Buzz In Atlanta
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
It’s finally here. Happy Opening Week to all those who celebrate in the College Baseball world!
With the first pitch of the season coming quickly, there’s as much excitement around the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets program than has been for a while.
A consensus pre-season Top 5 program and has been ranked as high as #2 in the country by Perfect Game, Georgia Tech looks to make Head Coach James Ramsey’s a historic one.
James Ramsey enters his 8th season on the Flats, but his first as Head Coach after Danny Hall retired following the 2025 season.
Ramsey has gained a reputation as both one of the best hitting coaches in the country and also an elite recruiter which has once again proven true this offseason.
Any conversation about Georgia Tech Baseball in recent history has started with the offense which remains true this year. That said, now it’s not a knock on the pitching, it’s the fact that the Jackets are possibly the most explosive lineup in the country.
Georgia Tech returns 7 of the 9 starters from a year ago in an offense that led the country in doubles and hit .314 as a team scoring 8.5 runs per game.
Drew Burress, who was named the permanent team captain for the season headlines the lineup as, what I believe is the best player in college baseball.
Catcher Vahn Lackey joins Burress as a projected top 15 pick in the 2026 MLB Draft after hitting .347 in 2025 with 42 driven in.
The 2025 ACC Batting Champion, Kent Schmidt, reigning ACC Freshman of the Year Alex Hernandez, along with Caleb Daniel, Carson Kerce round out the returners for the Jackets.
Ramsey has been clear that high school recruiting will be the lifeblood of the program and then supplement with transfer portal acquisitions. That rings true in 2026.
Two key transfers round out the lineup with former Cal Bear Jarren Advincula who is one of the purest hitters in college baseball.
The Jackets also added a power bat with Pitt transfer Ryan Zuckerman who racked up 44 extra base hits and drove in 79 RBI last year for the Panthers.
The question around Georgia Tech has been “will they be able to pitch enough?” While some, continue to ask the question, frankly, that’s an old question that has been answered in the last two years with Pitching Coach Matt Taylor and Director of Pitching Jason Richman.
Last season Georgia Tech made an unbelievable jump to 4th in the ACC with a 4.91 ERA (was 12th in 2024). The Jackets return starter in Tate McKee who stepped into the role of opening day starter a year ago and never let go.
Some roles on the pitching staff are still being decided between one of the best bullpen arms last year in Mason Patel potentially jumping into the rotation.
Tennessee transfer lefty Dylan Loy could make a play for a starter or key bullpen piece. The Jackets also added Justin Shadek from Rutgers to the mix. Shadek with electric stuff could slide into a rotation slot or into the back end of the bullpen to close games out.
Last season was the first outright ACC regular season championship for the Jackets since 2005, and the Jackets seem to be not only reloaded, but amplified to make a run to Omaha.
The feeling around this team is special. Stories of transfers taking less NIL money in order to get other transfers, a closeness around a team that still hasn’t played a true pitch with each other yet, but there’s something special brewing on the corner of Ferst and Fowler in Midtown Atlanta!
A Flat(s) Legend
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For the last three baseball seasons, I’ve had the unquestionable privilege of calling Georgia Tech Baseball games on the radio for the Georgia Tech Sports Network.
Along with that, I’ve been welcomed into the program by so many people, but especially (now) 32nd year Head Coach Danny Hall.
On March 27th, just before welcoming in Clemson in for a big ACC weekend, Coach Hall announced that 2025 would be his final season leading the Georgia Tech Baseball program and is retiring at the end of the season.
Georgia Tech has been a fixture in the College Baseball fabric for many years and much of that comes from Head Coach Danny Hall that took over the Jackets in 1994 after a six-year stint as the head coach for the Kent State Golden Flash.
Since leading the Ramblin’ Wreck, Coach Hall just locked up his 4th ACC Coach of the Year award that was announced just after Georgia Tech secured the 2025 regular season ACC Championship.
Danny Hall has come from a widely branched coaching tree that begins close to home.
Coach Hall’s dad first instilled the love of sports in him and was his head coach in high school for both baseball and football in Coolville, Ohio.
Hall would then take his talents to Miami (OH) where he played for the (then known as) Redskins (now referred to as RedHawks).
At Miami (Ohio), Hall would learn under the tutelage of legendary member of the Miami (OH) “Cradle of Coaches” Bud Middaugh. After playing for Coach Middaugh, Hall would immediately start his coaching career in 1978 as a graduate assistant under Middaugh at Miami (Ohio). “DH” graduated from Miami (Ohio) for the second time with a masters in 1979 and would make his way to Ann Arbor to be an assistant for the Michigan Wolverines under…you guessed it…Bud Middaugh. Hall spent eight years on staff for Michigan before his first opportunity to lead a program came in 1988 to lead Kent State.
There are so many accolades that you could rattle off under Coach Danny Hall’s name in his 38-year head coaching career.
He moved into the 9th all-time winningest head coach in D1 College Baseball history this year with over 1,400 career wins and is second active only to now South Carolina’s Paul Mainieri who came out of retirement this past offseason.
He has taken Georgia Tech to three appearances in the College World Series in 1994, 2002 and 2006, so the accolades speak for themselves.
That said, there’s one accolade that you won’t find on a stat sheet but is the one that means the most to the skipper. It’s the family environment and culture he has established at Georgia Tech.
Each game you can find Coach Hall’s wife, Mrs. Kara, hosting numerous alumni in the Home Plate Club that are dying to get back to their next game at Mac Nease Baseball Park and Russ Chandler Stadium.
The family of Georgia Tech Baseball is widespread from Major League Baseball former superstars of Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Varitek, or Mark Texeira, to current big-league studs like Chandler Simpson, Kristian Campbell and more.
The Tech Baseball alumni success doesn’t only translate to professional baseball as it includes names like Ben King who graduated from Georgia Tech in 2024 and is now in medical school.
Doctors, lawyers, and financial experts are found frequently coming back to visit the program and the coach that brought them to the Flats. It doesn’t stop there however, because currently, you’ll see the current staff’s family and kids throughout the facility and wanting to be part of the program now and for a long time.
So while, you can look at a Hall of Fame sheet and know that Danny Hall has had an unquestioned impact on not only Georgia Tech Baseball but College Baseball as a whole on the field, rest assured that the impact that 17 has had beyond the diamond is profound, and that’s as much of a reason why the number was retired by Georgia Tech Baseball at the end of the regular season and 17 will forever only have “Hall” on top of it on a Jacket’s Jersey, and hopefully will be worn for the last time in College Baseball’s Heaven…Omaha.
Sophomore Encore
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
This time a year ago, the name Drew Burress stirred up some buzz on the flats as the Houston County native was just beginning what would turn into one of the most spectacular seasons (let alone freshman years) in Georgia Tech Baseball history.
Last season would turn into so many accolades from ACC Freshman of the Year to Freshman All-American even the D1 Baseball and Perfect Game National Freshman of the Year, but what is Drew Burress beyond the stat sheets?
Start at the beginning of the college career for the former Houston County High standout. Burress was seriously on several teams’ draft boards for around the third or fourth round, but his commitment to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets stood firm unless a first-round call would come.
Coming into the 2024 season, Jackets Head Coach Danny Hall said multiple times through pre-season media availability that there were two things that Drew wasn’t shy about…He wanted to be a first-round pick, and he wanted to graduate from Georgia Tech in three years.
Georgia Tech Baseball has had twelve first round selections over the years, but in the 130 years of Georgia Tech Baseball nobody has ever graduated in three years while playing baseball.
Burress was a highly heralded recruit and was rated as the 6th best player in the nation that made it to a college campus, but the first inning of his career didn’t pan out as everyone expected.
Burress was the leadoff man for the 2024 season, and in his debut at-bat, Drew would strikeout. The Jackets, however, had an impressive bottom of the first inning against Radford and batted around, so Burress came up for a second time in the inning. Alas, Burress would strike out again for the second time in his first inning of college baseball.
As Burress returned to the dugout after the second, Head Coach Danny Hall put his arm around Drew and said, “Don’t worry about it, you’ll homer next time.”
Little did Coach Hall know how right he would be because not only did Burress do just that and launch his first career homerun in the next at-bat, but he would homer in both of the next two at-bats.
As we mentioned, the accolades would roll in for Burress as a freshman in 2024 and so did the records.
Burress set the Georgia Tech freshman homerun record with 25 long balls on the season shattering Jeremy Slayden’s previous record of 18.
He also would become just the twelfth Jacket to win the team triple crown (lead the team in average, home runs, and RBI), and the first since Matt Gonzalez did it in 2016.
Burress also became just the third Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket to be named a National Freshman of the Year by a major publication joining Mark Teixeira and Derek Dietrich.
Finally, while the offensive exploits get so much of the attention, he also rewrote the defensive records by setting the record for outfield assists in a season by gunning down ten assists in the year.
After the heralded freshman campaign, Burress’ hunger for the game and improving his craft has only grown.
In a work ethic like I’ve never seen, especially in someone so young, a lot of it comes from his family.
Drew’s dad, Andy Burress, was a baseball player back in his day after being a 6th round pick and playing in the Reds organization.
After his playing career, Andy founded and continues to run one of the premier travel ball organizations in the country with 5 Star National which has produced an extensive list of draft picks and college signees.
Even with all of the accolades, and in a time where college athletes get the mantra of “only concerned about the money” Burress couldn’t be farther from that.
Through the 2025 preseason, Burress said “I’m not worried about the stat lines if we’re in Omaha (for the College World Series).”
I’m fortunate enough to get to call Drew Burress dazzle every game on the Georgia Tech Sports Network, but the most dazzling part of the young man isn’t the on-field prowess.
The most impressive part of the Georgia Tech’s sophomore is how he carries himself through all the publicity and all the success.
The guy is a grinder, coming to the ballpark every day trying to be as good as he can be while also leading by example and showing a young Georgia Tech team how the best in the game goes about doing it.
I can’t wait to see what this year turns out to be in, what Wiley Ballard called in Burress’ Walk-off Grand Slam call his “sophomore encore.”
