Jackets continue special season, secure ACC title sweep

CHARLOTTE — Georgia Tech head coach James Ramsey has described this Georgia Tech team as “special” all season. On Sunday they continued to do special things.

The Jackets used another big offensive day and solid pitching to defeat North Carolina 13-6 in the ACC Tournament Championship Game in Charlotte to earn the program’s first ACC tourney title since 2014 and complete a sweep of the ACC regular-season and tournament titles for the first time since 2005. It’s also the first time a team in the ACC has swept both titles since UNC in 2013.

“Really proud of our guys up and down,” said Ramsey after the victory. “I’ve mentioned again, and I’m always long-winded with it, but just appreciate the way our coaching staff and our support staff pour into our players. They’re really well taken care of as people first and then as baseball players second. We have an unbelievable team. And I’m not going to sit here and shout out a bunch of guys individually, but it can be somebody different every day. I think playing against North Carolina, I mean, they’re unbelievable. They’re so well-balanced. You have to earn everything you get. And felt like we ended up doing that today. Just had enough of…grinded it out offensively, grinded it out of the mound and just kind of the will to win. Just competitive stamina by us.

“Now we’re sitting up at, I think, 28-5 aggregate between the regular season and the tournament. These guys never shy away. They want to continue. They break records along the way. And I think that, you know, a big, big hat’s off to just the work they’ve put in. It’s not easy because everybody in the league’s giving you their best. I couldn’t be more proud of this group. And the good news is these guys are – they realize it’s just another step along the way for us.”

Georgia Tech (48-9) used a big third inning to break open 1-1 game as the offense was able to put up five runs to take a 6-1 lead. Included in that frame was history for Jackets’ junior star Drew Burress who hit a two-run homer over the left field wall to pass Tech legend Jason Varitek on the all-time Georgia Tech home run list with his 58th of his career. Burress said it was something he’s very proud of, but winning the tournament title with his teammates on Sunday was a little higher on the priority list.

“To be honest with you, I think I like winning the tournament a little bit more,” said Burress, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, with a smile. “But it is really special. Obviously it’s been something that’s been in the back of my mind for a little bit now. A lot of people have been talking about it. And I am glad that I got it and got it out of the way. So it’s such a special…I mean, Georgia Tech has had so many great players, both in college and in the big leagues. And to pass a guy like Varitek is really exciting.”

Alex Hernandez had the other big hit in the inning with a three-run double to push Tech’s lead to five runs.

UNC (45-11-1) fought back to within a run with two runs each in the fourth and fifth to make it 6-5, but the Jackets’ bats continued to make things tough by scoring two more in the sixth, three in the seventh and two in the eighth to push the game out of reach.

Carolina loaded the bases in the ninth to try to muster one final rally attempt, but Mason Patel was able to get a ground ball to third that resulted in a double play to end the game and send the Jackets into celebration mode.

Burress finished 3-for-4 with his homer, a double, two RBIs and two runs scored. Ryan Zuckerman had another big game as he was 2-for-5 with a homer, two RBIs and two runs scored on his way to Tournament MVP honors.

“I couldn’t do it without the coaches we have and my teammates,” said Zuckerman of his accolade. “They’ve just welcomed me with open arms. And whether it’s me or any of the other transfers or freshmen, I mean, like everyone feels welcome. It’s a family here. Like we’ll be back next offseason probably staying at Rammer’s (Ramsey’s) house, eating food there. It’s a family, and I’m forever grateful for everything that they’ve given me. I came here for two reasons, to get better and win a championship, and we’re kind of doing that right now.”

Vahn Lackey added three more hits, an RBI and two runs scored to his impressive tournament as he was another All-Tournament Team selection for the Jackets, and Hernandez was 3-for-5 with two doubles and four RBIs.

Rounding out the offensive stats for Tech was Jarren Advincula with a hit and an RBI, Carson Kerce with a hit and two runs scored and Will Baker with a hit and a run scored. Kent Schmidt was the fourth All-Tournament Team selection for his efforts over the last few days in Charlotte.

Caden Gaudette (6-1) earned the win for Tech after one inning of scoreless, hitless relief while striking out one. He was one of six pitchers used by the Jackets in Sunday’s game.

Carson Ballard got the start and went 3 2/3 innings while allowing three runs on five hits with two strikeouts and two walks. Brett Barfield then followed with 1/3 of an inning of work while allowing two runs on one hit with one walk.

Following Gaudette, Tech got four innings of solid relief with Justin Shadek going two innings and allowing one unearned run on two hits with one strikeout, Cooper Underwood pitching one scoreless, hitless inning with two strikeouts and two walks and Patel finishing it off with one scoreless, hitless inning while striking out one and walking one.

Folger Boaz (3-3) took the loss for Carolina after his start in which he went 2 2/3 innings and allowed six runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks.

The Heels used five pitchers after that with Walker McDuffie having the most effective outing over 1 1/3 innings as he didn’t allow a run or a hit and struck out three. Tom Chmielewski also pitched one inning of scoreless relief as he allowed one hit.

Carolina’s bats were led by Owen Hull who was 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs. Rom Kellis V added a hit and two RBIs, Tyler Howe contributed two hits and a run scored and Macon Winslow chipped in with a hit and an RBI.

Scoring Recap…

Carolina got on the board in the top of the first on an RBI single by Owen Hull to take a quick 1-0 lead.

Georgia Tech evened things up in the bottom of the second as Ryan Zuckerman connected for a mammoth home run over the right field wall, his third in the last two games, to tie it at 1-1.

The Jackets’ bats put together one of their patented big innings in the third with five runs as Drew Burress hit his historic homer for the program, a two-run shot, to pass Varitek on the all-time GT home run list, and Alex Hernandez followed a few batters later with a three-run double off the wall as the lead grew to 6-1.

The Tar Heels fought back a bit with two runs in the top of the fourth to cut the deficit to 6-3 as Rom Kellis V came through with a two-out, two-run single.

UNC then scored two more in the fifth to draw within a run at 6-5 on a two-run homer by Owen Hull.

Tech added a pair of runs to the lead in the bottom of the sixth on a sac fly from Jarren Advincula followed by a two-out, RBI single from Vahn Lackey to make it 8-5.

UNC’s Macon Winslow came through with an RBI groundout in the top of the seventh to cut Tech’s lead to 8-6.

The Jackets were the beneficiaries of three runs scored on three wild pitches in the bottom of the seventh to push the lead to 11-6 as Hernandez, Will Baker and Parker Brosius crossed home plate.

Tech added its final two runs in the eighth on RBI singles by Zuckerman and Hernandez.

Up Next…

Both teams will await their seeding and assignment for the NCAA Tournament with the regional hosts set up to be announced on Sunday night and the full bracket revealed during the selection show at noon on Monday.

Both Georgia Tech and UNC are expected to be top-8 national seeds.

When asked about Tech’s chances of possibly being the No. 1 overall seed for the tournament when the bracket is revealed on Monday, Ramsey said it’s not something his team is very focused on at the moment.

“I don’t know. I think, is it cool? Sure. We, once again, same thing like preseason No. 1 team. Is it great? Yeah, sure. We think we’re the best team,” said Ramsey. “The committee’s going to do what they do. I think they’re going to do a great job of selecting teams they think are deserving. Everybody fills out NCAA brackets, and there’s 1 seeds and there’s four of them, right? In baseball, it’s a little more unique. We’re going to be in the 1-seed spot, which means we control. There’s basically three teams that can keep us from a super regional. And then there’s one team after that that can keep us from Omaha. And so these guys have heard me say it before, but there’s really only four teams that can keep us from Omaha. And when you keep it that simple, none of the rest of this stuff matters, right? We know we’re going to host a regional. We know we’re going to be a top eight seed. We know our resume looks great. There’s going to be three really good teams that come to our tournament (next weekend) that all believe they’re capable of beating us. And I think that’s the thing it shows today. You play a championship team like North Carolina. You got a pretty good effort out of them.

“Obviously, did we all play our best? Probably not, right? You’re at the end of the week, but you play a team like that. It’s a great measuring stick. I mean, to play a Chris Pollard coached UVA team, a J.D. Arteaga Miami team, and then a Scott Forbes coached UNC team, here’s no better prep you can have going into the postseason. So no, I think all that I’ve learned is that those numbers, you don’t remember when middle of June rolls around. If you’re in Omaha, you’re one of the eight. And nobody kind of looks at it after that. But I do think when you start putting graphics up in the buildings and you have back-to-back ACC regular season titles and you have regular season, postseason, like those are things that we will continue to celebrate as a program for a really long time.”