Jackets fall in extras to Sooners; Supers drought reaches 20 years

While this 2026 Georgia Tech team looked like a different kind of bunch all season, the ending was all too familiar for Jackets’ fans.

Georgia Tech blew a lead for a second straight day in the Atlanta Regional Finals with Oklahoma rallying from down 7-3 in the seventh to eventually tie the game, force extras and break Jackets’ hearts everywhere with a walk-off homer in the 10th from Dayton Tockey to officially push Tech’s Super Regional drought to 20 years.

Tech (50-11) built a 7-3 lead thanks to some big hits over the fifth and sixth inning, turning a 3-2 deficit into a four-run advantage. But after a gutsy relief appearance by Mason Patel ended in the eighth with Oklahoma cutting the deficit to 7-6, the Sooners (36-22) scored the tying run off Tate McKee in the ninth on an RBI single from Jaxon Willits during a rare relief appearance from McKee that followed him throwing a career-high in pitches during a six-inning effort on Saturday night to send the game to the 10th.

After Tech going down in order in the top of the 10th, the decisive blow in the game and to the hearts of the Tech faithful came on a leadoff, full-count solo homer by Tockey over the batter’s eye in center to send his team to the Super Regional round to visit Kansas this weekend.

“Want to obviously congratulate Oklahoma. They battled extremely hard. They had a great weekend. You know, I think that’s in this game. When you get the last chance to hit, you always got hope. You always got a chance,” said Georgia Tech head coach James Ramsey after the season-ending loss. “And, you know, (I’m) not really in the realm of processing a lot right now. I just wanted to be with our guys as much as possible. There’ll be time to reflect on the incredible things this group has done and just who these guys are as people. And I think for us, just we’ll process it. We’ll continue to honor these guys. That was the last time wearing this uniform (for them) that are going to be legends. But now the best thing is just to be with our guys. It’s just for us to get back and spend time together and just go through the process of dealing with that loss.

“But once again, it’s a beautiful game. We love to play it. And sometimes it breaks your heart. And these guys deserved better than to get knocked out in a regional. And I think take accountability for that and just continue to fuel the next wave of things this program is going to do. Thank you (to our guys). These guys have done incredible things for us and super thankful for them.”

Tech fell behind 3-0 after one inning in Monday’s do-or-die game that followed the Jackets blowing an 8-2 lead on Sunday night to the Sooners, who eventually rallied for a 15-8 win.

A Drew Burress two-run homer pulled Tech within two at 3-2 in the third and then back-to-back solo shots from Parker Brosius and Caleb Daniel put Tech ahead 4-3 in the fifth.

The Jackets put a three-spot on the board in the sixth with an RBI groundout from Brosius and RBI singles from Daniel and Carson Kerce to put their team in what appeared to be a strong position with Patel dealing on the mound.

But Oklahoma chipped away with two in the seventh followed by their single runs in the eighth, ninth and 10th that proved to be the difference.

“It sucks. No other way to put it. We weren’t good enough today,” said Burress after the loss. “I mean we had plenty of chances and didn’t do it. And that’s on me. It’s on this guy next to me (Ramsey). It’s on Vahn (Lackey). It’s on everybody equally. I think that’s one thing that…it wasn’t on any individual guy. It was on all of us. This place hasn’t gotten out of a regional in a long time. And we thought we had the team to do it. And we did have the team to do it. And we just didn’t get it done today. And that’s baseball, I guess.”

McKee (9-2) took the loss after his one-plus inning of work out of the bullpen as he allowed two runs on three hits with one strikeout and one walk in that time on the mound.

Patel was the most effective Jackets’ pitcher on the afternoon as he went 6 1/3 innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits with six strikeouts and two walks as he three 100 pitches and seem to lose a little bit of steam in the seventh and eighth.

Dylan Loy came in for Patel in the eighth and went 2/3 innings and didn’t allow a run or a hit.

“There’s always thoughts. There’s plenty of conversations. I mean, we met tirelessly. We always meet tirelessly as a staff to go through scenarios and put guys in positions to succeed,” said Ramsey when asked about the pitching decisions late in Monday’s game. “And I think that, obviously, it was a big ask to have Tate come out for the ninth. He’s our Friday night starter. You know, give him the opportunity with a one-run lead. And same thing with (Dylan) Loy and Patel. I mean, Patel pitched his tail off. Loy did a great job for us. You’re just managing the combination of the game that’s in front of you, the guys you trust. We trust all those guys. And at the end of the day, you know, you hate saying it, but the old adage of if we’re going to lose this game and you have this guy on the mound, you’re okay with it. And just thought all those guys between (Carson) Ballard, Patel, Loy, McKee, they all left it out on the line for us. And some days it just doesn’t happen.”

Ballard got the start after also starting in the regional opener on Friday and only made it one inning Monday afternoon, allowing three runs (one earned) on four hits before giving way to Patel in the second.

Kerce led the Jackets’ bats with a 3-for-4 day that included a double and an RBI. Jarren Advincula also had three hits, including a double, and Daniel was 2-for-4 with his solo homer, two RBIs and two runs scored.

Brosius had his solo homer and drove in two runs, and Burress went deep for his second two-run homer in the past two games. Tech’s 4-5-6 hitters struggled on the afternoon, however, going a combined 1-for-14 with five strikeouts.

Jackson Cleveland (3-2) earned the win for Oklahoma after coming on in relief and going 3 2/3 innings while allowing no runs or hits with four strikeouts and one walk. He followed three other Sooners pitchers who all allowed at least one run and four hits apiece.

Tockey was one of three Oklahoma batters with multi-hit efforts as he was 2-for-4 with his decisive homer being the most important swing of the day. Willits finished 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs, and Dasan Harris was 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI.

Deiten Lachance connected for a two-run homer, Kyle Branch had a double and scored a run and Camden Johnson had an RBI and scored three runs.

Ramsey said his team had high aspirations and showed they were capable of that potential with their play all year but it just didn’t materialize the way they hoped.

“I think I’ve spoken on it time and time again of the motivations of not being able to have broken through before (here at Georgia Tech),” said Ramsey. “This wasn’t just an Omaha team. This was a national championship level team. It just was. It doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed anything in this game. But it’s the same principles that have gotten us here (that we will continue). It’s go recruit. It’s high character guys that have great families that love to play the game, that are going to work, that are going to give you everything they’ve got, that are going to stay, they’re going to persevere. They’re going to enjoy the family atmosphere. Like I said, I’m really not ready to include this into any other longer streak. I think it’s more a matter of just this team was capable of doing it. And that’s why I said it earlier…I’ll take accountability and look inwardly of just what are the things that we could have done, buttons you could push, more big picture than anything. But I think this team was assembled with the right people, the right coaching staff, the right guys. And it’s no different than anything else. You run into matchups. And in this game, you’re playing a one-game scenario, ball can go one way versus the other. And the ball didn’t work out bouncing in our favor. And you give credit to the Oklahoma team for mounting another comeback.”

Scoring Recap…

Oklahoma dealt the first offensive blow with a three-run bottom of the first to take a 3-0 lead thanks to a two-run homer by Deiten Lachance followed a few batters later by an RBI single from Dasan Harris.

Jackets got back within a run in the third on a big swing of the bat by Drew Burress as he connected for a two-out, two-run homer to cut Oklahoma’s lead to 3-2.

Georgia Tech took a 4-3 lead in the top of the fifth on back-to-back solo homers by Parker Brosius and Caleb Daniel, both going out to right field. It was Brosius’ 10th homer since May 8th.

Georgia Tech added a three-spot in the sixth to make it 7-3 thanks to an RBI groundout by Brosius followed by two-out, RBI singles by Daniel and Carson Kerce.

Oklahoma cut the deficit to two at 7-5 in the bottom of the seventh thanks to an RBI groundout by Camden Johnson followed a few batters later by an RBI double from Jaxon Willits.

The Sooners got within a run at 7-6 as Dasan Harris scored on an error, but Tech got out of the inning with no further damage thanks to a lineout to short turned into a double play with the throw back to second to get the runner heading for third.

Oklahoma tied the game at 7-7 in the ninth on an RBI single by Willits, but Tech’s Tate McKee was able to get a strikeout to leave Sooners stranded at first and third, end the inning and send the game to extras.

The walk-off homer by Tockey came in the 10th on a 3-2 pitch by McKee to end the game.

Up Next…

Oklahoma advances to the best-of-3 Super Regional round to visit Kansas with a trip to Omaha and the College World Series on the line.

Georgia Tech’s season ends at 50-11.