Zuckerman, Lackey's blasts propel GT into ACC Title Game

CHARLOTTE — After coming through with a couple huge offensive innings late to rally in Thursday’s quarterfinal win over Virginia, but there was a little less drama on Saturday in Georgia Tech’s 9-3 victory over Miami in the ACC semifinals.

The Jackets (47-9) built a 7-0 lead on the back of three two-run homers and that was plenty of support for a strong combined pitching performance to help the top seed punch their ticket to the tournament’s championship game on Sunday at Truist Field in Charlotte.

“Once again, from the top down, there’s a lot of special things going on (with this team),” said Georgia Tech head coach James Ramsey after Saturday’s win. “Miami’s a really good team. To beat a Virginia team that was hungry, to beat a Miami team that had a lot of things going right for it…we’ve got a chance to win a championship tomorrow. That’s a really cool part of winning the regular season and then having a chance to play on Sunday.”

Ryan Zuckerman had big day at the plate for Tech, going 4-for-5 with two two-run homers and a double. His second homer and the Jackets’ third of the game broke the record for most in a single season by the team in program history. Zuckerman said he and his teammates didn’t know that stat, but it’s mostly because they are focused on what’s important right in front of them.

“No, I did not know that. I don’t think any of us knew that because we’re all focused on kind of one thing…obviously right now is beating Miami. And then now tomorrow it’s going to be winning the ACC championship,” Zuckerman said when asked about after Saturday’s game. “But it just speaks to how good and how deep this team is. You got 1 through…I mean, it doesn’t matter. This team is loaded and you can put anyone in the lineup, you can flip the lineup however you want, and the same result is going to happen. It’s inevitable what’s going to happen with this team. So I’m not surprised at all. There’s a lot of records we broke, and there’s a lot more records we’re going to continue to break. So that’s just kind of one step in the right direction.”

Vahn Lackey also launched a two-run homer in the win, his third in two games so far in the tournament, and Carson Kerce finished 3-for-5 with a triple and a run scored in the leadoff spot.

Alex Hernandez added a hit, an RBI, a run scored and two walks, and Jarren Advincula had a double and a run scored. Drew Burress also had a hit, two walks and a run scored.

Jackson Blakely (8-1) earned the win thanks to a strong start that included 5 2/3 innings as he allowed two runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and one walk. Blakely had multiple innings with Miami runners on and in scoring position but continually worked out of jams over the first five frames before the Hurricanes were finally able to scratch across two in the sixth.

Three pitchers followed Blakely out of the bullpen with two of them recording scoreless outings. Caden Gaudette went 1 1/3 scoreless and didn’t allow a hit, and Dimitri Angelakos pitched the final two innings as he didn’t allow a run or a hit and struck out one. Kayden Campbell was the lone Jackets’ reliever to give up a run in Saturday’s game, allowing one run on two hits as he faced only two batters.

Ramsey said he feels like his pitching staff continues to try to prove people wrong who say that Tech only is where it is because of the powerful offense it has.

“I think these guys have, and I’ve said it earlier in a press conference this year, like the outside noise, they can only block out so much. Everything that flips to their phone or people send to them. But I think if you’re only out there to prove other people wrong, it’s not as satisfying when you get the job done,” siad Ramsey. “So we’ve just taken a ton of work of saying Jackson Blakely is going to come back next year, ready to be the ace on the staff. And my hope is, that iron’s going to sharpen iron and Cooper Underwood‘s going to be like, ‘man, I’m coming for that Friday night spot.’ And then we’re going to bring in some of these young, talented freshmen we have, and guys that have pitched out of the bullpen that want bigger roles. But when you have that culture going, you can point back to someone like a Tate McKee that bought into the vision before it happened. Now, all of a sudden these guys are on the right side of it for us pitching wise. And I look forward to seeing kind of where we go and where the ceiling is from here.”

Miami (38-18) had nine hits total in the contest but left eight runners stranded on base. Alonzo Alvarez finished 3-for-3 with a run scored and a walk while Dylan Dubovik added two hits and a run scored.

Gabriel Milano and Vance Sheahan each had a hit and an RBI in the Hurricanes’ loss with Sheahan’s being a double. Alex Sosa also had a hit and scored a run.

Miami used five pitchers in the game with AJ Ciscar (5-4) taking the loss after his start in which he went 3 2/3 innings and allowed six runs (five earned) on seven hits with three strikeouts and two walks. Frank Menendez was the only Canes’ pitcher to not allow a run on the day as he gave up one hit, struck out one and walked one in one inning of work.

Scoring Recap…

Georgia Tech jumped out ahead quickly with some two-out production in the bottom of the first as Vahn Lackey sent a two-run homer over the left field wall to make it 2-0 for his third long ball of the tournament.

The Jackets pushed the lead to 4-0 in the third with another couple runs via a two-run homer, this one coming from Ryan Zuckerman who connected and sent one deep over the left-center wall.

Zuckerman connected again for his second two-run homer of the game in the fourth to extend the Tech lead to 6-0.

The Jackets added another two-out run in the fifth as Alex Hernandez scored on a wild pitch in the fifth to make it 7-0.

Miami got on the board in the sixth inning to cut the deficit to 7-2 with the first run coming home on an RBI double by Vance Sheahan and Dylan Dubovik then scoring on a wild pitch.

Georgia Tech got one run back in the bottom of the sixth on a two-out, RBI single by Hernandez to make the score 8-2.

Carson Kerce hustled home to score on a wild pitch in the seventh to push the Jackets’ advantage to 9-2.

Miami scored its final run of the game in the eighth on a sac fly by Gabriel Milano to make it 9-3.

Up Next…

Georgia Tech will take on North Carolina in the ACC Tournament Championship Game on Sunday scheduled for noon after the Tar Heels’ victory over Pittsburgh in the other semifinal on Saturday. Carolina was the only ACC opponent to defeat Tech in a series this season.

“We get to play a championship game tomorrow. We want somebody’s best,” said Ramsey. “I think that’s the fun part at this point in the season. Every team we play…we talk about losing to Xavier on a Friday night. We’re not invincible. But the more chances we get, (AJ) Siscar’s a stud. You get him. You get (John) Paone the day before. Those are quality arms. We go face Carolina, they’ll probably throw (Folger) Boaz, another quality arm. You face Pitt, you’re facing a team that is playing with house money.” 

“But, listen, we’re going to make this about Georgia Tech tomorrow,” added Ramsey. “We’ve got a chance to do something that hasn’t been done in a long time…win the regular season, win the tournament. And I think our guys are going to enjoy this until we have the team meeting, and then it’s back on. It’s back on to the next of kind of playing our best game of the season in front of a lot of fans in a great venue of Charlotte, winning a conference tournament of a conference we have a lot of respect for.”

The Jackets are aiming to win their first ACC Tournament title since 2014.