[1] - Opening Day 🎊

Intro:

RALLY RALLY ROOSTER! RALLY RALLY ROOSTER! SITTIN’ ON A BENCH, SITTIN’ ON A BENCH! CHEERIN’ FOR THE MONARCHS, CHEERIN’ FOR THE MONARCHS! MAKES NO SENSE, MAKES NO SENSE! 🐓🐔

Hello and welcome to the 2025 baseball season, I dwood will be your baseball ⚾️🏟️chair throughout the season and I want to keep you guys informed and engaged about what the baseball team is up to and when home games are. I will try my best to send out as many previews as I can, and I highly encourage all of you to get out and support the team! After two weeks of scrimmages, our opening weekend is finally upon us where we will square off against Old Dominion in a three game series. It will be exciting to see who makes the starting lineup and which key pieces will step up for the Jackets.

My goal for this year is to go to as many baseball games as I can and I want you guys to join me when you have free time. Even if you don’t have any baseball experience whatsover, I will be more than happy to explain any of the rules and you can still win be a weekly winner of the 2025 Reck Club Dead Skunk 🦨 Award! I see baseball as a time where you can relax in the sun, talk to friends, and enjoy the national pasttime!

If at any point you have any questions throughout the season, feel free to shoot me a text or ask me at the next Reck Club meeting. I’m here to serve YOU and answer YOUR questions.

Series Info:

• Who are we playing against: Old Dominion Monarchs (they are in the Sun Belt conference and from Va.)

  

• Where is the series: Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium

  

• When are the games: Friday 2/14 @4pm, Saturday 2/15 @2pm, Sunday 2/16 @1pm

• Where to stream them: ACCNX (i think)

• Career Series against the Monarchs: 5-3 (last played them in 2014)

• I’m so excited for baseball to finally be here!

Roster Breakdown:

Returners:

• Drew Burress (#8) - Center Fielder

  

  • He is the current DUDE of Tech baseball

  • Almost broke the season long home runs record as a FRESHMAN last year

  • Won Freshman of the year award last year

  • preseason All American and ACC POTY

  • Golden Spikes Award Watch List (best player in the country)

• John Giesler (#21) - Corner Infielder (3B or 1B)

  

  • 6th year!!!

  • Getting his masters in real estate development

  • wearing Jim Poole #21 in honor of his on and off field accomplishments

  • .282 AVG and .379 OBP, 10 home runs and 17 doubles

  • he’s the GT glue

• Tate McKee (#22) - Starting Pitcher

  

  • May be the Jackets top starting pitcher this year

  • High ERA last year but was inflated due to a couple of bad starts

  • threw gems against Pitt, Umiami and Duke last year

  • If he takes a jump he will be hard to hit

• Other important returners include

  • Riley Stanford (#15) - hard throwing right handed pitcher

  • Vahn Lackey (#25) - likely the day 1 starting catcher. this dude is my favorite player other than Burress

  • Tyler Neises (#39) - could be starting LF on opening day, played sparingly in his freshman season

  • Mason Patel (#29) - only indian on the team. transferred from GSU two years ago, played decent towards end of last season

  • Carson Kerce (#4) - will start at 2b and bat towards the end of the order, was the starting third basemen down the stretch for GT

  • Parker Brosius (#1) - frozone levels fast

  • Carson Ballard (#38) - key rotational piece

Additions (high school):

• Drew Rogers (#34) - Catcher

  

  • #23 ranked prospect according to Perfect Game

  • #3 ranked catcher prospect in the country

  • 2024 Max Preps All American

  • will be interested to see if he gets playing time even if it isn’t behind the plate

• Alex Hernandez (#4) - RHP/3B

  

  • not sure how much playing time he will get in his first year

  • he is a two-way prospect ranked inside the top 100 in the country

  • 12th best recruit out of state of Ga.

• Connor Shouse (#9) - RHP/INF

  

  • 83rd prospect in the country, 22nd shortstop

  • 1st team all state and named to Georgia Dream Team along with Cole Royer

  • bascially holds ever record for Pickens HS

• Other notable Freshman include:

  • Joshua Evans (#24)- LHP - hard throwing lefty

  • Ryan Johnson (#26) RHP - tall lanky dude

  • Connor Chicoli (#45) - RHP - could be mid-week starter for Tech

  • Caleb Daniel (#6) - UTL - good pop in bat

Additions (transfer portal):

• Sam Swygert (#12) - RHP

  

  • transfer from the citadel

  • pitcher with the most innings pitched last year

  • ERA was kinda high but I think he should be a good fit in the Jackets rotation/bullpen

• Kyle Lodise (#2) - SS

  

  • transfer from Augusta univeristy

  • peach belt second team for both his freshman and sophomore year

• Kent Schmidt (#10) - 1B

  

  • led GATA (georgia southern) in average last year (hit .330)

  • want to see more power but Russ Chandler is known for balls flying out of the park

• Nathan Waugh (#40) - Catcher/Designated Hitter

  

  • transfer from Cornell

  • he’s really smart

  • will likely start at DH and get some reps at catcher throughout the season

• Caden Spivey (#20) - RHP

  

  • transfer from Notre Dame

  • 27 innings, high era (over 8) but had moments where he shined as a pitcher

• Porter Buursema (#30) - RHP

  

  • sophpmore transfer from GATA

  • didn’t pitch a ton last year but many expect him to be a starter/key rotational piece for the Jackets

• Kayden Campbell (#49) - LHP

  • transfer from louisville

  • 3-1 record last year, struggled last year with control

  • 22Ks + 17BBs, pitched better his freshman year

• Jaylen Paden (#42) - LHP

  

  • from georgia southern

  • didn’t pitch at all last year but has lots of experience

  • pitched 71 innings, also struggled with control

  • 64ks and 51 BBs (not a good ratio tbh)

Coaching Staff:

• Danny Hall

  

  • 32nd season at Tech

  • Last season of his contract (will likely retire after this year)

  • Four time ACC Coach of the Year

  • All Time Winningest HC in Tech history

  • 3 Appearances to Omaha (College World Series)

  • 1170-632-1 - career record as HC at Tech

• James Ramsey

  

  • the dude behind the program (according to many people)

  • associate head coach since 2021, been at Tech since 2018

  • he is one of the best upcoming coaches in the game

  • will likely be Danny Hall’s successor

  • hitting first coach - makes sense with how many runs we tend to score

  • ACC player of the year while at FSU (also was highest GPA on team for 3 years)

  • referred to as “ramsey” to most people

• Matt Taylor

  

  • second year of being the pitching coach of Tech

  • before was the pitching coach at GSU and an assistant to the Braves org

  • helped develop AJ Smith-Shawver and Spencer Schwellenbach

  • program record in strikeouts and k’s while he was at GSU

  • he is a top tier pitching coach and i’m excited to see how the guys have developed with his guidance

Fun Things I Found on Twitter: