Lackey completes special feat in Tech's victory vs. West Georgia

It was a truly unique and impressive night on the diamond for Vahn Lackey on Tuesday. And that included about every part of the aforementioned diamond.

Lackey accomplished the rare feat of playing eight different defensive positions and was equally as impactful at the plate, finishing a single short of the cycle with a home run, double, triple and two RBIs, in Georgia Tech’s 14-0 victory over West Georgia in seven innings.

“It was a great night. I mean, I think it starts with me with Vahn Lackey and ends with Vahn Lackey, obviously,” said Georgia Tech head coach James Ramsey after the memorable night at the ballpark. “The fun part is what Vahn means to our program. He’s a special dude, works his tail off, and he’s one of the best teammates. You know, you talk about the baseball side, and that’s a big part of it, but you talk about just what he means to our team, what he’s going to mean to our program 10 years from now. He’s just a special dude. So I think it’s cool for these guys to know that they’re a part of a game like this. And just…like the word joy comes to mind when it comes to Vahn is just how he’s gone about since the day he stepped on campus. He’s helped change this place. And so, it’s a great note.”

Lackey started the game at third base before moving to first in the second, left in the third, playing right and center in the fourth, shortstop in the fifth, second base in the sixth and completing the night at his old, familiar spot at catcher.

“We’ve been talking about it for a while even like in The Cape last summer. I mean Ramsey brought it up to me and said we’re going to do it one time this year and finally told me today,” said Lackey. “I’ve been looking forward to it, and I just appreciate my teammates because a lot of people had to move around and stuff like that, and it was just they love to see me win. It was just it felt like my team was behind me so it was a good time.”

Along with Lackey’s huge game at the plate, several other Jackets (15-2) contributed to the “two-touchdown” win, including Alex Hernandez who continued his torrid start to 2026 with a 4-for-5 effort that included a homer, two RBIs and three runs scored.

Jarren Advincula also had a pair of hits, including a homer, to go with three RBIs and a pair of runs scored while Drew Burress went deep for a homer, walked twice, drove in two runs and scored three. Caleb Daniel came off the bench and hit a two-run homer, and Kent Schmidt added a hit and an RBI. Parker Brosius drove in a run as well.

Dimitri Angelakos got his second straight midweek start on the mound for the Jackets and pitched well over 3 1/3 innings, allowing no runs on two hits with two strikeouts.

Adam McKelvey (1-0) then came on for 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to earn the win as he didn’t allow a hit and struck out one, and Charlie Willcox followed with two scoreless, hitless innings as he struck out three. Porter Buursema tossed the seventh and final inning and didn’t allow a run or a hit, striking out two and walking two.

“All four guys that touched the ball, really proud of them,” said Ramsey. “Coming off the weekend, we talk to the team a ton about just the way they respond, right? You lose a game, you know, what’s your response to it? And I thought we responded. I think it was a really mature effort from our guys that they didn’t get outside themselves. A lot of guys had great individual performances, but I really felt like we just kind of took what the defense gave us all night.”

West Georgia (3-14) used six different pitchers in the loss with all but one allowing at least one run as Davis Williams pitched one scoreless inning, allowed two hits and struck out one. The starter Maverick Torres (0-3) took the loss after going just one inning and giving up one run on one hit with one strikeout and one walk.

The Wolves’ bats were limited to just two hits in the loss with those being singles by Patrick McCullough and Blane Schmitt.

Ramsey added some background on how he and Lackey came to the idea of playing eight positions in one game.

“I think it’s a byproduct of I’ve seen a couple guys do it. Buster Posey’s one that it was the year before I got to Florida State. And it’s 10 years ago, you know, or 10 years later, they’re talking about it,” said Ramsey. “And it’s a guy that was great. He was versatile. But he also had a huge future ahead of him. And I told Vahn, I said, ‘man, the next chance you’re probably going to have to do that is going to be in the Big Leagues one day.’ And I hope a lot of his teammates are in attendance of that game years down the road.”

Both Ramsey and Lackey admitted that Lackey had made a little bit of a campaign to round things out by pitching as well, but Lackey joked with the media that it didn’t end up happening.

“I was throwing (it) around before the game so I was ready to pitch,” Lackey said with a smile. “I’ve got good pitches, changeup, everything. I mean, I was ready, but I guess they didn’t want me to shine.”

Scoring recap…

Georgia Tech quickly got on the board in the bottom of the first thanks to an opposite-field, solo homer by Alex Hernandez to make it 1-0.

The Jackets used the long ball again in the second inning to take a 5-0 lead as Drew Burress and Jarren Advincula each launched two-out, two-run homers.

Tech broke it open in the third with a five-run frame to push the advantage to 10-0. The rally included RBI singles by Hernandez, Advincula and Schmidt, an RBI double by Vahn Lackey and another run coming home to score on a passed ball.

The Jackets added another tally to the board to make it 11-0 as Lackey launched a solo homer to left in the fifth.

Georgia Tech scored its final three runs in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a two-run homer from Caleb Daniel and a sac fly from Parker Brosius.

Up Next…

Georgia Tech will head up I-85 in a couple days to open a three-game ACC series at Clemson starting with a 7 p.m. first pitch on Thursday. The series continues on Friday at 8 p.m. and concludes on Saturday at 3 p.m.

“We’re ready for a big weekend,” said Ramsey. “It’s a great test for us. I mean, like, we’re leaning in, man. I mean, this is the fun time of the year. You get to go play in a great atmosphere, face a great team, great program, great coaching staff. We’re excited for it.”