Georgia Tech Baseball: Six Jackets make All-ACC teams, Hall wins ACC Coach of the Year

The Atlantic Coast Conference announced its end-of-year awards on Monday, including six Yellow Jackets and their coach among the best of the best in ACC baseball.

The Jackets led all schools with three first-team selections: 1B/RHP Tristin English, C Kyle McCann, and LHP Connor Thomas. English continued his excellent two-way play from 2018, slashing 324/.414/.688 with a 1.102 OPS, 57 H, 32 XBH, and 15 HR at the plate and putting together a 2-0 record with a 4.66 ERA, 15 K, 1.24 WHIP, 2.50 K/BB, and 6.98 K/9 as Tech’s primary closer. McCann excelled at what many thought would be a Herculean task: replacing the production of former Tech catcher Joey Bart, both at the plate and behind the dish. En route to his first-team selection, McCann slashed .296/.462/.699 with a 1.161 OPS, 55 H, 31 XBH, and 22 HR, leading the ACC in home runs, fifth in the conference in on-base percentage, and third in the conference in slugging percentage. Thomas established himself as the Jackets’ pitching staff’s ace in 2019, posting a 8-1 record with a 3.43 ERA, 84 K, 1.26 WHIP, 5.25 K/BB, and 8.46 K/9.

After establishing himself as an everyday starter in 2019, OF Baron Radcliff was named to the all-ACC second team. He slashed .285/.441/.590 with a 1.031 OPS, 41 H, 20 XBH, and 12 HR, with most of those hits and home-runs coming when the Jackets needed them most.

RHP Xzavion Curry and DH/UT Michael Guldberg earned spots on the All-ACC third team. Before getting injured in late April, Curry had been on fire in his Friday starting spot, posting a 4-2 record with a 4.08 ERA, 66 K, 1.29 WHIP, 4.13 K/BB, and 10.36 K/9. Guldberg became the Jackets’ ultimate jack-of-all-trades this season, playing DH and 2B where needed and providing an abundance of power in the Tech lineup. Guldberg led the ACC in batting average for most of the season (before falling to third), slashing a final line of .373/.463/.429 with an OPS of .892, 66 H, 8 XBH, and 28 RBI.

To round out the Jackets’ awards haul, head coach Danny Hall was named ACC Coach of the Year by his peers. After a few years fraught with disappointing seasons and lack of postseason bids, Hall led the Jackets to an incredible bounce-back year, posting a 38-16 record, an ACC Coastal title (Tech’s first since 2011), a #2 overall seed in the ACC tournament, and a #8 national ranking in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll (as well as top-10 rankings in all major polls).

Tech is back in action later this week at the ACC Championship tournament at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, North Carolina. As the #2 overall seed and top-seeded team in Pool B, they will play #11 seed Notre Dame at 3pm on Wednesday, May 22 and #7 seed Duke at 11am on Friday, May 24.