At 6pm Eastern time tonight, the No.24 ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will start a three game weekend series against the Virginia Cavaliers, and on the mound for the Yellow Jackets will be Tate McKee, who has looked like the best pitcher in the entire pitching staff, and with the Yellow Jackets needing a win to get the season back on track, could McKee be the guy to give the Yellow Jackets their first win in ten days?
McKee currently sits at 5-1 this season, with his only loss being on April 18 in a 4-2 loss to the Miami Hurricanes. The only problem with that is, that was his last outing. Although McKee did pitch well in the game, only allowing two earned runs in seven innings pitched, the lineup for the Yellow Jackets offered little run support to help the performance.
However, McKee has been pitching great this season, as he has solidified himself as the Friday starter for the Yellow Jackets, putting up a 3.46 ERA this season and not allowing more than three earned runs in any game so far this season.
McKee will face perhaps the best lineup that he will face all season today though, as the Cavaliers have scored 46 runs in their past four games and are trying to make their way back into the Top 25 rankings late in the season.
The key for McKee, I think, will depend on if he can get ahead early in his counts with the batters. He does not necessarily need to get a lot of strikeouts, but it will be important that he force the Cavaliers lineup to become uncomfortable early on.