2024 Baseball Schedule

FredJacket

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Welp! Hope you're sitting down. The 2024 Ga Tech baseball schedule is published here in early November!!

Home Opener February 16th against Radford.
Go JACKETS!!

 

Home Park Jacket

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Interesting....
  • Very weak OOC weekend schedules besides uga
  • All of the home OOC at the beginning of the season - this is the first time I can remember that we don't have one in May
  • Hope we don't see snow at Pitt in early April
 

GTNavyNuke

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Welp! Hope you're sitting down. The 2024 Ga Tech baseball schedule is published here in early November!!

Home Opener February 16th against Radford.
Go JACKETS!!


They took away your winter past time!
 

senoiajacket

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Welp! Hope you're sitting down. The 2024 Ga Tech baseball schedule is published here in early November!!

Home Opener February 16th against Radford.
Go JACKETS!!

Must be an alignment of the planets or they lost all the calendars at the AA????
 

GTNavyNuke

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OK, here's some more detail on who we play and what their RPI was last year. As we knew, we have a very weak schedule if the teams have about the same RPI this year.

Average RPI is 101 for all games. We are going to have a very hard time getting a good RPI given most of the worst teams are in ATL. But we'll get a lot of weak wins. Massive importance on performing in ACC series, especially against ranked teams.

1699584564626.png
 

THWG

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It's interesting to have a 4 game series against Youngstown State. I don't think we've had a series like that before.
 

FredJacket

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It's interesting to have a 4 game series against Youngstown State. I don't think we've had a series like that before.
You're right. I've seen other teams do that but not Tech... at least not in recent years.

Also... it just hit me. All 4 OOC series are happening before ACC schedule begins. No late season (exam week) weekend OOC series in 2024.
 

GTNavyNuke

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You're right. I've seen other teams do that but not Tech... at least not in recent years.

Also... it just hit me. All 4 OOC series are happening before ACC schedule begins. No late season (exam week) weekend OOC series in 2024.

I double checked the schedule to make sure it was 4 games .... against a 255 RPI team last year :(

I did the OOC opponent average RPI and ACC opponent average RPI, it is bad. Our OOC average opponent RPI is 174! And ACC average opponent RPI is 33. So we'll have to sweep most OOC and must do very well in ACC play to have our RPI be at ~45 or better come year end.

We were 66 RPI last year. Going to the mountains now for some fresh air.
 

FredJacket

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If you believe (like I do) the ACC wants the conference tournament in Charlotte or Durham... then, Charlotte is the spot this coming season. The Charlotte MiLB team in on a road trip that week & Durham's team has a homestand.
 

gtbeak

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OK, here's some more detail on who we play and what their RPI was last year. As we knew, we have a very weak schedule if the teams have about the same RPI this year.

Average RPI is 101 for all games. We are going to have a very hard time getting a good RPI given most of the worst teams are in ATL. But we'll get a lot of weak wins. Massive importance on performing in ACC series, especially against ranked teams.

View attachment 15087
One correction...the Southern game on 4/9 should have an RPI much higher than 298. Your 2/20 line for Southern says they had an RPI of 104, which seems more correct. It doesn't change your point that we have a week non-conference schedule and need to do really well in those games if we want to have a decent RPI come Memorial Day.
 

FredJacket

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RPIs reset each season. Last year is an indicator but not part of any 2024 RPI calculations.

2023 was a bit of an anomaly (I hope) too. A down year for Georgia teams... which make up a big chunk of GTs schedule. Not a single team in Georgia made the tournament field.

Like I said... hopefully... collectively, Ga teams can improve significantly.
 

GTNavyNuke

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RPIs reset each season. Last year is an indicator but not part of any 2024 RPI calculations.

2023 was a bit of an anomaly (I hope) too. A down year for Georgia teams... which make up a big chunk of GTs schedule. Not a single team in Georgia made the tournament field.

Like I said... hopefully... collectively, Ga teams can improve significantly.

Yes, RPIs reset. But past performance is our best indicator at this point of next year's performance. Not Lake Woebegone, someone will occupy RPI positions 1 to ~305 and for ones that move up, some have to move down.

Regardless, we know how to cope without making the NCAAs.
One correction...the Southern game on 4/9 should have an RPI much higher than 298. Your 2/20 line for Southern says they had an RPI of 104, which seems more correct. It doesn't change your point that we have a week non-conference schedule and need to do really well in those games if we want to have a decent RPI come Memorial Day.

Yup thanks, cut & paste error. Moved our OOC opponent average RPI up to 166 which is as you note.

When the SoS comes out in the spring, I'll try and remember to see how our OOC SoS compares to previous years. I think this is one of the weakest.
 

dadair6

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Have to be honest, very disappointed in the schedule. I understand the ACC is a tough run of games, but only one P5 non-conference weekend series, and that’s because it’s Georgia, is poor. It’s as if GT is afraid to play anybody.
 

gtbeak

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Have to be honest, very disappointed in the schedule. I understand the ACC is a tough run of games, but only one P5 non-conference weekend series, and that’s because it’s Georgia, is poor. It’s as if GT is afraid to play anybody.
IMO, playing UGa as the only non-conference P5 isn't the issue. I think that is true for a large majority of schools (possibly even all schools...a quick glance through 2023 ACC and SEC schedules and I can't find anyone who played more than one weekend series against P5 schools****). After all, there is only 4 non-conference weekends, so 25% is a decent number. The problem to me is that the three mid-major weekends are against schools that all rated very low last season. To be fair I don't know what the 2024 outlooks are for Radford, Cornell, and Youngstown St. and for all I know they could be expected to be greatly improved in 2024, but as Nuke said "past performance is our best indicator" and is usually fairly accurate.

****ETA: I did find that Auburn played Indiana and USC(w) weekends last year. And Vanderbilt played UCLA and in the College Baseball Showdown against B12 schools, so there are two examples I could find. But that is all that I see out of the 28 or so programs in those two conferences.
 
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FredJacket

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Have to be honest, very disappointed in the schedule. I understand the ACC is a tough run of games, but only one P5 non-conference weekend series, and that’s because it’s Georgia, is poor. It’s as if GT is afraid to play anybody.
Yet another thing I'd love a little "behind the curtain" knowledge on. How does the schedule get formulated?

Are there a lot of options (ie P5 non conference weekend series) or are they limited?
Is it sort of a passive process where the mid-tier programs "court" the P5s for matchups?

Is there a travel tether for Ga Tech?

How much does the "competition" (difficult or easy) factor into things?

You'd think playing Ga Tech would be a draw for opposing programs. I definitely think opponents would love coming to Atlanta & play on such well-maintained field. So... it just seems logical GT baseball would have a lot of control over the non-conference schedule.
 

dadair6

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While not weekend series, I love Michigan’s non-conference opponents. Again, B1G isn’t strong and these are all road games due to weather up north and not weekend series. Getting SEC schools to come here isn’t likely, but no reason B1G schools and some Big 12 couldn’t work out something when they have to stay south due to the weather.

https://mgoblue.com/sports/baseball/schedule/2024
 

gtbeak

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While not weekend series, I love Michigan’s non-conference opponents. Again, B1G isn’t strong and these are all road games due to weather up north and not weekend series. Getting SEC schools to come here isn’t likely, but no reason B1G schools and some Big 12 couldn’t work out something when they have to stay south due to the weather.

https://mgoblue.com/sports/baseball/schedule/2024
The advantage that the Big 10 and the Big 12 have had as far as non-conference scheduling is that they only play 8 conference series, so that allows them an additional 2 non-conference weekends. The ACC used to be this way and I remember us playing in some of the early season tournaments as well as some more interesting non-conference weekend series. I don't know for certain the plans with those two conferences expanding, but I would bet that they also go to 10 conference series thus limiting the ability of schools like Michigan to play the non-conference schedules that they do now.
 

eokerholm

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I would hope most would take heed and learn from the KState situation last year. From Aaron's Fall Report and Coach Hughes' response to committee last year...

2023 Fall Report: Kansas State​

FALL REPORT Aaron Fitt - November 9, 2023

MANHATTAN, Kan. — Pete Hughes was outspoken in his criticism of the Division I Baseball Committee after his Kansas State Wildcats were passed over for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament despite going 13-11 in the Big 12 and finishing No. 54 in the RPI — particularly since one of the teams that got a bid was Oklahoma, which went 11-13 in the conference and got swept by K-State. A weak nonconference strength of schedule hurt the Wildcats in the RPI, and that’s the one area Oklahoma had an advantage, finishing No. 40 in the RPI rankings.

And while Hughes won’t hold back from railing on the committee’s over-reliance on RPI (and the flaws inherent in that system, which disadvantages programs like K-State that are relatively geographically isolated), he did not simply grumble about the process and then go back to business as usual. Instead, he scheduled a very aggressive slate of road trips designed to give his team a real chance to construct a robust RPI — provided the 2024 Wildcats are good enough to win their share of those games.

It’s never a bad idea to schedule aggressively when you’ve got a team built to win, and that’s exactly what Hughes has heading into 2024. Thanks to some serious star power along with improved depth on the mound, Kansas State clearly has its most talented roster since its 2013 super regional club, which was also the last K-State team to make the NCAA tournament.

“It looks good on paper, it looks good with experience, it looks good with the key positions. But after last year, I don’t take anything for granted,” Hughes said. “We just have to play well against good teams. We know now that we’re defined differently when it comes to the overall body of work. So I think our team’s got a little chip on our shoulder, to be honest with you. we’ve got a lot of guys back that did not have to come back, because they love this program and they love the way this team’s shaping up and what it is capable of doing. I coached a tournament team last year and I do think we’re deeper than last year, we just have a couple more pieces, more depth, a couple more guys that can come off the bench and fill in if there’s an injury or a matchup you like, and not really lose too much. So that’s the key, I think, to be a super regional team — you have to have depth, you have to have moves from the sixth inning on, on your bench and in your bullpen. You have to be athletic and well rounded, and I think we have a chance to be that.”

As Hughes alluded to, the outlook for this Kansas State club would have looked very different if not for the return of three key players who turned down opportunities to seek greener pastures. ...
 

GTNavyNuke

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Yet another thing I'd love a little "behind the curtain" knowledge on. How does the schedule get formulated?

Are there a lot of options (ie P5 non conference weekend series) or are they limited?
Is it sort of a passive process where the mid-tier programs "court" the P5s for matchups?

Is there a travel tether for Ga Tech?

How much does the "competition" (difficult or easy) factor into things?

You'd think playing Ga Tech would be a draw for opposing programs. I definitely think opponents would love coming to Atlanta & play on such well-maintained field. So... it just seems logical GT baseball would have a lot of control over the non-conference schedule.

Agree there is a lot of behind the scenes stuff going on. It should be going on for all teams though? Maye less for us in some respects since we are a travel hub in ATL?

Last year it was 139th for GT. As comparison, UVa was 125th and Pitt was 107th and Wake was 45th and Clempy was 21st and VT was 203th. That's all I spot checked. Maybe VT was due to being a sucky place to travel and play early season ball? https://www.warrennolan.com/baseball/2023/schedule/Georgia-Tech

As I said before it'll be interesting to see the OOC SOS for GT this year. This year I think we'll be weaker than last, maybe around 160 to 170th. And we'll have a hard time making that 45 or so year end RPI. But get a lot of wins that mean little outside of the guys playing / coaching the games.
 

GT33

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Our problem has not been strength of schedule. It has been 4 pitch walks, wild pitches, hit batters and home runs to guys that look like Bucky Dent. Maybe some untimely errors, too.
 
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