Moment of Victory
By: Jerry Grillo | Categories: Featured Stories
Between 1985 and 1988, the Yellow Jackets won four straight ACC baseball titles, a conference record that began May 20, 1985.
Derrick “K.G.” White, IM 89, remembers the moment clearly—he saw the baseball bouncing in the dirt, deflecting off the Clemson catcher, giving him the split second he needed to speed home with the winning run of the 1985 ACC tournament.
“I could see by the spin of the ball where it was going to land, and how much time I had,” says White, 41 years later. He was the Georgia Tech designated hitter that day in his freshman year, with a baseball sixth sense that would help make him a two-time All-ACC selection (1987–’88).
“So, I just took off and scored,” says White, a high school catcher who became a center fielder in college and, briefly, in the minor leagues. “That’s when I realized, ‘This is the highest of highs—it’s great to be a Yellow Jacket.’”
By the time the 1985 ACC championship banner went up, a transformation that had begun several years earlier was already complete. What followed wasn’t just a run of success but the foundation for one of the nation’s top baseball programs.
Fast Track To Success
“I knew what a great school Georgia Tech was, and what an opportunity this could be,” says Jim Morris, who Tech hired as head baseball coach in July 1981. “I immediately felt like we could win if we worked hard and signed the right guys.”
That first recruiting class came together quickly. Players arrived in August and were asked to build something from scratch.
“Morris basically got the leftovers,” quips Mark Matulia, MgtSci 85, the coach’s first signee, an infielder from Baltimore who had planned to attend the U.S. Naval Academy. “My coach steered me to Tech because if I’d gone to Navy, I couldn’t play summer league. Plus, I couldn’t pass up the chance to play ball in the ACC.”
Another early recruit was Scott Jordan, Mgt 87. After a great 1984 season, the centerfielder felt motivated after being drafted later than expected by the Boston Red Sox in the 16th round.
“I was upset and felt like I had something to prove in 1985,” says Jordan, who still holds the Tech record for consecutive games reaching base (79 games). He played briefly with the Cleveland Guardians, who drafted him in the fourth round in 1985.
Jordan was the MVP with 11 hits in 22 at-bats as Tech hosted the ACC tournament that year at Russ Chandler Stadium, beating Clemson. His teammate, future big-league ace Kevin Brown, Cls 87, starred on the mound.
The team lost in the NCAA regional finals, just missing a trip to the College World Series—a pattern that repeated during Tech’s ACC title run.
“That still bothers me,” says White, who played on all four teams from 1985 through 1988. “We never made it to Omaha, and we had some teams that really should have.”
Efficient Battery
With righty Brown (1984–’86) and the late lefty reliever Jim Poole, EE 88 (1985–’88), Tech had two future big-league pitchers in its rotation. David Ivester, IE 89, caught both aces.
“Kevin didn’t throw anything straight; his fastball had extreme movement, unlike anything I’ve seen,” says Ivester. “And Jim had great rhythm and control. I loved catching him. His slider was devastating on right-handed hitters.”
The team also featured hard-throwing righty Todd Shiver, Mgt 88, who took a line drive to the chin during batting practice in 1987, missed just one start, and was later named MVP of that season’s ACC tournament.
The Jackets had beaten North Carolina State in the 1986 tournament and made their exit in the NCAA regionals, as usual, then turned in a season for the ages in 1987, ranked No. 1 at one point and finishing 51-14.
Pacing the powerful offense in 1987 was White’s high school friend from Coffee County, Riccardo Ingram, Mgt 00, who died of brain cancer in 2015 after a long career as a player and coach in the Minnesota Twins organization. He drove in 99 runs and scored 93, with 19 home runs. The Jackets hit 119 homers that year, along with 662 runs and 144 stolen bases—all school records. Ingram, White, and Ty Griffin, Cls 89, each had hitting streaks of 20 or more games.
“Made my job as a pitcher a whole lot easier,” Shiver says. “That was our best team.”
The 1988 team followed by beating the University of North Carolina in the ACC finals after fighting through the losers’ bracket (Griffin was tourney MVP). That team launched the college careers of future MLB players Darren Bragg and Doug Creek.
The four straight ACC titles remain a record, even though the Jackets never made it to a College World Series during that time. Tech eventually reached Omaha during the Danny Hall years, in 1994, 2002, and 2006.
The expectations that meet every Tech baseball season trace back to the 1980s, when Morris brought his philosophy to the Flats:
“If you get good, smart players with the right attitudes, my belief is, the harder you work, the more it will hurt to lose.”
