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Jackets Stifle Bears for 7th Straight Win

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BERKELEY, Calif. – No. 3 Georgia Tech jumped on California early, scoring seven runs in the first three innings and the pitching handled business from there as the Yellow Jackets (25-5, 11-3 ACC) defeated Cal (14-15, 1-10 ACC) by a final score 7-2 from Stu Gordon Stadium. GT pitching matched its ACC season high with 13 strikeouts while only walking one, keeping the Golden Bears at arm’s length and cruising to their eighth straight series win and fifth in ACC play.

Porter Buursema set the tone with a career day on the bump, pitching 4.0 innings with six strikeouts, both career highs. He would allow only two hits, one walk and one earned run in his second start of the season. Brett Barfield kept the momentum going out of the bullpen, entering the game for the fifth inning and striking out three before handing the ball to Jake Lankie for the sixth and seventh. He would strike out three while allowing the 2nd Cal run of the day. Caden Spivey and Charlie Willcox handled business with 1-2-3 innings in the eighth and ninth, helping Tech to yet another strong pitching performance and series win.

QUICK HITS: TEAM

  • Georgia Tech has won its eighth series of the season marking the first time it has won the first eight series of a season since 1994 and the first time since 2005 to have won the first five ACC series.
  • The Jackets improve to 25-5, the best 30-game record since 2010.
  • Tech has won at least 25 of its first 30 for only the 8th time in the program’s 131 seasons: 2010, 2002, 1997, 1994, 1992, 1990 and 1971.
  • GT is now 11-3 in ACC play, tied for the best start to a conference season since starting 12-2 in 2010.
  • The win keeps head coach James Ramsey in a tie with his predecessor, Danny Hall, for the best record by any GT head coach through the first 29 games of his first season at the helm.
  • GT is now 8-3 playing away from home this season and have won at least eight of its first 11 road games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2010-2011.
  • Tech pitching has held Cal to just two runs, marking the seventh straight game holding opponents under five runs, the longest streak since doing so for eight games in a row back in 2014.
  • Over the last seven games, Tech pitching holds a 2.21 ERA, a 1.18 WHIP and is holding opponents to just 1 .197 batting average.
  • The Jackets recorded 13 strikeouts, tied for the most in an ACC game this season, while only walking one. It was the second-best strikeout to walk ratio this season after tying a program record with 19 strikeouts against Georgia Southern in the fourth game of the year, also only walking one.
  • Tech has won seven straight games, one shy of the longest winning streak of the season.
  • Tech has scored 344 runs through their first 30 games. It’s the most runs Georgia Tech has recorded after 30 games in the program’s 131-year history and the most runs any Power 4 team has scored through 30 games in the BBCOR era (since 2011).
  • The Jackets scoring average now stands at 11.5 runs/game this season. The program record is 10.3, set back in 1984.
  • GT is outscoring its opponents 344-131, that +213 margin is the highest through 30 games in program history.
  • Tech improves to 13-0 in night games (games started after 6 p.m.) this season.
  • The West Coast Jackets are now 5-0 when playing ACC games in California.
  • The Jackets scored four runs in the first inning and are winning the first inning 13-0 over the two games played this series.
  • Tech has now scored in the first inning of each of their last five ACC games and nine of 14 overall (64.3% of the time).

  QUICK HITS: THE BATS

  • Junior Drew Burress was the only Yellow Jacket to record multiple hits, going 2-for-5 with a double and a run scored.
  • He has scored 39 runs this season, the second most on the team behind Vahn Lackey (41). He has scored 189 runs as a Yellow Jacket, the 18th most runs scored in Georgia Tech history.
  • He is now seven runs away from tying the BBCOR era program record for career runs, currently held by Wade Bailey (196 runs – 2015-18).
  • He has now hit 11 doubles this season, giving him four extra base hits over his last five games.
  • Junior Jarren Advincula extended his hitting streak to a team-high 14 games, going 1-for-3 with a double, two walks and a run scored.
  • He entered this weekend with two doubles to his name and has now delivered three in the two games played during this series. He leads the team with four extra base hits this series – also a triple.
  • Junior Ryan Zuckerman launched his 11th home run of the season in the first inning. It was a three-run shot to make it 4-0 before Cal even got a chance to hit.
  • Zuckerman is now tied with Lackey for the most home runs on the team (11). He is two home runs shy of his career high (13), set while playing at Pitt last season.
  • He now leads the team with 39 RBI this season, nine shy of the career high (48) he set last season.

  • Sophomore Alex Hernandez extended his on-base streak to a career best 32 games with a two-run home run to make it 6-0 in the third inning. He has reached base in every game this season.
  • It was Hernandez’ 6th home run of the year and his 22nd as a Yellow Jacket.
  • The 2025 ACC Freshman of the Year brought his RBI total to 27 for the season. He has driven in 96 runs over his 88 games in college, after setting the GT freshman record with 69 RBI last year.

  • Junior Kent Schmidt went back-to-back with Hernandez, sending an opposite field drive to left for his 2nd home run of the season and putting the Jackets in front, 7-0.
  • It was his 9th career home run and seventh as a Yellow Jacket after recording two HRs in his freshman season at Georgia Southern.
  • He finished the game with two RBI and leads the team with 22 RBI in ACC play – 1.57 RBI/game.

QUICK HITS: THE ARMS

  • Junior Porter Buursema delivered a phenomenal showing in his second start as a Yellow Jacket, matching his career highs with 4.0 innings and six strikeouts and allowing only one unearned run.
  • Buursema allowed only two hits and one walk over his 4.0 innings of work, delivering twice as many strikeouts as baserunners allowed.
  • He has pitched a career-high 14.1 innings this season and set a new career high with 20 strikeouts, becoming the fourth Tech pitcher to break the 20 K mark in 2026, along with Tate McKee (38), Jackson Blakely (27) and Dylan Loy (26).

  • Senior Brett Barfield was the first out of the bullpen, striking out three and surrendering just one hit over his 1.0 innings on the mound.
  • This was his 11th appearance of the season, tying Caden Gaudette for the most on the team.
  • It was his fifth straight scoreless appearance and ninth overall this year as he lowered his ERA to a team-best 1.86.
  • He would get credit for the win, improving his record to 2-0 this season.
  • Barfield has enjoyed a breakout season thus far in 2026. He entered the season with a 7.90 career ERA over 35.1 innings and has pitched 9.2 innings with a 1.86 ERA as a senior.
  • He has now pitched 5.0 scoreless innings in ACC play with a win and a save.

  • R-sophomore Jake Lankie pitched 2.0 innings after that, pitching the 6th and 7th He would allow one unearned run, lowering his season ERA to 4.73 over 13.1 innings of work.
  • He would strike out three batters, marking his third outing of the year with at least 2.0 innings pitched, three strikeouts and zero earned runs allowed.
  • Senior Caden Spivey pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning, throwing as hard as 96 mph and finishing his inning with his 15th strikeout of the season.

  • Freshman Charlie Willcox polished off the game with his second 1-2-3 inning of the week. He needed only eight pitches (seven of which were strikes) to collect the final three outs.

Up Next

The Jackets look for the series sweep over California, tomorrow, April 4 at 4:05 ET. The game will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra.

Full Steam Ahead

Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.

For the latest information on the Georgia Tech baseball team, follow us on X (@GTBaseball), Facebook, Instagram (@gt_baseball) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com.

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