Tech Uses 5-Run Third to Collect Win No. 38

THE FLATS – No. 3 Georgia Tech scored five runs in the third inning and held the lead until the end, defeating Xavier, 7-5, on Saturday afternoon from inside Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium. The Yellow Jackets (38-8, 19-5 ACC) have scored five or more runs in 30 innings this season as they even the series with Xavier (22-26, 10-5 Big East) and maintain the best start to a season (tied with 1993) in program history.

The third inning started with a leadoff solo home run off the bat of Carson Kerce. The Jackets would add another run on a flukey play, as the Xavier catcher hit Ryan Zuckerman in the head while trying to throw him out at first base, resulting in the ball getting into right field and an easy run across for Jarren Advincula. Will Baker stepped up to the plate with two outs and brought the crowd to its feet with a three-run blast onto Fowler St. That put Tech ahead 5-1, a lead that would grow to as big as 7-1 before Xavier cut the lead to two in the later innings.

On the mound, the Jackets got four strong innings from Carson Ballard to start, followed by a career-high 3.0 innings and a career high seven strikeouts from Brett Barfield before Cooper Underwood closed out the final 1.2 innings to keep Xavier at bay.

QUICK HITS: TEAM

• The Jackets improve to 38-8, tied with the 1993 Yellow Jackets for the best 46-game record in program history.
• Tech is now 25-3 at home, the best home record since 2010, which also included a loss to Xavier.
• James Ramsey still owns the best record by any first-year GT head coach through 45 games (38-8), three games better than the previous record holder, Danny Hall (35-11 in 1994)
• Tech has scored 478 runs through their first 46 games. It’s the most runs Georgia Tech has recorded after 46 games in the program’s 131-year history and the most runs any Power 4 team has scored through 46 games in the BBCOR era (since 2011).
• GT’s 478 runs are already the 3^rd highest total for a single season in the program’s BBCOR era (since 2011) and 28 runs shy of 2^nd place, 506 runs in 2025.
• The Jackets hit a pair of home runs today, bringing their season total to 92, one shy of last year’s total despite playing in 14 fewer games. This team is currently on pace for 108 home runs in the regular season, which would be the fifth highest total in program history, with a chance to add onto that total in the postseason.
• The Jackets are now two wins away from securing back-to-back 40-win seasons for the first time since 2010/2011 (15 years).
• GT is outscoring its opponents 478-22, that +256 margin is the highest through 46 games in program history.
• Tech’s offense is currently on pace to set program records in batting average (.354 – record is .347), on-base percentage (.465 – record is .434), slugging percentage (.617 – record is .575) and runs-per-game (10.4 – record is 10.3).
• The Jackets have now won 20 of their last 23 games dating back to March 22.
• Tech pitching delivered 14 strikeouts today, the fourth-most in a single game this season. The Jackets have struck out 29 during this series, the most combined strikeouts over a two-game stretch since 2023 against Georgia Southern (Feb. 21) and Tennessee Tech (Feb. 24).
• Tech scored five runs in the third inning, marking the 30^th 5+ run inning of the season (8.22% of all innings).
• The pitching staff held Xavier to four runs, marking the 34^th game holding an opponent to five runs or fewer, Tech is 33-1 when doing so.

  QUICK HITS: THE BATS

• Junior Drew Burress extended his hit streak to nine games, going 3-for-5 with two doubles and a single. He has now recorded multiple hits in seven of his last eight games dating back to April 19.
• The reigning ACC Player of the Week has been on a tear in the last month (since March 28), leading the team in batting average (.473), runs (32), hits (43), triples (2 – tied with Advincula), extra-base hits (15), slugging (.747) and on-base percentage (.538) and OPS (1.285) over the last 21 games.
• Burress has now delivered 70 hits this season, the second most on the team behind only Advincula.
• It is his third straight 70 hit season (83 in 2024, 76 in 2025 and now 70 in 2026), becoming the first Yellow Jacket since Wade Bailey (2016-18) to accomplish that.
• He has produced 43 RBI, including one tonight off a double in the sixth inning, bringing his career tally to 172, tied with Walt McConnell (1983-85) for the 19^th most in program history.
• This was his 23^rd multi-hit game of the season, the second most on the team behind Advincula, and his team-leading 10^th game with at least three hits.
• This was his sixth game of the season with multiple extra-base-hits and his third in the last five overall (April 25 vs. WF, April 28 at KSU and May 2 vs. Xavier).
• Junior Carson Kerce brought his hit streak to five games with a 2-for-4 game, hitting a solo home run, a double and drawing a walk.
• He delivered his 25^th double of the season, the most among Power 4 players and tying Mike Fowler (1987), Scott Byers (1995) and Jason Basil (2000) for the third most doubles in program history. He is now one double away from tying Nomar Garciaparra (1994) for 2^nd and two shy of Jay Payton’s program record set back in 1994.
• He is hitting doubles at a 0.54 per-game clip, putting him on pace for 29 by the end of the regular season.
• He also launched his fifth home run of the season for Tech’s first run of the game in the third inning, sparking what would become a five-run third for GT. He set a new career high with his fifth home run of the year and now stands one homer shy of his previous career total from the last two seasons combined (six).
• This was Kerce’s 22^nd multi hit game of the season, the third most on the team behind Burress and Advincula.
• He retakes his team lead in extra base hits, with 31 this season.
• Sophomore Will Baker delivered a three-run home run in the third inning. It was his 9^th home run of the season and his fourth in the last seven games.
• He holds a seven-game hitting streak, delivering four home runs and 11 RBI over that stretch on 10 hits (three doubles, four homers and three singles).
• He has hit 29 extra-base hits this season, the fourth most on the team and a large jump from the 11 XBHs of his freshman season.
• Baker brings his RBI total to 42 this season, becoming the fifth Yellow Jacket to reach 40 RBI this year.
• Junior Jarren Advincula extended his hitting streak to a team-best 14 games, going 1-for-4 with a double and two runs.
• He leads Division I with 81 hits this season, averaging 1.76 hits per game, putting him on pace to be the first 100-hit player at GT since 2005 (Wes Hodges & Tyler Greene).
• The 81 hits are a new career high for a single season.
• Junior Vahn Lackey produced his 19^th multi-hit game of the season, going 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI on a SAC fly.
• Junior Kent Schmidt delivered his ninth multi-hit game of the season, recording a pair of singles and a walk for a 2-for-3 showing.

QUICK HITS: THE ARMS

• R-junior Carson Ballard made his third start of the season, and third in Tech’s last seven games, pitching 4.0 innings with only one earned run and five strikeouts.
• This was his third outing with five strikeouts this season after also doing so against Georgia (April 21) and Virginia Tech (March 6).
• Ballard has now recorded 31 strikeouts this season, his second straight season with at least 30 Ks.
• He lowers his ERA to 3.67 this season over 27.0 innings, only Dylan Loy (3.46) and Jackson Blakely (3.05) have a lower ERA with more innings pitched.
• Senior Brett Barfield added another example of why he is one of the best relief pitchers in the nation, making his team-leading 19^th appearance of the season and pitching 3.0 innings with only one earned run allowed on three hits with a career-high seven strikeouts.
• He struck out seven of his 13 batters faced, striking out two in the fifth and sixth innings before working around three hits to strike out three in the seventh before handing the ball off with a 7-2 lead.
• His 3.0 innings pitched matched his career high, set at Notre Dame last season (March 21).
• The run he allowed in the seventh inning was his fourth earned run allowed over 19.0 innings of relief this season.
• He has recorded a career high 26 strikeouts this season, the most of any Tech pitcher who has not started a game.
• Barfield is enjoying a breakout season in 2026. He entered the season with a 7.90 career ERA over 35.1 innings and has pitched 19.0 innings with a 1.89 ERA and a career-best 26 strikeouts as a senior.
• Freshman Cooper Underwood took the mound with one out in the eighth inning, he would get the Jackets out of the inning after allowing an inherited runner to score on a SAC fly before striking out the Musketeer leadoff hitter to end the inning. He would get two outs in the ninth before allowing a solo home run and recording the final out of the game to secure the win.
• He finished with 1.2 innings pitched with two hits allowed and one earned run. In his three bullpen appearances this season, Underwood has pitched 6.2 innings with a 1.35 ERA.

Up Next

The Jackets will go for the series victory tomorrow at 1 pm. The game will be streamed live on ACCNX and tickets can be purchased HERE

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.

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