After a nail-biting 4-3 victory over Florida State a night prior, Georgia Tech won the second game of their top five match-up in a bit more convincing fashion, winning by a score of 8-3. It was the 11th victory in a row for the Jackets, their longest win-streak dating back to 2016, bringing them to 29-5 on the season and 14-3 in the ACC.
The right-handed junior Porter Buursema made his third weekend start in as many weeks for the Jackets after coming off of four shutout innings against California a week ago. He got off to a strong start in the first, striking out the side while allowing just a lead-off single. He got tagged for his one and only run in the top of the second as the freshman outfield standout and Atlanta area native John Stuetzer hit his third home run of the season as the Seminoles jumped out to an early 1-0 lead. After the lead-off home run, Burrsema once again retired the rest of the side in order. He followed that with a perfect third inning with two strikeouts and added two more in the fourth while allowing a hit and a walk. With 66 pitches under his belt at this point, which tied his season-high, Buursema’s night was over with just the one earned run on three hits, one walk, and a career-high seven strikeouts. In his three starts thus far, Buursema has thrown 10.1 innings, allowing four earned runs on ten hits, six walks, and 15 strikeouts – good for a 3.50 ERA and a 33.3% strikeout rate.
For Florida State, it was the left-handed junior Trey Beard on the mound. Through his first two innings of work, he allowed just one single as he retired the side in order in the first with two strikeouts and added one more in the second. It wasn’t until the bottom of the third that the Jackets got on the board, tagging Beard for four earned runs, all of which came with two outs. Carson Kerce opened the inning with a single which was immediately erased on a double play off the bat of Parker Brosius. Drew Burress started the two-out rally with a single which was followed by a Vahn Lackey walk and a Jarren Advincula single. Alex Hernandez came up and delivered with a two-run single through the right side of the infield, putting the Jackets up by a score of 2-1. They weren’t done yet as Ryan Zuckerman followed up Hernandez with a two-run double on a laser off the center field wall that nearly left the yard. Although it was just a three-run lead, it felt much bigger due to the gut punch of a two-out rally such as that as well as how good Georgia Tech’s bullpen had been to this point. For that reason, the Jackets never looked back as they cruised to victory.
Caden Gaudette and Dylan Loy covered the final five innings of the game, surrendering just two more runs, one charged to each of them. Gaudette threw three innings for the second time this season, giving up just three base runners via base hit while striking out two. The only blemish on his line was a solo home run off the bat of Eli Putnam to lead off the seventh inning. Loy got the eight and ninth inning, also giving up just one run via a solo shot, John Steutzer’s second home run of the game and fourth on the season. Other than that, he gave up just two walks while striking out four.
Trey Beard’s night ended at 4.2 innings with four earned runs on eight hits, two walks, and six strikeouts before Brodie Purcell and Manny Lantigua covered the rest of the game. In a 4-2 game in the bottom of the eighth, the Jackets added four runs of insurance off of Purcell, extending the lead to 8-2. Once again, the Jackets pushed all of their runs across with two outs as Vahn Lackey delivered a two-run single which was followed a by another two-run single off the bat of Jarren Advincula. It was a three-hit game for Advincula and Carson Kerce and a two-hit game for Alex Hernandez and Ryan Zuckerman. Two of Kerce’s three hits were doubles, bringing his nation-leading total up to 20. For Advincula, it was his 21st multi-hit game of the season and seventh in which he had three hits.
The Jackets will have the chance to sweep their third consecutive ACC series on Saturday afternoon as the red-hot Jackson Blakely will take the mound against Florida State’s Bryson Moore. Check back in tomorrow for a series finale recap and subscribe below to be notified of new posts!
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