Cal Baseball: Yellow Jackets Sweep Bears in Atlanta
The California Golden Bears Baseball team continues to struggle in ACC play as they get swept by the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
For the first time in the program's history, the Golden Bears faced off against another ACC opponent, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, over the weekend at Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The two have faced each other only twice prior, but those were in the NCAA regional tournaments in 1992 and 1995, with the Golden Bears winning by one run.
Cal is coming off a 14-8 win against the UoP Tigers in Berkeley, where the Bears’ offense tied their season-high in hits with 18 after dropping three straight to the No. 6 Clemson Tigers the prior weekend. Georgia Tech entered the weekend ranked No. 18 in the nation (NCAA DI Baseball), making this the fifth straight nationally ranked (within the top 25) ACC opponent Cal has had to face (No. 14 Virginia, No. 14 Stanford, No. 18 Louisville, and No. 6 Clemson). The Bears also have the No. 9 FSU ahead on May 9th - 11th.
Friday, April 11th: Cal Can’t Comeback as GT Takes Game One.
The Bears and Jackets faced off on Friday night to open up the three-game series in front of 2,455 fans while it rained and shined on the fans in Atlanta. Cal entered the game at 17-15 with a 6-9 record in the ACC, while GT was 26-7 with an 11-4 ACC record. Both teams went with their respective game-one-starters to open up the series, with the Yellow Jackets’ ACC Academic Honor Roll Sophomore Pitcher Tate McKee making his ninth start of the season. Austin Turkington made his ninth start of the season as well for the Bears, after coming off pitching 6.2 innings against Clemson, where he gave up only one earned run.
The Bears led off the top of the 1st with Jarren Advincula, who came into Friday night’s game with 55 hits and a .390 batting average, but he could not get anything started as he grounded out to second, with Alex Birge striking out swinging and Cade Campbell, who is batting .400 since returning from an injury, grounding out as well.
Turkington responded with a one-two-three inning of his own to get the Yellow Jackets’ offense out in order, but the Bears would quickly be retired in the top of the 2nd on 10 pitches. Cal would not get a base runner in this game until the top of the 4th inning, when Jaren Advincula would eventually get a base hit- but until then, the Yellow Jackets got two runners on in the bottom of the 2nd with a double by shortstop Carson Kerce, and first baseman John Giesler reaching base for Will Baker to hit a three run home run to right field to give the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets a 3-0 lead.
Turkington held Georgia Tech to their three-run lead through four innings and returned for the bottom of the 5th, surrendering a first pitch base hit to catcher Vahn Lackey, and walking Drew Burress before striking out Caleb Daniel for the first out of the inning. That was all for Turkington on the night, as Mike Neu went to the bullpen and brought in Cole Clark, who, in his first batter faced, gave up a three-run home run to put the Yellow Jackets ahead 6-0.
The Bears got some offense going in the top of the 6th with Alex Birge reaching base on a one-out walk, and advancing to third on a base hit by Dominic Smaldino, and scored on an error by Tate McKee. Jacob French walked to put runners on first and second for PJ Moutzouridis, who singled through the right side for an RBI to end McKee’s night and make it 6-2 GT.
Cole Clark and Tech’s new pitcher, Mason Patel, worked through the bottom of the 6th and top of the 7th with no damage, and then Cole Tremain came in for the Bears in relief in the bottom half of the 7th, also keeping the Georgia Tech lead steady at four runs.
The Bears brought the GT lead within one as Dominic Smaldino singled to right with one out in the top of the 8th, with Jacob French doubling to right center field to extend his hitting streak to nine games and bring Smaldino home before Max Handron would hit a two-run home run to right to make it 5-6.
The Yellow Jackets immediately responded in the bottom half of the inning with a lead-off base hit to left by Giesler, followed by a walk to the pinch-hitting Connor Shouse, with both runners scoring on a Lackey base hit to center field, ending Tremain’s night.
The Bears sent Seth Gwynn, Jarren Advincula, and Alex Birge to the plate to try and come back while down 8-5, but they would be retired in just six pitches to end the game, and give the Yellow Jackets game one of the three-game series. Cal trailed 6-0 and brought it back within one, but could not finish the comeback as Austin Turkington (4-4) picks up his fourth loss of the season, and Tate McKee (5-0) remains undefeated through nine starts this season.
Saturday, April 12th: Tech Wins Game Two 15-5 in 8 innings.
Cal and Georgia Tech returned for game two of their three-game series in Atlanta at 4:00 PM EST, with the Yellow Jackets’ Brady Jones taking the mound for his ninth start of the season, and the Bears’ David Shaw making his 12th appearance and fifth start on the mound this season.
The Bears started the top of the 1st off with a lead-off double by Jarren Advincula, and Cade Campbell reached via walk, but Carl Schmidt, Dominic Smaldino, and Jacob French all struck out to strand the two on base and get no runs across for Cal. Georgia Tech, on the other hand, jumped ahead immediately with a lead-off home run by Lackey to right center, with Drew Burress and Caleb Daniel both reaching on back-to-back walks, and Alex Hernandez singling passed Advicula to load the bases for Giesler. Giesler then singled through the right side on a 3-2 pitch, giving GT a 2-0 lead before Coupet grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.
The Yellow Jackets added one more in the bottom of the second on an RBI base hit by Lackey, but the Bears were able to bring the score within one as Advincula led off the top of the 3rd with a walk and scored on a Carl Schmidt double down the right field line. Schmidt would also score on a Cade Campbell single to right, before being thrown out trying to steal second to end the inning. The one-run deficit would only last so long, as Alex Hernandez and Carson Kerce would both reach base via singles and score on a couple of sac-flys, giving Tech a 5-2 lead heading into the 4th inning.
Cal and Georgia Tech both got no runs across in the 4th, but the Bears got one across in the top of the 5th as Advincula got it started again with a one-out double to right center field, and scored on a base hit by Cade Campbell to make it 5-3. David Shaw returned for the bottom half of the 5th for the Bears, but quickly fell apart as Hernandez doubled down the left field line and Kerce walked to put two runners on base for Giesler to hit a three-run home run to deep right center field and give the Yellow Jackets an 8-5 lead. Shaw would face one more batter, but he hit him with a pitch, ending his evening there. Jordy Lopez came into the game for the Bears with no outs and one runner on, giving up a walk to Lackey and a base hit to Burress before getting Danuel to pop up to Advincula at second and end the inning with the bases loaded.
Cal would get one run back in the top of the 6th as Ryan Tayman hit his fourth home run of the season, pinch hitting for Alex Birge, making it 8-4 GT heading into the bottom half of the 6th, where Lopez would struggle as he worked Hernandez to a full count before walking him, and then giving up a double to Kerce, putting runners in scoring position for Nahanael Coupet, who singled through the right side allowing both runners to score and gave the Yellow Jackets a 10-4 lead.
Cal would score once more at the top of the 8th on a fielder’s choice to make it 10-5 GT, but as Miles Tenscher came in to relieve Lopez on the mound, he walked the only two batters he faced and allowed Hernandez to advance on a wild pitch, causing Mike Neu to take him out early and go to Kaden Taque to face Giesler, who singled up the middle to score Hernandez. Coupet and Baker followed with back-to-back walks, resulting in Taque exiting after facing just three batters, as Lucas Alaniz came in relief for the Golden Bears, only to hit Brosius with a pitch to score Giesler, walk Lackey to score Coupet, and then give up the game-winning RBI-single to Burress to make it 15-5 and a 10-run mercy rule victory for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to win the first two games and the series, and look to finish the sweep on sunday morning.
Brady Jones (4-0) gets his fourth win of the season while pitching 6.0 innings and collecting seven strikeouts, while David Shaw (0-3) picks up his third loss and has yet to pick up his first win this season. Jarren Advincula and Cade Campbell each went 2-for-3 on the day to stay hot at the plate, while Jacob French’s nine-game hitting streak ended after going 0-for-4 at the plate and leaving four runners on base.
Sunday, April 13th: GT Wins Pitchers’ Duel to Sweep Cal.
The Golden Bears and Yellow Jackets closed out their season series against one another on Sunday afternoon in front of 1,670 fans at Russ Chandler Stadium as Cal did not want to head back to Berkeley empty-handed, and the Jackets looked to sweep the Bears and continue climbing the DI baseball rankings. Cal went to Oliver de la Torre to start game three, after a very promising performance against Clemson, where he struck out eight Tigers in 5.0 innings and only gave up three runs. The Yellow Jackets went with pitcher Caden Spivey, who was making his fourth start and ninth appearance on the season for GT, to try and sweep the series and head into their mid-week rivarly match against No. 3 Georgia with a three-game winning streak.
Cal jumped ahead for the first time this series in the top of the 1st as Advincula led off the inning with a walk and scored on a one-out Cade Campbell single to left, before Smaldino grounded into a double play to end the inning with the Bears up 1-0.
de la Torre came out hot for the Bears, as he retired the first nine batters he faced, and only allowed his first base runner in the bottom of the 4th inning, as Lackey reached on an error by Campbell at third base. Burress would follow up with a single to have two runners on for Georgia Tech, and an RBI base hit from Daniel and an RBI sac-fly from Kerce would give the Yellow Jackets a 2-1 lead.
Jaylen Paden relieved Spivey in the top of the 6th inning, surrendering a leadoff single to Smaldino, who would advance to third on a double by Jacob French to put runners in scoring position for Moutzouridis. Moutzouridis flied out to right field, but it was plenty of distance to score Smaldino on a sac-fly, and Tayman would single French home to give the Bears a 3-2 lead.
de la Torre returned for the bottom half of the 6th, but gave up a leadoff double to Burress, who would score on an RBI single passed Moutzouridis and Campbell by Kerce, ending de la Torre’s afternoon and bringing in Cole Tremain to strikeout Giesler, and get Coupet to line out and end the inning with the game now tied 3-3. Tremain would remain in the game for the Bears in the bottom of the 7th and record one out, but after htting Brosius with a pitch, would be relived by Ethan Foley, who gave up a double to Lacket to put both runners in scoring position for Burress, who singled passed Advincula to give the Yellow Jackets a 4-3 lead. Cal would not score another run, and would lose this game and get swept by the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, three games to none.
Cole Tremain (4-3) was credited for the loss while Jaylen Paden (4-0) earned his fourth win of the season. Mason Patel got his third save of the year as Georgia Tech improved to 29-7 with a 14-4 record in ACC conference play. Jacob French went 3-for-4 and improved his season batting average to .385 with 45 hits on the season.
Cal drops below .500 at 17-18 with a 6-12 record in the ACC, and will return home for a Tuesday night game against the Fresno State Bulldogs before hosting the NC State Wolfpack for a weekend series at Stu Gordon Stadium. All games will be available to stream on ESPN+ with an ACCNX subscription.
This team has talent. If they can eliminate the mistakes in the area of “fundamental” (e.g. baserunning) the close loses will become Ws. It’s a young team. We lost 3 very good starting pitchers to the portal, and 2 offensive stars to the MLB draft (1st and 2nd rounders). This weekend at home against NC State will be very telling.