ACC Tournament: Day Three Recap

Photo Courtesy of Georgia Tech Athletics

Burress Powers Georgia Tech to Semifinals with Record-Tying Home Run Barrage

The California Golden Bears’ 2025 season came to an end Thursday with a 10–3 quarterfinal loss to top-seeded Georgia Tech (40–16) in the ACC Championship. The 16th-seeded Bears (24–31) had pulled off upsets over No. 9 Miami and No. 8 Wake Forest earlier in the week and closed the year with six wins in their final 10 games.

Georgia Tech tied an ACC Championship record with seven home runs, including three in the eighth inning that put the game out of reach. Two of those came off the bat of 2024 ACC Freshman of the Year Drew Burress. Cal trailed 4–2 entering the seventh and remained within three runs before the Yellow Jackets pulled away late.

California Head Coach, Mike Neu, sang the Yellow Jackets high praises in their performance, saying:

“I thought they did a really good job. They came out and punched us early, put some good swings on pitches they should hit, and took advantage—especially with how live the ballpark is. But I was proud of how our guys responded and fought back. Cole Tremain was unbelievable—pitching on short rest, grinding through it, and giving us a chance to stay in the game. They pulled away late, but I thought our guys showed a lot of heart. We just didn’t have quite enough in the end. Credit to them—they swung it well and put us in a tough spot right from the jump."

Reliever Cole Tremain was a bright spot for the Golden Bears, tossing five scoreless innings in relief with four strikeouts, allowing just one hit and one walk. He finished the year with a team-best 3.38 ERA, 24 appearances, and four wins.

Offensively, Jacob French tied a career high with four hits and ended the season with a team-leading .390 average and a 13-game hitting streak. Jaren Advincula added three hits and two stolen bases, finishing with a .342 average and 13 steals—both career highs.

Georgia Tech’s Drew Burress hit two of the team’s seven homers, while starter Tate McKee struck out 10 over 6.1 innings for the win. 

Cal starter JJ Hollis gave up three homers and four earned runs in the loss.

Six different Yellow Jackets homered in the game, led by 2024 ACC Freshman of the Year Drew Burress, who continued to shine on the postseason stage. Burress went 2-for-4 with two home runs, four RBIs, a walk, and two runs scored. He delivered the final blow in the eighth inning, launching a three-run shot down the left-field line to extend Georgia Tech’s lead to 10–2—the largest margin of the game.

Despite the offensive fireworks, Burress emphasized the importance of balance and support from the pitching staff.

On the impact of a strong pitching staff and bullpen support, he said:

“It’s huge. Having a strong pitching staff, especially reliable relievers, really takes the pressure off the offense. It works both ways—those guys keep us in games and give us a chance to win, which means the offense doesn’t feel like it has to score every inning. When there’s less pressure, the offense tends to perform better, and overall, the team has a better shot at winning.”

Clemson Edges NC State 7–6 in Thrilling ACC Quarterfinal Showdown

No. 5 seed Clemson defeated No. 4 seed NC State , 7-6, in a back-and-forth scoring affair in the second of two quarterfinal games.

Defensively, the two teams combined to turn five double plays, four by Clemson and one by NC State.

Eight of the nine Tigers to bat recorded hits, led by a four-hit performance from leadoff hitter Cam Cannarella (4-for-5). Jack Crighton added three hits, including a triple, and scored twice, while Jacob Jarrell went 2-for-3 with a home run, sacrifice fly, walk, and a game-high three RBIs in the win.

Clemson Head Coach Erik Bakich reflected on his team’s outing, saying:

“Yeah, it was awesome. A college baseball game — really exciting. Honestly, that was one of the most fun games I think I’ve ever been a part of. I know the players had to love it just as much. We saw a little bit of everything: scoring in multiple ways with a suicide squeeze, a safety squeeze, and a slash.(Jacob Jarrell) JJ drove in three runs all by himself with a sacrifice fly, a solo home run, and another RBI single… (Anderson) Nance and (Jacob) Dudan—those guys bring electric stuff, paired with a premier group of starters. NC State is definitely a strong team in any league, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them make a postseason run. But tonight, it was a heck of a win. We needed every run and every bit of effort we could get. I’m incredibly proud of our guys.

Offensively, the Wolfpack registered 12 hits from six different players, highlighted by multiple hits from Ty Head (3-for-4, run), Justin DeCriscio (3-for-3, BB, 2 RBI, run), Chris McHugh (2-for-5, 2 runs) and Josh Hogue (2-for-4, 2B, 2 runs). Alex Sosa (1-for-3, HBP, RBI) and Brayden Fraasman (1-for-4, RBI) each drove in one RBI in the loss.

Picking up the win for the Tigers was Lucas Mahlstedt (3-0), as he entered the game in the sixth inning and went the final 4.0 innings, holding the Wolfpack to just one run on four hits, one walk and four punchouts.

 Suffering the loss for the Wolfpack was Anderson Nance (8-2), as the reliever gave up four runs on seven hits while striking out five hitters over 2.1 innings out of the bullpen.

Aggressiveness on the base paths was a key factor for both teams from the start, as Clemson got on the scoreboard first in the second inning on a Dominic Listi single, a wild pitch and a stolen base followed by a sacrifice fly to center field from Jarrell to put the Tigers in front 1-0.

After double plays halted NC State’s scoring chances in both the second and third innings, the Wolfpack broke through in the bottom of the fourth frame on three straight singles from McHugh, Hogue and DeCriscio, with the last one scoring McHugh from third to tie the game up at 1-1.

 Clemson attempted to get out of the fourth inning without any further damage with a 4-6-3 double play, its third twin killing of the game, only to see a wild pitch to the next NC State hitter allowing Hogue to race in from third base and put the Wolfpack in front for the first time at 2-1 heading into the fifth inning.

The lead did not last for long, as the Tigers retook the lead in the top half of the fifth, as Crighton led off the inning with a triple to left-center field, then later scored on a bunt squeeze play by Andrew Ciufo to tie the game up at 2-2.

Two batters later, following a Cannarella single and a Ciufo stolen base, the Tigers converted on another squeeze play attempt, this time on a bunt from Jarren Purify to score Ciufo and retake the lead at 3-2.

The Wolfpack kept the scoring going in the bottom half of the inning on a walk, single and a ground out to the third baseman where Matt Heavner sprinted all the way around from second base on the play to slide in safely at home to tie the game up at 3-3 after five innings of play.

Clemson once again had an answer for NC State, this time using a solo home run to center field off the bat of Jarrell in the sixth inning to pull back in front at 4-3, only to see the Wolfpack respond with two runs of their own in the bottom half of inning on back-to-back RBI singles by DeCriscio and Sosa to put the home team back out in front at 5-4 with three innings left to play.

The back-and-forth contest continued in the eighth inning, as Clemson roared back in front with five hits, including three RBI singles from Jarrell, TP Wentworth and Ciufo, to jump back out in front at 7-5.

NC State pushed across one more run in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI single by Fraasman to put the score at 7-6 in favor of the Tigers heading into the ninth and final inning.

 That’s where the score would stand as the Tigers stranded two runners on base in the top of the inning and NC State went down in order in the bottom half, nearly tying the game with a long fly ball out to the wall in right field off the bat of Luke Nixon.

The Tigers will play No. 1 seed Georgia Tech in the semifinals on Saturday, May 24, at 1 p.m. ET on ACC Network.