ATLANTA — An eight-run first inning helped lift Georgia Tech to a 12-2 victory over the Cornell baseball team at Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Drew Burress went 2-for-4 with two home runs and drove in a team-high four RBI. Burress' home runs came in the Yellow Jackets' eight-run first, featuring six of their seven hits being extra-base hits, five of which occurred with two outs.

Mike Becchetti joined Burress in having a multi-home run game, collecting a pair of opposite-field home runs. Burress (four RBI), Becchetti (three RBI), John Giesler (three RBI), and Bobby Zmarzlak (two RBI) drove in all 12 of Georgia Tech's runs on the day.

Aeden Finateri registered his second victory on the season after fanning a career-high 10 batters over five scoreless innings. Finateri allowed just four hits and walked one Big Red batter.

Offensively for Cornell, freshman catcher Mark Quatrani was one of four Big Red players to register their first collegiate hits as he went 2-for-4 with a ninth-inning solo home run. Junior William Jaun (1-for-4, double) and fellow freshmen Kevin Hager (1-for-3, RBI) and Owen Carlson (1-for-4) were the others to collect their first base knocks in a Cornell uniform.

Freshman left-handed pitcher Huxley Holcombe only pitched the first inning for the Big Red after allowing eight runs on seven hits and issuing a pair of free passes. Senior right-hander Von Baker held Georgia Tech in check during his four-plus innings of relief, surrendering two hits and one run, which came on a fifth-inning home run by Becchetti.

Senior right-hander Story Kimura slammed the door on Georgia Tech in the seventh inning, inheriting a bases-loaded jam with no outs, but came out unscathed after posting a pair of swinging strikeouts and a fly out to end the frame. Kimura finished the day with a career-high four strikeouts over two scoreless innings of relief. The lone hit he allowed came on an infield single in the eighth.

GAME NOTES
• Saturday was the sixth all-time meeting between Cornell and Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets evened the series at 3-all with the triumph, posting its third victory over the Big Red in the last four meetings.

• Quatrani became the second Cornell player in as many years to log his first collegiate home run in his college debut. Sophomore infielder TJ Swidorski blasted his first collegiate round-tripper in his first career at-bat against James Madison on Feb. 25, 2023.

• Holcombe, Quatrani, Carlson, and Hager all made their collegiate debuts for the Big Red on Saturday.

UP NEXT
Cornell and Georgia Tech will close out their three-game series from Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium on Sunday with a 1 p.m. first pitch. Junior left-hander William Jaun is scheduled to toe the rubber for the first time in his Big Red career and will oppose the Yellow Jackets' Mason Patel (0-0, 9.00 ERA). Game action will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.