ATLANTA - Jed Bradley recorded 10 strikeouts en route to his fourth straight win, and Buford High graduate Chase Burnette went 3-for-4 with a home run as No. 5 Georgia Tech (39-9) completed a three-game sweep of Illinois-Chicago (17-26) with a 5-2 victory Sunday at Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta.
The Jackets recorded their seventh weekend series sweep of the season with the win.
Bradley won his eighth game of the year after scattering two runs on eight hits over six innings. He struck out 10 batters while issuing just one walk. The sophomore left-hander has won four straight games.
“He [Jed Bradley] threw the ball well,” Yellow Jackets coach Danny Hall said. “He had the one inning where they got some hits off of him, but I thought bounced back from that and made some pitches when we needed him to and settled in. It is like I have said many times, he is giving us a chance to win every Sunday and has done a great job.”
Burnette led Georgia Tech with his 3-for-4 performance at the plate. His third hit of the day came as a solo home run to right field to leadoff the sixth inning and broke a 2-2 tie. It was the 13th home run of the season for Burnette, and came off of UIC left-hander Eric Wyman.
Wyman picked up the loss after allowing two runs on four hits in 4 1/3 innings of relief.
The Jackets added another run later in the inning, when senior Jay Dantzler scored from third on a wild pitch by Wyman that extended the lead to 4-2.
Dantzler closed out the scoring for Tech in the seventh with an RBI single to right field.
Freshmen Buck Farmer and Luke Bard combined with senior Andrew Robinson to allow just one hit in three scoreless innings out of the bullpen. Each registered a strikeout while Robinson earned his fifth save of the season.
The Jackets started the scoring on the day in the bottom of the second. Dantzler brought home junior Thomas Nichols with a sac fly to center, and UIC starter Matt Salemi walked Plagman with the bases loaded four batters later to give Tech a 2-0 lead.
The Flames began the fourth inning with back-to-back doubles by Jason Ganek and Matt Serna to cut the lead to 2-1. Bradley had allowed just two hits while striking out six up to this point. UIC tied the game at 2-2 with another run in the fourth, coming on a double to centerfield by Steve McGuiggan.
Bradley recorded his ninth and tenth strikeout of the game to end the top half of the sixth before giving way to the bullpen.
The Jackets will host Miami in a crucial three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series next weekend at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Game times are 7 p.m. Friday, 7 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. All three games will air live on CSS.