DePauw jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first and held the lead on the way to a 4-1 win over visiting Greenville in the Tigers' home opener at Walker Field. DePauw moved to 2-1, while the Panthers dropped to 0-4. DePauw athletics photo

Playing its first game at Lee Pfund Stadium in 672 days, the Wheaton (Ill.) Thunder opened up its 2021 season with a 6-0 victory over Ripon on Friday night. With the victory, the Thunder recorded the 1,000th win in program history. Wheaton now has a winning stroke of three straight wins in season openers. Kevin Champlin set the tone for the Thunder by throwing five shutout innings while surrendering just one hit and striking out seven Redhawk batters. Brendan Dyer earned the save, throwing the final four innings, scattering four hits, and striking out five. Offensively, the Thunder pushed across six run on 10 hits with one error. Ripon made two errors while collecting five hits.

• Results from Monday/Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday
  
• D3baseball.com scoreboard
• D3baseball.com Previews

University of the Ozarks swept Howard Payne 5-4 and 9-0. Dylan Kuester threw a gem to lead the Eagles to a 9-0 game two win. The right-handed Kuester was dominate with a two-hit complete game shutout. Kuester fanned 11 and walked only one in his outing. Kuester faced 32 batters and allowed just one hit through 8.2 innings. He retired the side in the second, third, fifth, sixth and eighth innings. The senior ran into a bit of trouble in the seventh as he hit a batter and then issued a walk. But Kuester quickly put out the fire with three straight strike outs. Meanwhile, the Eagles offense gave Kueste all he needed and more. In the opener, the Ozarks Eagles scored the game-winning run on an infield error to take game one against Howard Payne 5-4. Benson went five innings as the starter. Zachary Brizendine threw the final two innings to receive the win. The duo combined for seven strikeouts. Lozano and Trey Vance had two hits.

Justin Tucker struck out 14 and the Pacific Lutheran University baseball team's offense exploded for 10 runs in the fifth inning, steamrolling crosstown rival University of Puget Sound 14-5 in Friday's home opener at PLU Field. "Tucker is our ace and he thew like a true ace today," said Head Coach Nolan Soete. "He was dominant and it's easy to play great defense behind pitching like that." Cole Tucker improved to 2-0 on the season with a stellar outing on the mound. The junior righthander fanned 14 batters, two shy of a single-game record in 6 1/3 innings of work. Three of Tucker's seven hits allowed happened in the first inning as he struck of 14 of the opening 21 batters he faced. Jonathan Cohen, Trevor Mason, and Jack Hannah tag-teamed the final 2 2/3 innings, allowing just two hits the rest of the way.

Texas-Dallas used a late rally in the opener and early scoring in the second game of the day as the Comets picked up two home wins over Sul Ross State, 4-3 and 12-2, in American Southwest Conference. The Comets scored four runs, three with two outs, in the bottom of the 6th to rally for a 4-3 win over the visiting Lobos to open Friday's doubleheader. The Comets' momentum carried over into the second game as they would take a 9-2 lead after three innings en route to a 12-2 victory over SRSU in the night cap. The Comets (5-1, 4-1 ASC) will close the three-game weekend series with the Lobos (3-4, 1-4 ASC) with a single game at 12 p.m. Saturday at the UTD Baseball Field.

Texas Lutheran hit and ran its way to a 12-7 non-conference victory Friday night over Southwestern (0-6). At TLU's Katt-Isbel Field, the Bulldogs (4-1) scored a combined nine runs over the seventh and eighth innings to erase the Pirates' 5-3 advantage entering the seventh. The Bulldogs stole seven bases and were ever-aggressive on the bases. Alex Cornman stole three bases, and Cullen Motsinger had two. Cole Irby drove in four runs and had two hits, and Cornman scored twice and had two hits. Blade Strzelczyk and Austin Colon also scored a pair of runs. Randy Huerta and Colon also each had two hits. One of Huerta's hits was a triple to the left-center gap. TLU pitchers struck out 17 Southwestern batters. Starting pitcher Matthew Hickey struck out 12 in six innings. Nolan Tenpas notched the victory in relief. The right-hander worked the final three innings, allowing just two hits and two runs. He struck out five and walked one.

• Like us on Facebook
• Follow D3baseball on Twitter
• Let's hear your opinions on the discussion boards

UST Baseball overwhelmed the Crusaders of Dallas Christian College, outscoring them 33-6 on the day, winning 16-3, 17-3. The Celts kicked off their battle with Dallas Christian with a three-run first inning and deliberately chipped away at the Crusader's pitching staff. RBI single after RBI single would eventually give the Celts the 16-3 victory in game one. Landon Murray would grab the win pitching a complete game. The Celts' bats would stay hot to start the second half of the doubleheader. An Edward Gutierrez RBI double would cap off the Celts dominant performance to lock in the 17-3 win.

Belhaven continued their hot start to the season knocking off McMurry in both ends of a Friday night doubleheader. The Blazers secured the series win with a game to go after beating the War Hawks 12-1 in the first game and 9-2 in the nightcap. Belhaven finished off their 12-run display in game one with five more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning finished off with an RBI double from Reed Bolton. Logan Goodreau came in to pitch a perfect ninth inning and secured the win in the 7-inning contest for the Blazers. Hunter White went 3-4 for Belhaven with a triple and three runs scored. Nick Lucido finished the game going 4-4 with a team-high five RBI and a pair of runs scored. In the second game of the day, the Blazers turned to reigning NCBWA Division III Pitcher of the Month, Brett Sanchez, on the mound. The Blazers righty kept McMurry in check early, setting down the visitors in order through the first three innings. Sanchez picked up his fourth win in as many starts this season and went eight innings allowing just two runs on four hits and tallying eight strikeouts.

Centenary (La.) remained unbeaten at home this season and clinched a series win over the Dubuque University Spartans with a 5-1 win on Friday evening at Shehee Stadium. Senior Luke Royle picked up his first win of the season on Friday in relief of Gents' starting pitcher Conner Poche. Senior first baseman Preston Ludwick and fellow senior right fielder Cody Crowder each paced the Gents' nine-hit effort with two hits apiece. Each also had a run scored and a walk to their credit. Ludwick was 2-5 with two RBI and two runs scored on Thursday and is 4-8 with two RBI and three runs scored so far in the series. Senior second baseman Tyler Erickson, junior catcher Ben Bridges, senior DH Tyler Welch, and Royle had the Gents' RBI on Friday. Dubuque second baseman Cole Destafanis had a game-high three hits and had a walk. The Gents will look to record a series sweep for the second weekend in a row on Saturday.

Corbin Cross picked up two hits and an RBI, and Concordia Texas took the series opener with a 7-4 win over LeTourneau on Friday. Colton Hunter made the start on the hill for the Tornados, punching out five over 4.1 innings of work. Hayden Schroeder recorded his first collegiate win on the mound, picking up a strikeout in 1.1 innings of work out of the bullpen, and Michael Smith earned the save after shutting the door in the ninth.