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| Washington College was able to celebrate during the game but at the final out, it was Marymount who celebrated a 15-6 season opening win. More Photos d3photography.com photo by Mike Atherton |
Piedmont University is thriving in its season-opening trip out West against #22 Chapman, especially late, as the Lions snagged a 9-3 victory in game two of their showdown with the top 25 foe clinching the series with still a game to go. Piedmont took the first lead of the game when Ben Connelly doubled to left to lead off the Lions' 3rd inning, later scoring on a ground out to second by Jack Gilsenan who went 2-for-5 in the extra-inning win for Piedmont that started off the series with the Panthers on Friday evening. A quiet 8th set the stage for the dramatic ending once again less than 24 hours after these two squads played an extra-inning affair the night before. It wouldn't be quiet in the 9th though as the Lions roared out to a lead with power at the plate started off by a Carter Few single and a walk drawn by Ben Connelly. Piedmont's pitching silenced Chapman's bats in the 9th as the Lions claimed the victory with little rally in the final inning for a 9-3 victory claiming the series out West.
George Fox put together an electric team performance in the first game of the doubleheader to level the series with a 8-2 win. , but was unable to continue this momentum in the final game, falling to the Cal Lutheran Kingsmen 9-0 to drop the series, 1-2. Game one was a classic pitcher's duel, with both teams limited to just three hits through the first seven innings. When the Bruins finally found their rhythm in the eighth, they made it count. Fox exploded to tack on five insurance runs in the final inning. With the 8-2 lead reliever Ryder Edwards had plenty of cushion, and he shut the door decisively, sealing the dominant win the level the series heading into the final game. Cal Lutheran flipped the script in the second game by pouring nine unanswered runs on the Bruins.
Dominic Masino drove in the winning runs in the bottom of the seventh to end a back-and-forth affair as Kean University defeated visiting Drew University, 7-5. Drew went up 6-5 in the top of the sixth but Cougars closed out the scoring with three runs in the seventh. Jason Basilicata (1-0) earned the win in relief. He allowed no runs and four hits in three and two thirds innings of work. He struck out four. The pitching staff combined for 13 strikeouts on the day.
Blake Pou homered three times and drove in eight runs, Luke Short posted a pair of homers with four RBIs and Will Jennewein collected four hits, three RBIs and four runs scored in Sewanee's 24-14 win over Capital University on a windy Saturday at Montgomery, completing a three-game for the Tigers. Sewanee (3-0) plated four runs in the second, two in the third, sixth in the fourth and 10 more in the fifth, including two home runs for Poe in the fifth inning. He then belted a two-run homer in the seventh to end the game early. The wind was blowing straight out (maybe a bit toward rightfield) at 20-30 miles-per-hour the entire game. Pou finished 4-for-5 with three runs scored to go with the eight RBIs while Will Irvin scored three runs and drove in three, Owen Andress registered two hits and two runs scored and Sebastian Leinberger added two hits and four runs scored. Jake Nevle pitched well for two innings before running into trouble in a seven-run third inning for the Comets (0-3), giving up a two-run homer and a two-run double. Reliever Ben Weiser (1-0) was greeted with a two-run home run as well but got the final two outs of that inning before retiring 6-of-7 batters in the fourth and fifth. He sat through the 10-run bottom of the fifth and ran into trouble in the sixth, giving up five runs on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts in three-plus innings of work.
Facing the Hood College Blazers for a second consecutive day, Methodist conceded runs for the first time in the three–game series, falling behind 6–4 on Saturday. Down two runs heading into the final frame, the Monarchs successfully brought three runs across the plate to claim the series sweep. Chase Carroll shoved from the mound in the eighth and the ninth, keeping Methodist within striking distance of Hood. After recording just one hit from the fourth inning to the eighth inning, the Monarchs came up clutch in the ninth when Tristen Melvin and Freeman began the frame with back–to–back doubles, scoring one run. With runners on first and second and with no outs, Joey Sweeney laid a bunt down the third base line and safe at first on an error. While the Blazers were expressing displeasure for the call, the Monarchs continued to run the bases, with Greene advancing to third and Freeman crossing home to tie the game at 6–6. Still with no outs and the winning run 90 feet away, Justin Blunt became the hero when he hit a chopper to first base that allowed Greene to slide safely into home.
The University of Redlands baseball team (6-1) completed the series sweep of Luther College Saturday afternoon at The Yard, coming back in the ninth inning for the win in game one, 8-7, and riding Nathan Buchan to a 5-3 game two win. Luther made it 10 combined runs over two innings as they tied the game on a home run and retook the lead on a sacrifice fly. Failing to score in the eighth the Bulldogs began the ninth with a double by Preece. Kirkland then fought off a pitch for a single that guaranteed at least extra innings. Following a fly out and strikeout, Barsness got his opportunity. He worked the count and delivered the walk-off double to win the game. The Bulldogs got things started early in game two with a four-run second inning. Brett Edwards came in for starter Buchan, who threw 8.1 innings, and got out two with a strikeout. Luther, though, did bring those two runners around, but the final batter grounded out as Redlands won their sixth-straight game.
Emory University played a thrilling series finale, winning 7-6, against the No. 19 ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Staggs on Saturday afternoon despite the rainy weather. The Eagles improve to 3-3 on the season with their two series wins against the Staggs and were led on the mound by junior Adam Geller. Geller notched a career-high eight strikeouts and allowed just one run across 5.2 innings pitched. Offensively, teammates Aidan Conley and Blake Dinçman combined for three hits and five RBI in the matchup including a triple from Conley. Senior Bennett Speicher closed the game out on the mound and got the win tossing three innings and striking out two batters.
The 15th-ranked Trinity University Tigers closed out its opening weekend of the season with a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference sweep of Austin College, winning Saturday's doubleheader by final scores of 27-4 and 19-8. Trinity opened the day with a 12-run first inning as the team batted around twice to set the tone for the day. From there it was just a matter of getting to the seventh inning and enacting the run-rule, as the Tigers scored in all but one inning of the shortened game. Austin College had control of game two in the early innings, taking a 7-4 advantage into the bottom of the fifth against Trinity. The Tigers answered with eight runs over the next two innings and never looked back. A six-run eighth inning set up the run-rule once again and Trinity ended the game with just one out in the inning. Trinity had five different players hit home runs across the doubleheader. Nicholas Jones had a monster day after going 4-for-7 at the plate with seven runs scored and five RBI. He was a single away from hitting for the cycle in game two, going 3-for-3 with four runs and four RBI.
Finishing off a season-opening series sweep, the nationally-ranked Christopher Newport Captains were led by Benedict brothers, Jake and Sam, in an 8-7 victory over Messiah University (0-3) on Saturday morning as the twins capped an outstanding weekend with three more hits and three runs combined. Christopher Newport improved to 3-0 after answer a pair of game-tying innings from Messiah and earned a one-run win at home. After a pair of multi-hit games on Friday, Jake Benedict added a third straight multi-hit performance from the leadoff spot as he finished Saturday's game 2-for-5. Hitting behind his brother, Sam Benedict was 1-for-3 with a sacrifice fly and a pair of runs scored. Also highlighting the offensive production was junior Ayden Stuffel with a two-run home run in the bottom of the third inning.
Pacific Lutheran proved it can hang with some of the nation's best, opening the 2025 season with a doubleheader split against eighth-ranked Pomona-Pitzer. PLU left runs on the table in a 10-2 setback in the opener before pouncing early and often in an 11-7 victory in the nightcap at Alumni Field. Rutger Youch scored both of PLU's runs in the opener, a game that saw the Lutes (1-1) strand 11 runners on base against the nationally-ranked Sagehens. PLU vented its frustration on Pomona-Pitzer in the first inning of game two, exploding for eight runs, capitalizing on a Sagehen staff that struggled to find the zone. Pomona-Pitzer walked six batters and hit two more, opening the floodgates for the PLU offense that also had an RBI single from Youch and a two-RBI single from Barber.
Adrian College returned to action on Saturday with a doubleheader to complete their opening weekend in Georgia. The No. 20 Bulldogs opened the day taking on the host school, LaGrange College, but struggled to piece together the offense after the first inning and lost game one, 13-2. In the night cap, the Bulldogs faced off with Pfeiffer University and came away with a massive 20-5 win to split the day and come home 2-1 on the weekend. LaGrange jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first which was quickly answered by Adrian in the bottom half. LaGrange went on to tie the game again in the second before taking the lead in the fourth. LaGrange put up a four-run fifth inning before posting three in the seventh, one in the eighth, and two in the ninth enroute top the win. In the nightcap, Adrian jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning by taking advantage of three Pfeiffer University errors. Pfeiffer struck in the fourth inning, but was answered by three runs from the Bulldogs. Pfeiffer added three in the fifth inning which the Bulldogs answered with a 10-run explosive inning.
Hardin-Simmons split a doubleheader with St. Thomas on Saturday afternoon at Hunter Field, falling 6-3 in the first game before taking the nightcap 5-4 to win the season-opening series. In the first game, the Celts jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third inning. The Cowboys scored a run on an RBI groundout and another run on a balk to narrow the deficit to 5-2 in the fifth. HSU added another run in the sixth and had runners at second and third but couldn't get them in to tie the game. UST added a run in the seventh and closed it out to even the series. Brock Calvillo led the Cowboys with three of their eight hits in the contest. In the nightcap, both starting pitchers were locked in early. UST scored a run in the fourth inning after a double, groundout and wild pitch. HSU tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a solo home run by Quincy McGraw, his first home run as a Cowboy. The big blow for the Cowboys came in the fifth inning when transfer Jake Trapani hit a three-run home run to give HSU a 4-1 lead. In the ninth inning, UST led off reaching on a Jacob Hollingsworth throwing error and a single put runners on the corners with no outs. Hollingsworth made up for the error when he snared a ball ticketed to left and fired to first for a double play. Brady Bennett then got Gabe Garner to hit a slow roller to shortstop and Garner made a great play to cut him down to end the game, Bennett earned the save and earned the win in relief in the first game.
Belhaven polished off an opening weekend sweep of Mount Saint Mary College on Saturday with a pair of offensive onslaughts that led to lopsided final scores, 27-3 and 12-0. The Blazers were dominant in the opening game of the day which was a continuation of Friday's second game that was suspended in the bottom of the first inning due to rain. The Blazers were already on top 6-1 when play was stopped Friday and they kept the foot on the gas on Saturday. The Blazers scored in all six innings they went to the plate in the run-rule win including scoring six or more in three of the first four frames. The 27-run outburst is the most in a single game for the Blazers since they scored 29 in a 29-13 win over Millsaps on April 5, 2022. In the second game of the day, Belhaven kept the dominance rolling by jumping on the scoreboard early and never looking back. Owen Abney set the tone with an RBI double in the first inning, while Cole Fletcher and Hayden Roberts helped fuel the offense with three hits each. Abney drove in four runs on the day, and Parker Ryan added an RBI triple in the sixth to pad the lead. On the mound, Kade May (1-0) delivered a dominant performance, tossing six shutout innings while allowing just four hits and striking out four. Thomas Collins, Ben Hoover and Sage Rivere combined for three scoreless innings of relief to complete the shutout.