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| The game between New Jersey City University (NJCU) and Centenary (N.J.) on Thursday ended in a dramatic 12-12 tie after the game was called due to darkness. The Gothic Knights (1-0-1) appeared to be in complete control early on, jumping to a 7-0 lead by the end of the first inning. However, the Cyclones (0-3-1) slowly chipped away at the lead, eventually tying the game in the eighth inning. New Jersey City athletics photo |
Moravian University earned its first victory of the 2025 season with a 10-6 win at Kean (N.J.) in non-conference action Thursday afternoon. Graduate student designated hitter Cole Cherkas connected on a one-out double in the top of the first inning to become the 42nd player in program history to reach 100 career hits. Nobody had the upperhand until Moravian retook a 6-4 lead in the top of the fifth with a pair of runs, then tacked on three runs in the top of the seventh inning for a 9-4 edge. Kean loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth in a comeback bid but was unable to score. Moravian had ten hits in the game with Cherkas going 3-for-5 with an RBI, a run and two doubles, and Cherkas now has 102 career hits.
Nebraska Wesleyan teed off the Jeff Christy era with a sweep of Hamline University Thursday afternoon. The Prairie Wolves won game one 11-5, before taking game two 11-10 in 10 innings. Despite coming out fired up for the 2025 season, Nebraska Wesleyan ceded a two run home run in the first inning. However, NWU tied the game in the bottom half of the inning. The Prairie Wolf offense continued to pour it on in the fifth. On the mound, Trevor Storer delivered a strong opening performance, giving up six hits and allowing three earned runs while striking out two over 5.1 innings of work. Nebraska Wesleyan picked up where they ended game one but Hamlinbe improved so the teams were tied after nine innings. In the 10th, Hamline threatened by getting one runner to second base with two outs before Brady Bell got a key lineout to ensure Nebraska Wesleyan had the final shot to end the game. The Prairie Wolves took advantage of the clutch out as Jake Gerardis would score on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Merkel, which gave Nebraska Wesleyan a thrilling 11-10 come from behind victory.
William Paterson (4-0) used a ninth-inning sacrifice fly to remain undefeated, walking off with a 4-3 home victory against Stevens (1-3). Stevens made it a 3-3 game in the eighth with a walk, base hit, sacrifice bunt and RBI-single. Junior third baseman Jordan Brown started the bottom of the ninth inning with a double to left-center field, and was sacrificed to third by senior catcher Eliot Germanson. The Ducks intentionally walked Colon to put runners at the corners with one out, but Ramirez made them pay when he lifted a fly ball to deep center, a sacrifice fly that plated Brown for the game-winning run.
Johns Hopkins hosted Messiah in its fourth game of the season Thursday afternoon, downing the Falcons 8-2. The Blue Jay pitching staff commanded the strike zone throughout the afternoon, with starter Drew Grumbles and relievers William Boneno and Grant Meert combining to strike out 15 of 27 batters. Alex Shane opened the scoring up early on a first-inning solo shot to right center, with Caleb Cyr adding an additional run via the long-ball. Soon after, in his next at-bat, Shane delivered yet another home run which proved to be the game-winning hit. Hopkins (4-0) bats stayed red-hot, adding four additional insurance runs in the seventh, on back-to-back doubles by Cyr and Dillon Souvignier. Before the game was finalized, Messiah (1-6) was able to manufacture a pair of runs avoiding the shutout before Meert made an appearance, striking out both batters he faced.
Hiram split its Opening Day doubleheader with Westminster on Thursday afternoon, winning Game 1 (19-3, seven innings) before dropping Game 2 (6-3). Hiram was clicking on all cylinders in the season-opener, scoring eight runs in the second inning and another 11 runs over the final three innings of a 19-run outburst. The top-three hitters in the batting order combined for eight hits and 12 RBI, as Chaisson Marrs, Hal Walker Jr. and Evan Fairbanks fueled the victory. The second game of the day played more to the cool, rainy conditions, as the two teams combined for 18 hits over nine innings in what shaped out to be a 6-3 loss. The Terriers got 5 scoreless innings of relief between graduate student Sam Boyle and senior Jacob Koces, but Westminster's Tyson Djakovich logged five shutout innings to keep the Hiram offense at bay in the first half of the game.
Widener broke a tie in the top of the ninth to secure a 9-8 victory over the Rutgers-Camden Scarlet Raptors. Widener started fast, putting up two runs in the first inning thanks to a Kevin Bukowski home run over right-center field. The Pride kept the momentum going in the second, adding two more runs on a Brendan Raven Home run to extend the lead to 4-1. The third inning proved to be the biggest of the day for Widener, as they exploded for four runs, highlighted by Sean Burke's three-run homer. Rutgers-Camden responded with four runs of their own in the bottom of the third and added one more run in the fourth, tying the game at 8-8. The Widener pitching staff took control in the later innings, as John Najdek tossed two scoreless innings, keeping the game knotted at 8-8. Ryan Bauerle stroked a one out double and advanced to third on a wild pitch before Sean Burke came up clutch delivering an RBI double to give Widener the lead. Ethan Lytle shut the door in the bottom of the ninth, striking out two batters and securing the save.
Washington and Lee University secured their first nine inning shutout since 2020 on Thursday afternoon, blanking Mary Baldwin University 7-0 at Cap'n Dick Smith Field. The Generals (3-1) found some momentum in the bottom of the third putting the Blue and White up 3-0. This was all that was needed. Jimmy Horvath (1-0) picked up his first win of the season after tossing three shutout innings with one walk and two strikeouts. Nathan DeWitte threw two innings in relief, posting a clean sheet with four punch outs. Will Hanna, Andrew Flood, Evan Blair, and Henry Steene each tossed one inning this afternoon, all four allowing one hit, with Blair striking out three batters and Flood punching out two. The victory also marked W&L's eighth consecutive game against Mary Baldwin and their first win over them since 2023. The win marked their first nine inning shut out since Feb. 15, 2020 where they defeated Averett 8-0. The Blue and White also shut out Southern Virginia last season, 14-0, in a seven inning contest.
Marymount took to the diamond on Thursday evening against Hood College in front of the home crowd. Winning 13-5, the Saints move to 6-1 on the year. After Jay Wandell threw a scoreless top of the first, the Saints plated a pair of runs in the bottom frame via an RBI single off the bat of Andrew Schaeb and an RBI from Jonathan McMath to take the early lead. Quincy Via bunted in a run to keep the scoring going in the bottom of the second, followed by an RBI single from Bobby Leitzel. Ryan Cuadros rounded out the three-run bottom of the third with a single up the middle to drive in Leitzel. Hood pushed across a pair of runs in the top of the fourth to cut into the deficit, but Marymount answered with three runs in the corresponding frame. Schaeb knocked another RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to kick off a four-run frame. Graham Jones took over on the mound with two away in the eighth, striking out the first batter he faced and closed it out in the ninth with another punch out.
The University of Mary Washington bounced back with a 3-1 victory over Hampden-Sydney on Thursday afternoon in Farmville, Va. The Eagles jumped out to an early lead thanks in part to Jacob Christenbury's RBI double that scored Oliver Martin in the third inning. Jackson Myers got the start for UMW and turned in a solid performance, departing with the lead with two outs in the fifth and six strikeouts to his name. Ty Lowe came in for Myers and dominated in his 3.2 innings of work, striking out two and working around a walk and a hit. UMW gave Lowe some insurance in the sixth when Bobby Ayscue doubled home Lowe to give Mary Washington a 2-0 lead, then in the seventh, UMW scored its final run of the day when Connor Hassan scored on a fielding error. Andrew Poon and Connor Hassan combined to work the final inning as Hassan recorded the save, working around a walk to strand the tying-run at first base.
La Roche came through with its first win of the 2025 regular season, taking down nationally recognized, Washington & Jefferson, 3-2 in a rain shortened, six inning game. The Redhawks wasted no time responding, plating all three of their runs in the top of the third. W&J scored the final run of the game in the bottom of the fifth on a wild pitch. Eli Thomas took the victory on the mound, tossing four innings, allowing two runs, three hits, five walks and struck out two. Josh Dreyer ended the game with a 2-for-3 outing, picking up a pair of RBI.