CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The second-ranked and second-seeded Salisbury University baseball team opened the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship with a 7-3 defeat at the hands of the 19th-ranked and seventh-seeded East Texas Baptist Tigers on Friday evening at PG Cares Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Tigers locked in from the get-go to take an early lead. Carson Wilson singled with one out in the top of the first inning, then after a Jordan Hara double Ben Lea brought Wilson home with an RBI groundout.
• In the third, ETBU loaded the bases with no out on a hit batsman and two singles. After Hara lined into a double play, Lea brought home one with an infield hit, and Brett Wagner powered a two-run double to right center to make it 4-0 Tigers.
• ETBU added another in the fourth after Nicholas Chavez was plunked to lead off, moved up on a sac bunt and scored on a Jacob Evangelista RBI single to make it 5-0.
• In the fifth, Jase Jones singled with two outs and Nick Massarini reached on a two-base error, setting up Chavez for a two-run base knock to boost the ETBU advantage to 7-0.
• The Sea Gulls had no answer for Tiger starter Sayers Collins, who struck out 10 batters over 4.2 scoreless innings before a passing weather cell forced a delay of one hour and 45 minutes.
• Collins stayed on the hill after the delay, getting Ben Anderson to roll out to second and strand a pair of men on base.
• Salisbury finally got on the board in the sixth inning. Kavi Caster led off with a walk and stole second base. Two batters later Jacob Ference tagged a line drive two-run home run to left field to get SU within 7-2.
• The Tigers had a chance to put it away with run-scoring chances in the sixth, seventh and eighth, but the Sea Gulls got out of trouble each time, stranding four runners in total.
• Stephen Rice led off the bottom of the ninth with a double and eventually scored on a wild pitch, but it was too little, too late and the Tigers finished off a 7-3 win.

SALISBURY GAME NOTES

• Jacob Ference broke the Salisbury single-season home run record with his 14th big fly of the season, severing a tie with Dave Westervelt (1998) and Danny Sheeler (2023). He finished 1-for-4 with the two-run shot.
• Stephen Rice went 1-for-4 with a double and a run scored. The two-bagger was the 51st in his career, tying Mike Celenza '10 for the SU program record.
• Scott Cameron was plunked twice, giving him 27 HBPs for the season and moving him within one of the single-season SU record held by Justin Meekins (2017).
• Jimmy Adkins (6-1) suffered his first loss of the season after getting knocked out in the fourth inning. He allowed five runs on seven hits with no walks, three hit batsmen and two strikeouts on 51 pitches.
• The Sea Gull bullpen kept SU in the game by combining for just two unearned runs over 5.2 innings. Leading the way was Todd Hendrix, who went 2.1 scoreless frames in the sixth through eighth.
• Salisbury has lost in pool play of the Division III World Series for the first time in three years; the Sea Gulls swept through the group stages in 2021 and 2022 on the way to the championship series.

ETBU GAME NOTES

• Brett Wagner's two-run double proved the big blow for the Tigers in a 2-for-5 day.
• Ben Lea finished 1-for-5 with a run and two RBIs.
• Jacob Evangelista batted 3-for-4 with an RBI from the leadoff slot, while Carson Wilson went 1-for-5 with two runs scored in the two-hole.
• Sayers Collins (12-2) worked a 114-pitch masterpiece both sides of the rain delay for the Tigers, striking out 13 batters against two walks over seven innings of two-run ball, three-hit ball.
• Will Croft took the baton from Collins and went two strong innings, striking out three, to get ETBU over the finish line.

UP NEXT

• The Sea Gulls will have their backs against the wall in an elimination game on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. EDT (4:30 p.m. CDT), facing the loser of Friday's final contest between third-seeded Lynchburg and sixth-seeded Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with the New Jersey Athletic Conference for football and men's and women's swimming, and the Coastal Lacrosse Conference for men's lacrosse. With over 500 student-athletes in 21 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, and dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on-and-off the field. The Sea Gulls have celebrated 23 team national championships, 24 individual national champions, 196 conference championships and 44 Academic All-Americans.

To Make Tomorrow Yours at Salisbury University, and learn more about Sea Gull Athletics' tradition of excellence, visit www.SUSeaGulls.com or on social media @SUSeaGulls.