FLORENCE, Ky. – The Spring Arbor University baseball team opened its 2026 season on the road against Georgetown College, earning one win in the three-game series. The Cougars dropped Friday's opener 4-2 before splitting Saturday's doubleheader with a 12-1 win and a 10-7 loss.
On Friday night, Georgetown struck first with a run in the bottom of the third inning, but SAU answered in the fourth when
Braydon Gregory laced an RBI double to tie the game. The Tigers responded with two runs in the home half of the inning to regain the lead, and the score remained that way until the eighth. The Cougars capitalized on a Georgetown error to pull within one, but couldn't complete the comeback.
Gregory and
Zach Adams each tallied two hits in the opener.
Colin Snyder took the loss, allowing three runs on five hits over 3.0 innings.
Josh Murphy and
Lucas Dawson combined to deliver four shutout innings of relief to keep SAU within striking distance.
The Cougar bats came alive in game one of Saturday's doubleheader, exploding for 12 runs on 10 hits.
Kyler Hinken was outstanding in his season debut, allowing just one run on three hits across five strong innings.
Michael Wambaugh added a scoreless inning in relief to cap the dominant 12-1 victory.
In the series finale, SAU appeared poised to secure the series win.
Connor Dee launched a three-run home run in the fourth inning to give the Cougars the lead, and Spring Arbor carried a 5-3 advantage into the bottom of the sixth. However, a six-run inning by the Tigers swung the momentum and proved to be the difference.
The Cougars continued to battle.
Brenden Phillips delivered a two-run homer in the seventh to trim the deficit to 9-7, but Georgetown answered with a run in the bottom half and held on for the 10-7 win. Phillips finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs while
Joey Tessmer added two hits and a run scored.
Up next, Spring Arbor heads west to face Benedictine Mesa on Feb. 19 before opening a three-game series against No. 15 Arizona Christian on Feb. 20-21.
