SALISBURY, Md. – For the second straight year, the seventh-ranked Salisbury University baseball team saw its season come to an end two wins shy of Eastlake, Ohio, as the Sea Gulls dropped a 7-5 decision to the Messiah Falcons in Game 2 of the NCAA Division III Super Regionals on Saturday afternoon at Donnie Williams Sea Gull Baseball Stadium.
Much like in Friday's game – a 4-1 Falcon victory – the starting pitchers took center stage from the onset, with SU's
Aidan Brinsfield and MU's Christian Foltz trading zeroes for three innings. The Falcons' best chance early came in the first when they put men on second and third with one out, but Brinsfield struck out two in a row to escape trouble.
The Sea Gulls broke through in a big way with two out in the fourth.
Jackson Inman walked,
Andrew Kell snuck a single through the left side, and
Cole Swift was plunked to load the bases.
Ben Anderson came up to pinch hit and walloped Foltz's 1-1 pitch over the right field wall for a grand slam, giving SU a lightning bolt of a 4-0 lead.
The Falcons got back in the game with a big sixth. After a walk and an error put men on second and third with no out, Carter Reid brought one home on a pinch-hit sac fly and Luke Ott homered to right to plate two more, cutting the deficit to 4-3 and chasing Brinsfield from the game.
In the seventh, Messiah stood patient and took the lead without the benefit of a hit. A trio of walks loaded the bases, then Reid and Ott were plunked back-to-back to bring in the tying and go-ahead runs. Nick Moyer in turn drew his own free pass to force in another and put the Falcons ahead 6-4.
Isaiah Parido provided a final Falcon blow with a solo home run in the eighth, but the Sea Gulls staged one last rally in the ninth. With men on the corners and one down,
Max Ehrhardt bowled an RBI single up the middle to get SU within 7-5 and put the tying runs on base. MU closer Daniel Knight locked in from there, though, forcing
Danny Sheeler to line out to center and
Dylan Winebrenner to ground into a game-ending fielder's choice, punching Messiah's ticket to its first-ever College World Series.
GAME NOTES
- Ben Anderson homered in his final collegiate at-bat with his pinch-hit grand slam in the fourth. In two pinch-hitting appearances in the series, Anderson finished 2-for-2 with five RBIs.
- Max Ehrhardt went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Dylan Winebrenner tripled for the Sea Gulls' only other extra-base hit.
- Cole Swift walked twice and scored twice.
- Josh Rivera (2-1) took the loss after giving up three runs on a trio of walks in 1.1 relief innings.
- Aidan Brinsfield pitched into the sixth in his final start of the year, giving up three runs (two earned) on five hits in 5.1 frames with two walks and six strikeouts on 92 pitches.
The Sea Gulls finish the 2025 season with a record of 34-10, their 19th conference title in program history, and a fifth consecutive NCAA regional championship.
Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with affiliate membership in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (football, men's & women's swimming) and the Coastal Lacrosse Conference (men's lacrosse). With over 500 student-athletes in 23 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the nation's most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, featuring dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on and off the field. The Sea Gulls have won a combined 23 team national championships, 24 individual national championships, and 205 conference championships, and have produced 51 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 follow on social media @SUSeaGulls.
