SALISBURY, Md. – The seventh-ranked Salisbury University baseball team gained the inside track on the first day of the 2026 NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament, smoking the Bridgewater State Bears, 11-2, in the first game of the Salisbury Regional on Friday morning at Donnie Williams Sea Gull Baseball Stadium.
With the win – their 13th in a row dating back to Apr. 13 – the Sea Gulls advance to the winners' side of the double elimination bracket and will face the winner of Friday's second game between Mount Union and Hobart on Saturday at 12 p.m.
The Sea Gulls manufactured a pair to take the lead in the second inning.
Jake Witter singled to lead off and moved to second on a sac bunt by
Max Ehrhardt. After
Griffin Shirk worked a walk to put two on, the pair took off on a delayed double steal, and Witter scored as the throw from the catcher sailed beyond third base. Shirk moved up to third on the error and scored on a
Mickey Haynes sac fly to put SU up 2-0.
The Bears got one back in the third on a walk, single, groundout to move the runners up, and a balk to force in Cam Beltramini to make it 2-1. Despite walking the next batter to put two on again,
Aidan Brinsfield shook it off and got the next man to fly out to center to retire the side. Then in the fourth, Salisbury put a man on third with two outs for Haynes, who cranked one to left that bounced over the wall for a ground-rule RBI double, making it 3-1.
SU cracked it open in the fifth. With two down and nobody on,
Jackson Inman singled and
Jay Newton walked, then the two broke on a double steal with another bad throw down allowing Inman to score. Witter walked and Ehrhardt snuck a base hit through the left side to score Newton, followed by a hit batsman and bases-loaded walk to Haynes to force in another.
Ethan Ruiz then hit a grounder back to the mound, but the BSU first baseman dropped the throw, allowing two more runners to come home and put the Sea Gulls ahead 8-1.
Salisbury tacked on one more in the seventh on an Ehrhardt sac fly, then in the eighth Inman clobbered a two-run homer to right to make it 11-1. The Bears scratched one across in the ninth on an RBI groundout but it was too little, too late as the Sea Gulls easily booked a trip to the winners' bracket.
GAME NOTES
- Jackson Inman tagged his 11th home run of the season, a two-run shot in the eighth to cap a 2-for-5 day with a pair of runs scored and a steal. Inman is now tied for ninth on the SU single-season leaderboard; his next big fly will tie him with four others for fifth.
- Mickey Haynes produced in all four of his plate appearances, going 1-for-1 with a double, stolen base, sac fly, two walks, and three RBIs.
- Max Ehrhardt finished 2-for-3 with a steal, two runs, and two rib-eyes.
- Jake Witter reached base all four times he came to bat, finishing 2-for-2 with a double, stolen bag, two walks, and two runs.
- Ethan Ruiz swiped two of the Sea Gulls' nine bases on the day with seven others taking one bag.
- Aidan Brinsfield (9-3) muscled his way through seven solid innings, giving up one run on five hits with four walks and four strikeouts on 102 pitches. With his 39th collegiate start, Brinsfield tied Jimmy Adkins '23 for fifth-most in program history; he is now also five strikeouts away from 200 for his career.
- Cole Williams tossed a scoreless eighth, including a pickoff at first base, as part of his 69th career pitching appearance. He is now tied with Adkins for second on the SU all-time leaderboard.
- Josh Rivera handled the ninth, giving up a run on a walk but bending no further.
The Sea Gulls will face either Mount Union or Hobart on Saturday at approximately 12 p.m., following an 8:30 a.m. elimination game. The winner of that contest will advance to Sunday's regional final, while the loser will turn around and play an elimination game on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
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), Coastal Lacrosse Conference (men's lacrosse), State University of New York Athletic Conference (field hockey), and Colonial Women's Golf Conference (women's golf). 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 211 conference championships, and have produced 54 Academic All-Americans.
To Make Tomorrow Yours at Salisbury University, and learn more about Sea Gull Athletics' tradition of excellence, visit SUSeaGulls.com or follow on social media @SUSeaGulls.
