SALISBURY, Md. – The seventh-ranked Salisbury University baseball team can once again count itself among college baseball's elite. Behind a walk-off single in the bottom of the 12th inning off the bat of
Jake Witter, the Sea Gulls outlasted the Hobart Statesmen, 4-3, in the championship round of the NCAA Division III Baseball Regionals on Sunday afternoon at Donnie Williams Sea Gull Baseball Stadium.
The win – the team's 15th straight since Apr. 13 – clinches SU its sixth consecutive NCAA Regional crown and 11th in program history. With the win, the Sea Gulls will advance to face the University of Chicago in the Super Regionals next Friday and Saturday at a location to be determined.
After three innings of scoreless deadlock, the Statesmen made the first maneuver in the fourth inning. Jack Farnen and Cole Conte led off with back-to-back base hits, then after a sac bunt Quinn Dashefsky served a line drive into left for a two-run single, putting the visitors up 2-0. The teams settled in from there until Hobart manufactured another in the seventh, as Jack O'Neil singled to lead off and came around on a steal, groundout, and Will Jones sac fly to make it 3-0.
The Sea Gulls came roaring back against the Statesman bullpen to tie it in the home seventh.
Griffin Shirk worked a one-out walk and
Mickey Haynes doubled to put two in scoring position.
Ethan Ruiz followed with a two-run double to the right center gap to get it within 3-2. Then after loading the bases via a walk and failed fielder's choice,
Jackson Inman lifted a flyball deep enough to left to plate Ruiz and knot it up at 3-3.
Salisbury had a chance to win it in the ninth, putting men on first and second with one out, but Hobart caught a break when Haynes was thrown out at third trying to advance on a wild pitch and
Trent Waire rolled out to short, sending the game to extras.
In the top of the 12th, Hobart put a man on third with one out, but
Bryce Sterling struck Farnen out looking and got Cole Conte to ground out to Inman at third to retire the side. Waire got things going in the bottom of the 12th on a walk, and Inman reached on an error to put two men on. After a failed sac bunt saw Waire thrown out at third, Witter stepped into the box and laced an 0-1 pitch into shallow center that bounced over Jack Byrnes' head, allowing Inman to cruise home with the winning run.
The gold-clad Gulls then poured out of the dugout toward Witter, who met them just beyond second base to inaugurate the latest episode of "Gull Pile U."
GAME NOTES
- Jake Witter finished 2-for-6 with the game-winning, game-ending RBI single in the 12th inning for SU's fourth walk-off win of the season.
- Ethan Ruiz finished 1-for-3 with a two-run double and the game-tying run in the seventh.
- Mickey Haynes went 2-for-5 with a double and a run scored.
- Bryce Sterling (4-0) quadrupled his regular workload and pitched four scoreless innings from the ninth through 12th, scattering three hits with no walks and four strikeouts on 55 pitches. The outing was the closer's longest since going four innings during his freshman year against Ursinus on Mar. 15, 2023.
- Tyler Villa did yeoman's work keeping the Sea Gulls in the game over seven innings of three-run, 10-hit ball. Villa walked none and struck out one on an efficient 94 pitches.
- Garrett Beaver spun a scoreless eighth in his 65th career appearance, moving him within one of Nick Dunk '06 for seventh-most in program history.
- Sterling was named MVP of the Salisbury Regional after tossing five scoreless innings over two appearances across the weekend. Joining Sterling on the Regional All-Tournament Team for Salisbury were Aidan Brinsfield, Max Ehrhardt, and Witter.
- The Sea Gulls' 15 straight wins mark their longest winning streak overall since taking 16 in a row across the 2021-22 slates.
- Salisbury has now won more regional championships in the last six seasons (6) than it did in the entire history of the program beforehand (5).
Part of the final 16 once more, the Sea Gulls will play in one of eight best-of-three Super Regionals, with Game 1 set for Friday and Games 2 and 3 (if necessary) on Saturday. SU will battle UChicago, who went 3-0 as the three-seed in the Washington, Pa. Regional and dispatched top-seeded Bridgewater (Va.) in on Sunday for the first regional title in program history.
The host site for the Super Regional will be announced in the coming days. Salisbury has hosted Supers in each of the past four seasons and holds the field's seventh-best NCAA Power Index (NPI) metric, while the Maroons entered the bracket at No. 21.
The winners of the eight Super Regionals will advance to the 2026 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship in Eastlake, Ohio. The Sea Gulls will look to qualify for their fourth College World Series in six years and ninth overall.
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.
