Baseball Start NAIA Opening Round with Offensive Performance

LINCOLN, Neb. - Doane opened the NAIA Baseball Opening Round Tournament – Lincoln Bracket with an offensive outburst on Monday evening, defeating Oakland City (Ind.) 11-8 at Sherman Field to advance in the winner's bracket. The Tigers will now face Madonna on Tuesday at 4 p.m. in Lincoln.

The Tigers improved to 45-9 on the season after piling up 13 hits and drawing nine walks in a back-and-forth contest that featured multiple momentum swings.

Oakland City struck first in the opening inning, but Doane responded immediately with a three-run bottom half. Carter Roth led off the inning with a single before Grant Sommers and Tanner Nelson followed with base hits to load the bases. Brayden Jones drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game, and Johnny Vulcano delivered an RBI single to give Doane the lead. A wild pitch later in the inning allowed another run to score as the Tigers grabbed a 3-1 advantage.

The Mighty Oaks trimmed the deficit to 3-2 on a solo home run by Oliver Hamilton in the second inning, but Doane answered again in the third. Jett Grossart and Jones worked walks before Sam Kwapnioski lined a two-run double into the gap in left-center to push the lead to 5-2.

Oakland City rallied with four runs in the fourth inning to take a 6-5 lead, but the Tigers continued to counter. A wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth brought home Sommers to tie the contest, and Kwapnioski gave Doane the lead for good in the fifth with a solo home run to left-center.

The decisive inning came in the seventh when Doane broke the game open with four runs. Jordan Bond started the rally with a walk before Max Harris and Roth followed with singles. Roth's RBI knock made it 8-6, and after an Oakland City error plated another run, Grossart delivered the big blow with a two-run double to stretch the advantage to 11-6.

Kwapnioski finished with two hits and three RBIs, including his home run and two-run double. Grossart drove in two runs, Roth collected three hits and an RBI, while Jones, Vulcano and Bond each contributed offensively in the win. Roth's three hits moved his season total to 100, extending his single-season record into triple digits.

On the mound, Cade Bridges provided the key relief performance for the Tigers. Entering in the fourth inning, Bridges tossed five scoreless innings, allowing only three hits while striking out two to earn the victory and improve to 4-1 on the season.

Doane and Madonna will meet Tuesday at 4 p.m. in the winner's bracket semifinal of the Lincoln Bracket at Sherman Field.

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