(6/2025) While the national pastime transitions from the gleeful spectacle of hope and possibility into the doldrums of the mid-season push to the All-Star break, college baseball ramps up with conference tournaments and regional playoffs, with the final stage of the super-regional playoffs before the culmination of more than a year’s work in the College World Series. Emmitsburg is no different, as Mount St. Mary’s baseball were set to once again challenge for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title, eventually falling to Marist in the single elimination round by a score of 12-3 in Pomona, New York. But how did the team get there and how did they fare in the cold of western Maryland against the rest of their opponents in conference play?

Before April 30th, the Mountaineers had an overall record of 16-26 with a MAAC record of 9-12. With an opening series sweep against Norfolk State and an early series win against Saint Joseph’s, the Mount found themselves falling into a little bit of a rut, losing four combined games against Stetson and Indiana as well as an opening conference series loss to Sacred Heart. After a 9-3 loss to Maryland in College Park on March 12th, the Mount drew a further record of 6-9 before being swept in Ann Arbor by Michigan, only posting 10 total hits against the Wolverines in three games.

Fortunes seemed to change for the Mountaineers on April 30th after the team posted a 25-16 scoreline at home against Georgetown, beating the Hoyas with 20 hits on the day. After giving up two runs to Georgetown in the first inning, the runs for the Mount started to pour in during the bottom of the inning after Ty Fredo hit a Grand Slam to take a 4-2 lead. A game-tying, two-run shot in the top of the third by the Hoyas was swiftly canceled out as Mateo Zeppieri singled down the right field line to score Sam Grube. The next at bat, Bryce Rudisill promptly dispatched a ball over the fence for a three-run home run, now cementing an 8-4 lead.

Georgetown went on to score seven runs in the top of the fourth, taking an 11-8 lead less than halfway through the game. Over the next three innings, nine Mountaineers crossed the plate. It started with Alex Mendes scoring from third on an overthrow from the catcher, followed up by a Zeppieri home run in the bottom of the fourth. A Mendes single that scored Evan Smith was followed up by three walks, a hit by pitch, and a wild pitch, driving in six more runs in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 15-11 Mountaineer lead. Three more runs came across the plate before Ty Fredo doubled off the left field wall, driving in Rudisill, Zeppieri, and Nolan Book in the bottom of the eighth. Before the inning was over, Smith, Grube, and Mendes singled, driving in three more runs while rounding out an eventful marathon of base path action.

After their beat down of the Hoyas, the Mount went on a run, winning six of their last seven games including notable series win Quinnipiac and a sweep of Saint Peter’s. In their last game of the year against Manhattan on May 16th, the Mount clinched a their second MAAC postseason berth in as many years in a 7-6 win in 10 innings.

After the cancelled first day of the series on Thursday due to field conditions, the Jaspers took an early 2-0 lead through the first two innings of game one on Friday. The scoreless run for the Mountaineers was finally broken as Alex Mendes hit out a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third, scoring Kyle Cincinnati for the Mount's first run. Later in the inning, Bryce Rudisill singled through the right side of the infield to score Evan Meier to tie the game at 2-2.

In the bottom of the fifth, Mendes singled through the left side of the infield, scoring Cincinnati and Sam Grube to take a two-run lead. The Mount poured on more in the inning as Rudisill ground out to second, driving in Mendes for a 5-2 lead. The Jaspers went onto score two in the top of the sixth to make it 5-4, but with the bases juiced in the top of the seventh, Josh Halcisak worked himself out of a sticky situation, striking out the final batter in the inning.

The bottom of the seventh started off well for the Mount, as Evan Meier was driven in by a Mendes hard-hit single up the middle to add to the lead. But a top of the ninth rally by Manhattan saw two visitor runs come across the plate to relinquish the Mount lead and force extras.

Coming into relieve Halcisak out of the bullpen, Maximus McCrary pitched to a one, two, three inning, fanning the leadoff man while producing a ground out and a fly out. Mendes drew a walk to start the bottom of the tenth followed by a Rudisill hit by pitch two put two men on base. A double steal was put in motion, putting both men into scoring position. Then, after much deliberation from the Manhattan coaching staff, putting five men into the infield, Logan Yi pitched a hit for Sam Dinitz with zero outs on the board. After taking a first pitch ball, Yi laid down a bunt in front of the plate with enough back spin to completely halt the ball in between the pitcher and catcher, scoring Mendes from third while sending the Mount dugout into pandemonium over the walk-off bunt.

Leaving for the conference playoffs in New York, the Mount saw themselves ranked a sixth seed against the seventh seed Marist Red Foxes. The Mountaineer bats started the game off in the bottom of the first after a Nolan Book Single to center field scored Alex Mendes for an early 1-0 lead. But Marist struck back in the top of the second when two runs came in after an error was made by Fredo at third off a bat hop from the dirt. The Red Foxes went onto score another run in the top of the third before falling silent for an inning. Ty Fredo hit out a solo home run into the left field bleachers during the bottom of the fourth inning to cut the deficit to one only for Marist to strike again in the top of the fifth to make it 4-2.

After a shutout sixth inning from both teams, the Red Foxes jumped ahead in the seventh and eighth inning, scoring four runs and three runs in each respective inning. The Red Foxes scored one more run in the top of the ninth, making it a 12-2 ball game headed into the bottom of the inning. Down by 10 runs, Head Coach Frank Leoni decided to put his seniors into the game for their final appearance as college baseball players. Earlier in the ninth, Tommy Moore was called out of the bullpen, striking out a batter. Danny Salisbury came in from the bullpen a few at bats later and got out of the inning. Logan Yi and Nick Fleming were pinch hit in the bottom of the ninth, with Yi being hit by a pitch and scoring a run off of a single from Kyle Cincinnati, ending the Mount's scoring efforts on the day, losing the game 12-3.