Wayne State University Athletics

Baseball 2/10/2026 11:46:00 AM Cooper Weidenthaler, Assistant Director for Media Relations

Baseball to Open 2026 Campaign Against Tiffin in Kentucky

The Warriors and Dragons will play a four-game set at Thomas More Stadium in Florence.

DETROIT -- The 2026 season is here for the Wayne State University baseball team, and it will begin in the Bluegrass State on Friday-Sunday, February 13-15. The Warriors will take on Tiffin out of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) in a four-game series at Thomas More Stadium in Florence, Ky. Thomas More Stadium is the home of the Florence Y'alls of the Frontier League.

Tiffin already has three games under its belt having gone 0-3 at Lee University on Feb. 7-8. The Dragons dropped those three contests with final scores of 13-3 (7 inn.), 8-3, and 5-4.

Wayne State Season Preview
The Warriors enter the 2026 campaign under the leadership of 18th-year head coach Ryan Kelley (511-332-1 overall record, .606 winning percentage). Kelley's roster of 42 student-athletes features 24 returning letterwinners, eight freshmen, and six transfers.

Individually, starting on offense, seven of the nine position players that made the most starts at their respective positions are back for the 2026 campaign. That includes senior Bennett Hitzelberger (Richmond, Mich.), redshirt junior Caleb Sanders (Eastpointe, Mich. / Detroit Edison Public School Academy [Dayton]), junior Drew Hill (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. / Grosse Pointe North), and senior Tony Hatzigeorgiou (Oxford, Mich.).

Hitzelberger (two-time All-GLIAC) is a career .346 hitter in 116 games played, and Sanders was named Second Team All-GLIAC in 2025. Hill (2024 Second Team All-GLIAC) was the 2024 GLIAC Freshman Player of the Year and Hatzigeorgiou (2023 GLIAC Freshman Player of the Year) has seen time in 148 contests with 131 starts.

As for the pitching staff, 17 of the 20 players that threw a pitch last season are back on the roster for this spring. At the top of that staff is graduate student Gabe Nazelli (Farmington Hills, Mich. / Detroit Country Day), who was Second Team All-GLIAC a season ago after a 4.08 ERA in 57.1 innings pitched. Also back and carrying the back end of the bullpen will be senior Ethan Getting (Kalamazoo, Mich. / Portage Northern [Purdue Northwest]), a 2025 Honorable Mention All-GLIAC thanks to a 2.81 ERA in 32 frames, five saves, and four victories.

Tiffin Season Preview
The Dragons have new leadership for 2026, with Troy Merriman guiding TU for his inaugural season as head coach. That began with Tiffin's season-opening series at Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn. Merriman had spent the last seven seasons (2018-24) as an assistant at fellow G-MAC program Findlay, where he also played from 2015-18 as the Oilers' third baseman.

As previously stated, the Dragons fell in all three road games this past weekend. TU was led offensively in that series by infielder Julian Hernandez, who had three hits in five at bats, including one home run and two runs batted in. Fellow infielder Brayden Clark hit the other homer for Tiffin, while driving in four of the Dragons' 10 runs across the weekend.

The best pitching performances for TU came from junior Brandon Swope (2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO), redshirt junior Trent Hedges (3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 SO), and junior Mason Brunecz (1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 0 SO).

Tiffin was picked to finish fifth out of six programs in the North Division of the G-MAC, ahead of Lake Erie with 31 points. If combining both divisions, the Dragons earned the 9th-most points in the G-MAC Preseason Coaches' Poll out of 12 schools. The squad's leading returner on offense is senior outfielder Griff Cady. Cady's 2025 totals for batting average (.316), OPS (.868), at bats (171), runs (25), hits (54), doubles (10), home runs (four), and runs batted in (39) were all best of any player that returned to Tiffin, Ohio, for 2026.

Swope and Brunecz headline the top pitchers that returned for the Dragons this spring. Swope had a 3.45 ERA in 31.1 innings for the Dragons a season ago, which was best for any pitcher with at least 30 frames tossed. Brunecz had a 4.32 ERA in 41.2 IP, along with 32 strikeouts and 22 walks issued.

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Players Mentioned

#15 Ethan Getting: RHP; 6' 2"; Senior; R/R

#9 Tony Hatzigeorgiou: 3B; 6' 1"; Senior; R/R

#13 Drew Hill: OF; 5' 10"; Junior; L/L

#24 Bennett Hitzelberger: 1B/DH/LHP; 6' 2"; Senior; L/L

#17 Gabe Nazelli: RHP; 6' 3"; Graduate Student; L/R

#6 Caleb Sanders: OF; 5' 10"; Redshirt Junior; R/R

Players Mentioned

#15 Ethan Getting
: 6' 2"; Senior; R/R
: RHP

#9 Tony Hatzigeorgiou
: 6' 1"; Senior; R/R
: 3B

#13 Drew Hill
: 5' 10"; Junior; L/L
: OF

#24 Bennett Hitzelberger
: 6' 2"; Senior; L/L
: 1B/DH/LHP

#17 Gabe Nazelli
: 6' 3"; Graduate Student; L/R
: RHP

#6 Caleb Sanders
: 5' 10"; Redshirt Junior; R/R
: OF