CINCINNATI -- The Wayne State University baseball team (3-0 overall) took care of business on Saturday in games two and three against Tiffin (0-6 overall).  WSU swept TU thanks to final scores of 16-5 and 9-4.  The Warriors and Dragons will wrap up their four-game series on Sunday in a nine-inning affair with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. at UC Baseball Stadium.

GAME ONE
Wayne State's 16 runs included two in the first inning, 10 in the third and four in the fourth.

Five Warriors turned in multi-hit efforts including Owen Tuccinardi (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Skyline) with three, Drew Hill (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. / Grosse Pointe North) with three, Nick Sandiha, Jr. (West Bloomfield, Mich. / Brother Rice [Macomb C.C.]) with two, Bennett Hitzelberger (Richmond, Mich.) with two, and Tony Hatzigeorgiou (Oxford, Mich.) with two.

RBI wise, Tuccinardi brought in five himself thanks to a solo home run in the third, an RBI double in that same inning and a three-run shot in the fourth.  He was one of four to plate multiple runs along with Hill (two-run blast in first, sacrifice fly in third), Sandiha, Jr. (two-run double in third) and Brayden Crowe (Brighton, Mich. / Hartland).  Crowe was 1-for-5, but that one hit was a two-run double in the third.

Hitzelberger, Rhett Roeser (New Baltimore, Mich. / Warren De La Salle) and Alfredo Velazquez (Livonia, Mich. / Brother Rice [Michigan]) each accounted for one run driven in as well.

On the mound, Gavin Nash (Howell, Mich. / Hartland) made the start and lasted three innings.  Nash surrendered five runs, four earned, on five hits with one walk and three strikeouts.  First out of the bullpen, Nick Baker (Brighton, Mich. [Lansing C.C.]) picked up the win and was excellent in the process.  In those three scoreless frames, Baker gave up just one hit with one free pass and three punchouts.

Coy Plummer (New Hudson, Mich. / South Lyon), the last to pitch for the Green and Gold, pitched a scoreless seventh with one hit allowed.

GAME TWO
Wayne State struck first with one run in the first inning and another in the third.  Those came in when Sandiha, Jr. scored on a throwing error by the catcher and Hill singled in Hitzelberger.

Following Tiffin's first two runs in the fourth, the Warriors countered with four of their own in the top of the fifth.  All four came in after Velazquez belted a grand slam to right field for his first round tripper as a Warrior.

WSU made it 7-2 in the sixth when Gabe Zeldes (West Bloomfield, Mich. / Detroit Country Day) smacked a home run of his own to left, of the solo variety, the first of his career.  In the seventh, the game became a seven-run affair as Velazquez singled in Roeser and Landon Ide (Fort Myers, Fla. / Bonita Springs) doubled in Velazquez.

The Dragons tacked on two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but it was too little, too late.

Keegan Pulford-Thorpe (Aurora, Ont. / Newmarket [Central Florida / Georgia Highlands College]) improved to 1-0 with four innings of work.  Pulford-Thorpe surrendered two earned runs on two hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

First up in relief, Rocco Cardinale (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. / Grosse Pointe North), making his first appearance since March 8, 2025 due to injury, retired seven batters.  Cardinale gave up two earned runs on two hits with two free passes and three punchouts.

The final two-thirds of an inning and the game belonged to Will DeMasse (Macomb, Mich. / Dakota).