DAVENPORT, Fla. -- Eighteen games into the 2026 season, the Wayne State University baseball team has accounted for 16 wins to just two losses.  Saturday in the Florida trip finale, The Warriors dispatched California (Pa.) (9-5 overall) 3-2 for their eighth victory in a row.  They'll now turn their attention to the home opener at 2 p.m. on Tuesday against Ohio Dominican at Harwell Field.

Wayne State racked up nine hits and 10 runners left on base, but the three runs were just enough to get the job done.  The first of those three scores came in the bottom of the third inning when Bennett Hitzelberger (Richmond, Mich.) forced in Caleb Sanders (Eastpointe, Mich. / Detroit Edison Public School Academy [Dayton]) on a sacrifice fly to the second baseman in shallow center field.

California (Pa.) got that run back in the fourth, but the Warriors countered with a two spot in the seventh.  Hitzelberger was at it again with an RBI single to right that scored Ty Garza (Grosse Ile, Mich. [Barton College]) before Owen Tuccinardi (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Skyline) singled in Nick Sandiha, Jr. (West Bloomfield, Mich. / Brother Rice [Macomb C.C.]) following back-to-back at-bats.

The Vulcans made it a one-run affair in the ninth, but stranded their all-important third score on first base as the 27th and final out was recorded.

In easily his most effective start so far of the spring, Keegan Pulford-Thorpe (Aurora, Ont. / Newmarket [Central Florida / Georgia Highlands College]) lasted seven innings on 99 pitches.  Pulford-Thorpe gave up one earned run on six hits with just one walk and seven strikeouts.

Then out of the bullpen, making his second appearance in five days, Jack Saputo (Windsor, Ont. / St. Anne Catholic [Macomb C.C.]) handled the final two frames.  Saputo picked up the six-out save with one hit, one unearned run, no free passes, two punchouts, and 27 pitches next to his name.