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Wayne State University Athletics

2026 Baseball Seniors
Emily Stetz
Not included in the Senior Day ceremony was Keegan Pulford-Thorpe, who was recognized before the final home game last season.
5
Winner Purdue Northwest PNW 15-22, 7-13 GLIAC
4
Wayne State WSU 34-10, 17-7 GLIAC
Winner
Purdue Northwest PNW
15-22, 7-13 GLIAC
5
Final
4
Wayne State WSU
34-10, 17-7 GLIAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Purdue Northwest PNW 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 2 5 11 0
Wayne State WSU 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 4 9 2

W: Brett Bounds (2-1) L: Nazelli, Gabe (3-1) S: Owen Walkowiak (1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Cooper Weidenthaler, Assistant Director for Media Relations

Purdue Northwest Spoils Senior Day 5-4 Over Wayne State Baseball

Trailing 5-1, the Warriors cut the deficit to one before stranding the game-tying run at third base in the bottom of the ninth.

DETROIT -- The 14th-ranked Wayne State University baseball squad (34-10 overall, 17-7 GLIAC) played its final regular-season home game on Sunday afternoon on Senior Day against Purdue Northwest (15-22 overall, 7-13 GLIAC).  The Pride spoiled the afternoon by defeating the Warriors 5-4 in the series finale at Harwell Field to also salvage a game in the weekend set.  Without a GLIAC opponent on the docket next weekend, WSU will travel to Florida instead and play Rollins in a four-game series beginning on Friday at 3 p.m.

If Wayne State has another home game on tap in 2026, it would be as part of the NCAA Midwest Regional between Thursday, May 14, and Sunday, May 17.  That will not be known until Selection Sunday following the GLIAC Tournament conclusion on Sunday, May 10.

The Green and Gold recognized a total of eight student-athletes on Senior Day, including Nick Baker (Brighton, Mich. / Brighton [Lansing C.C.]), Gabe Nazelli (Farmington Hills, Mich. / Detroit Country Day), TJ McAllister (St. Clair Shores, Mich. / South Lake), Macio Miller (Kimball, Mich. / Marysville [Jackson C.C.]), Tony Hatzigeorgiou (Oxford, Mich.), Bennett Hitzelberger (Richmond, Mich.), Ethan Getting (Kalamazoo, Mich. / Portage Northern [Purdue Northwest], and Philip Miller (Flat Rock, Mich. / Woodhaven [Schoolcraft C.C. / Tusculum]).

WSU opened the scoring for the contest in the bottom of the second when Hitzelberger bashed the first pitch he saw over the right field wall for a solo home run.  The homer was Hitzelberger's eighth of the campaign, which ranks third on the team.

The score would remain 1-0 for Wayne State until the top of the fourth, when a two-run home run by PNW's Drew Kosteba gave the Pride their first lead of the series.  The lead would ultimately never change hands again following that at bat.  Kosteba would plate another in the top of the sixth on a single up the middle to give Purdue Northwest a 3-1 advantage.

After a rather tame first six innings, both squads had plenty of opportunities to tack on runs in the final three frames.  WSU left the bases loaded without any scoring in both the seventh and the eighth, while PNW likewise came up empty in the top of the eighth.  McAllister inherited a pair of runners in scoring position in that frame with nobody out and worked out of the jam thanks to a couple of strikeouts and a foul out.

Purdue Northwest finally broke through with two insurance runs in the top of the ninth to snag a 5-1 lead entering the final half-inning and it would need all of those runs to hold on.  Brady Blakita (Canton, Mich. / Detroit Catholic Central) led off the bottom of the ninth with a solo homer to right field, which cut WSU's deficit to 5-2.  It was Blakita's fifth home run of 2026.  Following a ground ball for the first out, three straight Warriors reached via a single and two walks to Drew Hill (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. / Grosse Pointe North), Owen Tuccinardi (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Skyline), and Hitzelberger, respectively.

The next hitter was Caleb Sanders (Eastpointe, Mich. / Detroit Edison Public School Academy [Dayton]) and he beat out a run-scoring infield single that was changed from an out following video review.  Hatzigeorgiou then legged out a fielder's choice to avoid a game-ending double play and earned himself an RBI, which also made the score 5-4 PNW.

However, the game-tying run would remain at third base, as pinch hitter Rhett Roeser (New Baltimore, Mich. / Warren De La Salle) flew out to center field.

Nazelli started for the Green and Gold and went five innings on four hits allowed and three earned runs, while striking out two and walking three.  Macio Miller went the next two frames scoreless despite scattering four hits and a walk (three strikeouts).  McAllister was next and he went one inning with two hits and two earned runs.  Finally, Will DeMasse (Macomb, Mich. / Dakota) finished up the pitching duties for Wayne State with an inning of scoreless baseball on one hit.


 
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