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Wayne State University Athletics

Will Lowery - 2026 Midwest Regional vs. UMSL
Emily Stetz
Staff ace Will Lowery did his job through six innings pitched (111 pitches) with seven hits allowed, three earned runs, two walks, and five strikeouts.
10
Winner Mo.-St. Louis UMSL 34-20
5
Wayne St. (Mich.) WSU 37-15
Winner
Mo.-St. Louis UMSL
34-20
10
Final
5
Wayne St. (Mich.) WSU
37-15
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Mo.-St. Louis UMSL 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 6 10 10 0
Wayne St. (Mich.) WSU 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 5 3

W: Johnson, Brandon (3-2) L: Cardinale, Rocco (1-2)

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

Baseball Suffers 10-5 Defeat to UMSL in Midwest Regional Opener

Four of Wayne State's five total runs came in the bottom of the first inning.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- The Wayne State University baseball team (37-15 overall) kicked off its run at the 2026 NCAA Midwest Regional by falling to Missouri-St. Louis (34-20 overall) 10-5 on Thursday evening at the UIS Baseball Field.  With their season now on the line, the three-seeded Warriors will battle UIndy, the seven seed, in an elimination contest at noon eastern on Friday afternoon.

This portion of the Midwest Regional, regional #2, is being hosted by the two seed, Illinois-Springfield.  Every game from Friday on in this regional will now be an elimination game for the Green and Gold.

UMSL opened the scoring in the top of the first inning via a solo home run by Mitch Bonczkowski, before WSU did most of its damage on the afternoon in the bottom of the frame.  It all began when Brady Blakita (Canton, Mich. / Detroit Catholic Central) was plunked by a pitch, before Bennett Hitzelberger (Richmond, Mich.) doubled to right field.  A walk with one out by Owen Tuccinardi (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Skyline) loaded the bases, and Wayne State cashed in when Rhett Roeser (New Baltimore, Mich. / Warren De La Salle) also was issued a free pass for the first Warrior run.  The second was plated on a wild pitch.

Tony Hatzigeorgiou (Oxford, Mich.) singled home Tuccinardi with a one-out knock through the right side to put WSU ahead 3-1, while the next batter, Brayden Crowe (Brighton, Mich. / Hartland) also walked with the bags full for the fourth run.  When it was all finished in the first, 10 Warriors stepped up to the plate and four scored on two hits, four walks, and one hit by pitch.

UMSL immediately responded with another solo homer, this time by Noah Tomaras, in the top of the second.  The third and fourth frames would pass by with no scoring, before the third Missouri-St.Louis HR of the game happened in the top of the fifth.  Owen Faith bashed a solo blast to left center to cut Wayne State's advantage to one at 4-3.

The Warriors did some excellent work to escape jams in the top of the sixth and seventh innings.  WSU pitching stranded the tying run on third base in the sixth, while Coy Plummer (New Hudson, Mich. / South Lyon) struck out both Faith and Bennett Cagle to thwart a bases loaded, one-out jam in the following frame.

However, the Green and Gold's good fortunes would not last, as the Tritons scratched across a run in the top of the eighth on a sacrifice fly from Garrett Strenger to knot the score at 4-4.

The big damage would occur in the top of the ninth when Missouri-St. Louis broke the 4-4 tie with a sixth-run uprising.  That included three Warrior errors and a three-run homer by Cagle that turned a 5-4 deficit into what was then an 8-4 deficit for WSU.

Blakita homered in the bottom of the frame for his sixth home run of 2026, but it would not be enough as the six-seeded Tritons would take the game by the aforementioned 10-5 score.

Will Lowery (Grosse Ile, Mich. [Kalamazoo Valley C.C.]) battled through six innings for a quality start and ultimately a no decision.  The redshirt junior allowed seven hits, three earned runs, and two walks over 111 pitches, while also punching out five. 

Five others saw work in relief for the Warriors, including Gabe Nazelli (Farmington Hills, Mich. / Detroit Country Day), Plummer, Rocco Cardinale (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. / Grosse Pointe North), Jack Saputo (Windsor, Ont. St. Anne Catholic [Macomb C.C.]), and Oscar Pace (Brighton, Mich. / Hartland).

 
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