Yale Athletics

The Yale Baseball team (3–0, 0–0 Ivy) got off to a hot start this past weekend, winning all three games in their away series against Queens University of Charlotte (2–5, 0–0 ASUN) in Charlotte, North Carolina. Over the course of the weekend, the Bulldogs scored a total of 30 runs.

“The main focus for us leading into this first week of games has been embracing every day we have to get better,” Captain Colton Shaw ’25 told the News ahead of the matchup. “I think we’ve done a great job of focusing on the little details that we know will get us to our end goal.” 

The team’s offseason commitment clearly paid off. 

On Friday, the Elis took the field for the season’s first game. Queens secured the first run of the game in the bottom of the 1st, which was the only inning they held the lead. During the 2nd inning, Jack Dauer ’28 singled through the right side, sending Tommy Martin ’25 to the plate and evening the score 1–1. Hayden Sobecki ’25 followed up with his own RBI, sending Garret Larsen ’27 home to start the lead over Queens. The Bulldogs would only strengthen over the remainder of the game.

In the 3rd inning, the Bulldogs extended their lead by a whopping three runs. Jake Williams ’25 singled, notching his first RBI of the game and sending Alec Atkinson ’25 home after an error by the Queens’ third baseman. Martin singled to left field, allowing Williams to add another run to the Bulldogs’ score. Larsen singled through the left side, sending Max Imhoff ’25 home. The Elis ended the 3rd inning up 5–1.

This was far from the end of scoring plays from the Bulldogs. In the 4th inning, Williams tripled to right field, netting another two RBIs with Jeff Pierantoni ’25 and Sobecki crossing the plate. Imhoff grounded out to the shortstop but snagged an RBI, with Williams making it to home plate. The Bulldogs held a commanding 8–1 lead.

In the 5th, Pierantoni sent Larsen home, securing a 9–1 lead in the middle of the inning. Queens responded with a home run and an RBI but would not score again. Going into the 6th, the score was 9–3.

The Bulldogs tallied two more runs in the 7th, with Pierantoni scoring on a throwing error and Williams netting his third RBI of the game by sending Atkinson home. The Elis held a strong 11-3 lead. 

In the 8th, Larsen sent Martin home on a flyout, Kaiden Dossa ‘27 scored on a Dauer single, Atkinson tallied two RBIs with both Sobecki and Dauer crossing the plate and Williams netted his fourth and final RBI with Pierantoni scoring. 

After the inning concluded with no runs from Queens, the mercy rule was implemented, finalizing a 16–3 Yale win. Starting pitcher Shaw pitched 6.0 innings and picked up the win on the mound.

The victory was monumental in many ways. The Bulldogs scored their most runs in a season opener in more than 15 years, as well as stealing ten bases over the course of the game — the most the Queens program has ever given up.

Game two took place on Saturday. The Bulldogs trailed the Royals at first, with Queens taking an early 2–0 lead. Dossa doubled in the 2nd, sending Imhoff home and putting the Elis on the board. In the 4th, a double from Larsen brought Martin home and evened the score at 2–2. 

Queens retook the lead during the bottom of the 4th, and held onto it until Williams notched his fifth RBI of the weekend, tying the game 3–3. In the top of the 9th, Dauer secured the Bulldogs series victory with a two-out solo home run to left field. The Elis topped the Royals with a final score of 4–3. The pitching staff saw impressive results from four relievers, with Jack Ohman ‘28, DJ Peterson ’28, Ethan Lewis ’26 and Tate Evans ’26 combining for five shutout innings, and Lewis picking up the win.

The third game was another high-scoring one for the Yale team, with seven runs scored in extra innings. Williams opened up scoring with a sac fly in the 1st, with the Bulldogs taking an early 1–0 lead. Martin extended the lead with a solo home run down the right-field line. The score would remain 2–0 until the 6th inning when the Royals put a run on the board. 

In the 8th, Queens took the lead with two runs, forcing the Bulldogs to score or lose as they headed into the top of the 9th. A series of mistakes from the Royals allowed Martin to advance to second, and a single from Dossa sent him home to tie the game 3–3. The Bulldogs held the Royals off in the bottom of the 9th to send the game to extra frames. 

In the 10th inning, the Elis came alive. Dossa reached on a fielder’s choice, sending Dauer home for an unearned run. Chace Chaplin ’27 followed up by doubling to left center, sending three Bulldogs, Larsen, Dossa and Williams, across the plate for a 7–3 lead. Pierantoni singled up the middle to send Colin Sloan ’27 home. Pierantoni and Imhoff advanced to second and third base, respectively, after an error from a Queens’ outfielder. Dauer’s subsequent single through the right side sent both Pierantoni and Imhoff home to give the Bulldogs a 10–3 lead. Mick Kelley ’25 picked up the win on the mound with a scoreless 9th inning, and Peterson closed out the game for the Bulldogs

The sweep of Queens meant that the Elis won the first three games of the season for the first time since 2010.

“Each day and even each inning is almost its own game to go win,” Mark Capell ‘25 told the News. “The vibes are definitely really good in the locker room right now, but given our experienced lineup, we are locked in on the day-to-day environment and schedule. [We] are ready to go out and take care of business this weekend as if it were game one all over again.” 

This upcoming weekend, the Bulldogs travel to Charleston, South Carolina, for a three-game series against The Citadel.