Miami Gardens, Florida – The Bulldogs opened up their 2026 campaign in the Sunshine State this weekend as they took on St. Thomas University for a three-game series. St. Thomas had been receiving votes coming into this ballgame; this would be a test to start the year for the Bulldogs.
The Basics
Location: Paul Demie Mainieri Field
Records: MC 0-3, STU 3-0
Game One: MC 6, STU 16
It'd be two games for McPherson College on Friday as they took on a highly respected St. Thomas University who proved every bit of their status. In Game One, the Bobcats got out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning.
Steele Jackson earned McPherson's first run of the year after a single in the third inning to send home
Colt Sussex-Uphold to cut the lead to 4-1.
The Wildcats continued their dominance throughout Game One and had no trouble in the batter's box on home turf.
Conner Baker was able to bring the Bulldogs to within one after homering to left field for a two-run blast, but the Wildcats matched and doubled the runs in the bottom half of the fifth with a grand slam by St. Thomas to extend their lead to 11-6. Following a trio of wild pitches and a pair of base hits by the Wildcats in the sixth inning, St. Thomas took Game One 16-6.
Game Two: MC 0, STU 3
Game Two was nearly an hour shorter than Game One in this defensive battle.
Kadin Gehring started for the Bulldogs and faced 22 batters in 5.0 innings pitched, throwing three strikeouts and allowing just two hits and one run off of a wild pitch. Diego Evans issued 12 strikeouts for the Wildcats and allowed just two hits through 6.0 innings pitched.
In the Top of the 9
th, the Bulldogs had runners on first and second after
Troy Stukenberg was walked following his at bat, sending the tying run in
Austin Easter to the plate; Easter would pop up to the Wildcats' short stop to end the game 3-0 in favor of St. Thomas.
Game Three: MC 3, STU 9
In Saturday's final game of the three-game series, the Bulldogs had played well enough to be knotted at 1-1 through three innings played; McPherson's run from the third inning came from
Jameson Caro after a
Conner Baker flew one out to right field and got enough distance to earn a sacrifice fly. Following this, the Wildcats had worked their lead all the way to 8-1 after keeping the Bulldogs off the scoreboard until the eighth inning where Baker picked up his second RBI sending Caro across the plate once again.
Jared Kramp picked up one more run for the Bulldogs on an RBI single following Baker's hit to effort a late comeback in the ballgame, but the Wildcats' run scored in the bottom half of the eighth inning would be the final run of the series as the Bulldogs dropped Game Three 9-3 to St. Thomas.
Up Next
The Bulldogs will play a single nine-inning matchup with the 24
th nationally ranked Keiser University Seahawks on Monday afternoon for their final game of their trip to Florida. First pitch is set for 11:00 AM CST on January 26
th at Silvester Jr. Field.
