2026 Baseball Season Closes in NAIA Opening Round

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA - The historic 2026 UNOH baseball season came to an end Wednesday afternoon at the hands of No. 24 Louisiana Christian in the NAIA Opening Round. The Wildcats plated ten runs in the first two innings and never looked back finishing off the game 16-3 in seven innings.

Fabian Romero scored the first two runs for the Racers off a Eliomar RBI single in the first and a Zach Grigalis sac fly in the fifth. Casey Barnes was responsible for the final tally thanks to his eight home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth.

Sinjon Bobolia (6-4) took the loss after being chased out in the top of the first inning. An early error ended up allowing five unearned runs in the frame with the senior righty giving up two hits and hitting two batters. Carter Hicks got the final out of the inning after giving up one hit and Parker Kerr took over in the top of the second. Kerr made it through just one out after giving up four runs on two hits handing things over to Blake O'Bryan. O'Bryan made it an inning and a third with four more runs on three hits before Nate Tappenden posted a full inning with two runs on two hits. Josh Mauney did the bulk of relief work finishing off the final three and a third allowing one run on four hits with four strikeouts and a walk. 

The Racers end the year 38-18 overall after their fourth Opening Round appearance in the last five years. Despite the campaign coming to a close, the 2026 Racers staked their claim in the UNOH record books becoming the first team to ever successfully complete a three-peat as WHAC Regular Season Champions. They also became just the third team in program history to win more than one game at the NAIA Opening Round accomplishing that feat for the first time since 2018.

Several single season records fell throughout the year, including Runs Batted In and Doubles for junior transfer Cesar Grau, as well as multiple career records for senior Eliomar Otero. Otero became the program's all-time leader in RBI, Hits, Doubles, Home Runs, Sacrifice Flies and Total bases.