Conway, Ark. - Hendrix baseball swept their Opening Day doubleheader versus Westminster on Friday for a 2-0 start to the 2025 season.
Game 1 (W, 7-4)
Dylan Kalmus got the ball to start the season and was wonderful in his 2025 debut, striking out 11 and allowing just 2 runs on 4 hits in five innings of work en route to the winning decision.
Owen Shaw worked a two-out walk in the home half of the first and was brought in by
Ian Guthrie for the game's opening score. After the Blue Jays took a 2-1 lead in the top of the second, the Warriors loaded the bases and
Drake Job worked a one-out walk to score
Hogan Ralston before Shaw scored
Zane Nolan on a sacrifice fly to give Hendrix the lead back. Kalmus sat Westminster down in order to begin the third, and Ralston obliged Kalmus' work by scoring
Alex Musel on an RBI groundout. The Blue Jays went down 1-2-3 for the third time in fourth innings, and Job made them pay in the home half of the fourth with a lead-off triple before being brought in by another sacrifice fly from Shaw to make it a 5-2 ball game.
Westminster added a run in the top of the seventh, but the Warriors were able to tack on two more after the seventh-inning stretch. With two on and no outs,
Giancarlo Digiacomo laced an RBI single into right field to score
Zylan Brown, who pinch ran for Ralston after the senior singled to begin the inning. Job then singled to left to score Rabago for the Warriors' seventh run and make it 7-3.
The Blue Jays homered in the 9th with one out to cut the lead back down to 3, but the Warriors were able to make the final two outs and close out the game.
The Hendrix pitching staff made history in Game 1 with 19 strikeouts.
Chance Reed and
JD Nichols each struck out 2 in relief of Kalmus before
Braxton Waller entered in the 7th inning and shut the door with 4 strikeouts.
At the plate, Digiacomo impressed in his debut with the Orange and Black, going 3-for-5 with an RBI. Nolan, Guthrie, Job, and
Joseph Watts each had two hits apiece, with the latter three each recording an extra-base hit.
Game 2 [W, 10-6 (F/8)]
Jackson Corrigan toed the rubber in Game 2 and quickly found himself in trouble as he loaded the bases with just one out before working his way out of the jam with back-to-back strikeouts.
Ian Guthrie sent a two-out double to the right field gap and was promptly brought home by a
Jacob Carpentier single up the middle.
The Blue Jays scratched six runs across the second and third innings to take a 6-1 lead before Hendrix tacked on three more in the home half of the third to get back into the fight.
Joseph Watts singled with one out to score Guthrie, and
Shaun Pope and
Eric Ramirez both worked one-out walks with the bases loaded to make it 6-4.
Hendrix tied it up in the fifth when
Owen Shaw smoked a triple to the right field gap to score Pope and Nich Echaniz.
Cole Joyner worked around a one-out walk to retire Westminster in the next half inning before Hendrix took the lead in the bottom of the sixth. After Job reached on an error to lead off the inning, Guthrie singled to put runners on the corners, with the latter stealing second to put two runners in scoring position. Watts thn singled to the left field gap to score both and give Hendrix an 8-6 lead.
Rowan Glover put the Blue Jays down in order in the 7th with a pair of strikeouts and worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the 8th to bring the Warrior bats back to the plate. Guthrie led the inning off with a walk and was ran for by
Zane Nolan. With
Charlie Deaton at the plate, Nolan reached third off a stolen base and a wild pitch, before Deaton smoked a two-run shot down the left field line to put the Warriors up 10-6. Watts then walked before the game was called due to lightning in the area.
On the back of 19 combined strikeouts in Game 1, three young Warrior arms shined in Game 2 as
Preston Tompkins,
Cole Joyner, and Glover combined for 11 strikeouts in 6.0 innings combined.
