WORCESTER, Mass. – The Holy Cross baseball team began the defense of their Patriot League Tournament Championship on Friday, Feb. 13 at VCU and suffered a 2-1 loss to start the 2026 campaign at The Diamond.

Senior right fielder CJ Egrie posted the lone hit for the Crusaders (0-1). He also matched a career-high with three stolen bases going 3-for-3 on stolen base attempts. Egrie has 55 career stolen bases and needs nine more to become the program's all-time leader. Both of VCU's (1-0) runs came on sacrifice flies.

STARTING ON THE MOUND:

• Senior Jaden Wywoda: (ND), 5.0 innings pitched, three hits allowed, one earned run, two walks, four strikeouts
• Fenix Digiacomo: (ND), 4.0 innings pitched, one hit allowed, one earned run, one walk, six strikeouts

OUT OF THE BULLPEN:

• Zach Peters: (W, 1-0), zero hits allowed, zero earned runs, three walks, seven strikeouts
• Sophomore Jake Lenahan: (L, 0-1) 3.2 innings pitched, two hits allowed, one run – zero earned, zero walks, four strikeouts
• Caleb Clover: 2.0 innings pitched, zero hits allowed, zero earned runs, three walks, four strikeouts

STEPPING TO THE PLATE:

• CJ Egrie: 1-for-2, run scored, two walks, three stolen bases
• Junior center fielder Gianni Royer: 0-for-2, walk, stolen base
• Junior first baseman Braden Connors: 0-for-2, two walks
• Quinn Maher: 2-for-4, run scored

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• With a runner on second and two outs in the bottom of the first Connors reached over the railing in foul territory snagging the ball for the third out of the inning.
• In the bottom of the second with two down, Wywoda induced a groundout to third base to strand a runner in scoring position.
• During the top of the fourth, Egrie led off the inning with a bounding ball opposite field single. He stole second and third base then came around to score on a wild pitching making it 1-0 Crusaders.
• VCU knotted the score in the fourth via a sacrifice fly RBI.
• Wywoda struck out the side in order during the home half of the fifth inning.
• In the sixth, Egrie and Connors walked putting runners at first and second with no outs. Egrie stole third with one down, but the Crusaders couldn't cash home the go ahead run.
• Holy Cross had chances in the eighth and ninth to take the lead, however the game remained deadlocked.  
• In the ninth, VCU reached second base via a dribbler just in front of the mound. The throw to first was wide and allowed the runner to take second base. A sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly gave VCU the walk-off win.

DUE UP:

• Holy Cross concludes their opening weekend series against VCU with a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 13.
• First pitch is set for 10 a.m.

FOLLOW THE CRUSADERS
Be sure to follow the Holy Cross baseball team — and all things Crusader Athletics — on social media!
X - @HCrossBaseball | @goholycross
Instagram - @hcrossbaseball | @goholycross
Facebook - Holy Cross Baseball | Holy Cross Athletics
YouTube - GoHolyCross