LEWISBURG, Pa. – For the second straight season, Holy Cross baseball rules the Patriot League.
With a 14-11 victory in Game 3 on Wednesday, May 20 over regular-season co-champion Bucknell, the Crusaders captured the Patriot League Championship Series for the second year in a row, marking their third overall conference tournament title.
The Crusaders also clinched the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, marking the 13th time in program history and third time since 2017 that the Crusaders will participate in the NCAA Tournament. It is the program's first back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament since 1962 and 1963.
Following an 11-2 victory in Game 1, and a 9-5 loss in Game 2, the fourth-seeded Crusaders clinched the series over the second-seeded Bison, with Game 3 heroics across the lineup in the bounce-back victory. After the Bison jumped ahead for a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the third, the Crusaders scored 10 unanswered runs over the next three innings to take a 13-5 advantage, and held off a late Bucknell rally to secure the win.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Aidan Gilbert recorded the win on the mound after pitching 1.2 shutout innings. Senior right-handed pitcher Jaden Wywoda secured the save in Wednesday's clinching contest with 4.2 innings of work after throwing 122 pitches in his Game 1 win on Monday.
Two-time Patriot League Player of the Year, senior center fielder CJ Egrie, reached base five times and stole four bases — including a first-inning swipe of home plate — in the game, while scoring five runs, matching the Patriot League single-game runs record and setting the Holy Cross career runs scored record (137). With four stolen bases each, Egrie and junior designated hitter Gianni Royer established the new Patriot League Tournament single-game stolen base record. Additionally, Egrie tied the tournament record for runs scored, with 10 throughout the series.
Wywoda was named Patriot League Tournament MVP, totaling 13.2 innings of work across the championship series and hurling 196 pitches over three days. Throughout the Tournament, he threw 19.2 innings, with a 1-0 record, a save, and 15 total strikeouts. The 19.2 innings pitched was a new Patriot League Tournament record.
Wywoda, Egrie, junior first baseman Braden Connors, and junior third baseman Ryan Grundy were named to the All-Tournament Team.
The Crusaders stole a total of nine bases in the game, with six steals coming in the first inning. The six first-inning swipes mark a Patriot League record, and tied for the seventh-most in an inning in Division I baseball history.
The series caps off another historic Holy Cross campaign during the 150th anniversary of baseball at the College, with the Crusaders winning their 25th game of the season to improve to 25-28 overall, marking their third straight season with 25 or more wins. Holy Cross has won nine of its last 13 games, and became the first No. 4 seed to win the conference tournament since Bucknell in 2010.
The 17 road victories for the Crusaders are their most in a single season since winning 17 games away from Worcester in 2016. Holy Cross is 7-1 (.875) over its last eight Patriot League Tournament games and went 4-1 (.800) away from Worcester in the Tournament in 2026.
The Bison conclude their season at 27-24 overall.
Holy Cross awaits its NCAA Regional opponent during the 2026 NCAA College Baseball Selection Show on Monday, May 25 on ESPN2 at noon.
STARTING ON THE MOUND:
- Sophomore Brett Mulligan: (ND), 2.0 innings pitched, one hit allowed, zero earned runs, three walks, three strikeouts, 41 pitches
- Tyler Seidman: (ND), 1.1 innings pitched, zero hits allowed, two earned runs, five walks, one strikeout, 43 pitches
OUT OF THE BULLPEN:
- Aidan Gilbert: (W, 2-1), 1.2 innings pitched, one hit allowed, zero runs allowed, one walk, zero strikeouts, 38 pitches
- Jaden Wywoda: (S, 1), 4.2 innings pitched, eight hits allowed, six earned runs, one walk, four strikeouts, 74 pitches
- Bryce Mitchell: (L, 2-2), 0.2 innings pitched, two hits allowed, four earned runs, one walk, one strikeout, 20 pitches
- Hadley Maxwell: 4.1 innings pitched, five hits allowed, five runs - four earned, four walks, two strikeouts, 79 pitches
STEPPING TO THE PLATE:
- Junior catcher Van Coughlin: 3-for-5, double, RBI, two runs scored, walk
- Grundy: 2-for-4, home run, two RBI, run scored, two walks, stolen base
- Junior second baseman Alex Sandell: 2-for-6, double, four RBI, run scored
- Freshman shortstop Owen Stelzer: 1-for-3, two runs scored, two walks
- Egrie: 1-for-1, double, one RBI, five runs scored, four walks, four stolen bases
- Billy Fluharty: 2-for-6, two triples, four RBI, two runs scored
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Egrie led off the game with a walk and moved to third base. He stole home plate for the Crusaders' first run of the game. Royer then stole home on a double steal, making it 2-0 Crusaders.
- Bucknell loaded the bases in the first, and Mulligan struck out his opponent for the third out of the inning.
- In the third, Grundy bashed a solo homer over the right field fence, the first hit of the game for the Crusaders, expanding the lead to 3-0.
- The Bison scored five runs in the bottom of the third to take the lead, getting a two-run, two-out triple.
- Holy Cross leveled the score at 5-5 in the fourth as Sandell pulled a hanging breaking ball down the line to score Egrie, and Connors plated Sandell via an RBI groundout.
- To begin the top of the fifth, junior left fielder John LaFleur doubled on the first pitch, and Coughlin hit a single up the middle on the first pitch to push the Crusaders back in the lead at 6-5.
- Bucknell made a pitching change and walked in three runs as Holy Cross jumped ahead 9-5.The Crusaders scored four more in the sixth with Sandell singling up the middle to bring in two, expanding the edge to 13-5.
- Bucknell trailed 14-9 headed into the ninth inning and came within three, 14-11. With the game-tying run at the plate, Wywoda struck out the final batter to clinch the title.
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