MORAGA, Calif. - The 2025 college baseball season officially began today as Saint Mary's played host to Saint Louis for their first matchup since 2012. The Gaels jumped out in front in game one with a four-run lead but the Billikens scored nine unanswered runs including a six-run sixth inning to take the opener 9-4.
Saint Mary's returned the favor in game two with an offensive explosion, scoring 16 runs on 17 hits to run-rule the Billikens 16-1.
Eddie Madrigal led the team with three RBI's while five Gaels finished with multiple hits in the afternoon. Their 16 runs and 17 hits were the most since May 12th of 2024 when Saint Mary's put up 22 runs and 18 hits in a dominant conference win over Pacific.
Donovan Chriss made his SMC debut in game two and went five strong innings, allowing just one run and two hits to pick up his first win as a Gael.
GAME ONE SMC 4-9 SLU
In the opener, senior left hander Derik Eaqunito would get the nod and make his 20th start for Saint Mary's dating back to 2023. Eaquinto was nearly flawless, allowing just three hits and zero runs through his first five innings. During that stretch, the Gaels would jump on the Billikens early thanks to a pair of home runs from
Eddie Madrigal and
Hayden Driggs.
2ND & 4TH INNING
The baseball gods were looking over Madrigal today as he belted his first home run since last season. Madrigal's last at-bat during the 2024 season ended with a pinch hit solo shot but he suffered a season ending knee injury later in that game. He would kick the 2025 season off in his first at-bat since the injury with another solo shot to give the Gaels a 1-0 lead after two.
Two innings later, senior catcher
Hayden Driggs would connect on a three-run shot to right field to give Saint Mary's a 4-0 lead. In his third year with the program, this would go down as his first collegiate home run.
6TH INNING
After cruising through five scoreless innings, Eaquinto would come back out to start the sixth but the Billikens would take advantage of seeing him for a third time and get on the board with a one-out three-run shot to left. Head coach
Eric Valenzuela would come out to take the ball and end the day for Eaquinto. He would still put together an impressive line, allowing five hits and three runs in his 5.1 innings.
UC Irvine transfer Elliot Joslin would come on in relief and make his Saint Mary's debut but fail to record an out, walking two batters and eventually giving up another three-run homer to propel the Billikens in front 6-4. Freshman lefty
Talin Gardini would replace Joslin and retire two of the next three batters to end the threat. After forcing the Billikens starter out in the fifth, the Saint Louis bullpen would shut things down as Charlie Weber threw four scoreless innings allowing just two hits to record his first save of the season. Saint Louis would record their third homer of the game with a two-run shot in the seventh and tack on one more run in the eighth to seal the 9-4 opening day victory.
Senior right hander Daniel Gueavara Castro would finish the game out on the mound for the Gaels, making his sixth career appearance. The Gaels offense was relatively quiet as they picked up their four runs off of just five hits. Driggs led the way with his three-run shot back in the fourth while Madrigal had the other RBI with his solo shot in the second.
GAME TWO SMC 16-1 SLU
Saint Mary's would come back with junior transfer
Donovan Chriss to start game two. Chriss spent two years at UC San Diego and he would have a memorable SMC debut as he went five strong, allowing just two hits and one run while striking out a career high seven batters. Chriss showcased a lively fastball with a great mix of offspeed stuff to keep the Billiken hitters off balance all afternoon. Chriss didn't allow a hit in three of his five innings pitched and put him in line for his first win in a Saint Mary' s uniform.
1ST INNING
Saint Louis would strike first off a leadoff triple from Hayden Moore. Moore would score on a sacrifice fly the next at-bat to give the Billikens a 1-0 lead. The Gaels responded with contact and good base running in the bottom half of the first to score two runs and take a 2-1 lead.
Cody Kashimoto would lead things off with a single up the middle and eventually get to third off a wild pitch and a sac bunt from
Tanner Griffith.
Kashimoto would dart home on the very next pitch after another errant throw by the pitcher to tie the game.
Ryan Pierce found his way on with a hit by pitch and then eventually scored thanks to a two-out single from
Brian Duroff to retake the lead.
Saint Mary's would go on to score a single run in each of the next three innings while Chriss was dominating on the mound, to take a 5-1 lead into the sixth. RBI hits during that span came from Kashimoto, Madrigal and Castellanos.
5TH INNING
After Chris ignited the crowd with a pair of strikeouts in the top half of the fifth, the Gaels would take that energy and erupt for nine runs on nine hits to take a convincing 14-1 lead. Sophomore Aiden Tuarek yanked a single through the left side with the bases loaded to score Pierce and Griffth to get the party started.
After a mound visit,
Jared Mettam would jump on the first pitch he saw and rifle it into left field to score another run and force the exit of Saint Louis pitcher Justin Lee. Mettam would swipe second in the next at-bat before freshman catcher
Ian Armstrong singled to left field to score two more runs and push the Gaels lead to 10-1.
After a single from
Diego Castellanos and a walk from Kashimoto,
Tanner Griffith would get in on the action with a single to right field allowing the runners to go station-to-station. Saint Mary's would do the exact same thing two more times with RBI hits from Pierce and Madrigal to finish the inning with a 14-1 advantage.
Saint Mary's would tack on two more in the sixth thanks to an RBI double from
Brady Petit to score Armstrong from second. The freshman infielder out of La Costa Canyon would record his first collegiate hit and RBI with the double down the right field line. Fellow freshman and San Diego native
Justin Heffler would follow suit with a sac fly to right to plate Castellanos and give Saint Mary's a 16-1 lead.
Junior right hander
Adam Enyart would come on in relief in the sixth and make his 40th appearance as a Gael dating back to 2023. Enyart was equally as good, throwing two hitless and scoreless innings for the Gaels to shut the door and seal the 16-1 win. The game would be called with a run-rule in effect, a ten-run lead after seven innings.
After going 0-4 in game one,
Tanner Griffith bounced back with three hits, an RBI and three runs scored in game two. Also recording three hits was sophomore outfielder
Diego Castellanos. Castellanos got on base in each of his four at-bats and also scored three runs.
Eddie Madrigal led the team with three RBI's, finishing the day with a team high four in both games combined.
One Win Away…
Aside from the Gaels first win of the 2025 season, head coach
Eric Valenzuela now sits on 215 career wins at Saint Mary's and has officially tied the program record held by Miles McAfee who recorded 215 wins from 1973-1980. One more Gaels win would crown Valenzuela as the program's all-time winningest coach and he and his squad will look to achieve that tomorrow afternoon in game three with the Billikens.
LOOKING AHEAD
Saint Mary's recorded their first win of the 2025 season with an offensive explosion, putting up 16 runs on 17 hits. The weekend series with Saint Louis will continue with a single game on Saturday, February 15th starting at 1:00 PM. Live stats can be found at smcgaels.com and you can stream the game live on ESPN+. Tickets can be bought online at smcgaels.com/tickets.
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