CORVALLIS, Ore. - A 2025 season full of wild ups and downs for the Saint Mary's Gaels came to an end Sunday evening as they fell in the elimination game to 8th ranked Oregon State to conclude their season in the NCAA Regional. The Gaels made history along the way winning their second WCC Tournament Championship and earning a bid to their second ever NCAA Tournament. They left their mark in the history books with the program's first ever NCAA Regional win over the 8th ranked Beavers Friday night to highlight an excellent 2025 season.
Oregon State jumped on Saint Mary's early with runs in five of the first six innings including a nine-run sixth inning that put the game out of reach. The Gaels got on the board in the fifth inning with a pair of RBI singles from
Eddie Madrigal and
Cody Kashimoto to make it a three-run ballgame, but the nine runs off eight hits for the Beavers would help seal the win and advance them to the regional final against three-seed USC.
"I'm very proud of this team! They battled all year long and believed in the standard of what we want Gael Baseball to be", said head coach
Eric Valenzuela. "It's just the start, the future is bright but I can't say enough about this group. Starting 2-7 in conference play and going on a tear to make it to Sunday of the NCAA Regionals is pretty special. This team will go down in the history books with the program's first ever NCAA Regional win" (Valenzuela).
The Gaels were held to seven hits as Oregon State's Ethan Kleinschmit pitched into the eighth inning to earn his eighth win of the season and keep their season alive. After freshman starter
Lukas Sarantos, Valenzuela got six relievers out on the mound for the Gaels with five of them making their first ever NCAA Regional appearance.
At the plate,
Brady Petit,
Makoa Sniffen,
Micah Nicholson,
Brett Williams and
Hayden Driggs made appearances late in the game to get a taste of NCAA postseason baseball. The game would end in a fitting way for Saint Mary's and fifth year senior
Hayden Driggs as he came to the plate in the ninth and crushed the 1-1 pitch deep over the left field wall for his second home run of his career.
Freshmen
Brady Petit and
Makoa Sniffen got plate appearances in the eighth inning and each recorded hits as Petit lined a ball to right field and Sniffen doubled to the left field corner.
Cody Kashimoto led the team with four hits and a pair of RBI over the team's three games while
Dylan Delvecchio and
Daniel Guevara Castro earned the staff's only win and save with their joint performance in Friday's win over Oregon State.
LOOKING AHEAD
Saint Mary's concluded their 2025 season with a record of 36-26, going 1-2 in their second regional appearance in program history. An additional season recap will be released in the coming days to highlight the historic 2025 season and individual accomplishments. Complete season statistics and game-by-game results can be found at smcgaels.com. The Saint Mary's athletics department also thanks all of the traveling fans for showing out and making their presence felt here in Corvallis. We appreciate all your support for our student-athletes and our university.
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