Ashland, Ohio- Golden Eagles go 1-2 at Ashland, finding first win of the 2026 season on Saturday in game one. 

Game 1 

The Basics 
Location: Archer Ballpark 
Score: UC 8, AU 9 
Records: UC 0-10 (0-0 MEC), AU 3-4 (0-0 PSAC) 

How it Happened 
Charleston started their away game with the bat in their hands. Griffin Ailes took the mound for Ashland and gave them a good start posting a scoreless first inning. UC sophomore Nick Hulme opened the game for the Golden Eagles in game one. Ashland bats started early as their leadoff hitter hit a single. He stole second, and two ground balls scored the leadoff hitter. Hulme worked through a couple of walks but escaped the first with only one earned run. Ailes went onto a scoreless top of the second inning, avoiding further danger as Charleston's Andrew Kobryn hit a double in this inning. Landon Ingram was the next Golden Eagle pitcher. Ingram struck out two batters in route to a clean inning. After two the game was 1-0 Ashland. 

UC put a run up at the top of the third inning. Moose Lemond and Dame Witty both got free bases off a walk and hit-by-pitch. Collin "Cookie" Kemp hit an RBI single scoring Witty tying the game up at one. Ashland fired right back in the bottom of the third. A hit-by-pitch, triple, and two singles put the Golden Eagles on their heels. Now down 3-1, the Eagles hit a sacrifice fly scoring another run. Ashland led 4-1 after three innings. 

Drew Lucy was the highlight of the fourth inning. Lucy, a freshman, hit his first home run of his college career, making it a 4-2 ball game. Ingram had a great bottom of the fourth off the back of the bomb leaving the game 4-2. 

Ashland made as successful pitching change in the top of the fifth as UC scored zero runs. Ingram still pitched well, but Ashland scored another run on a Sacrifice fly making it a 5-2 game. 

It was an uneventful sixth inning for both teams, but in the seventh UC shortened the lead as Drew Lucy had another hit. Abe Fenwick walked and Moose Lemond reached on a fielder's choice. These events set up a Sacrifice fly off the bat of Dame Witty. Now the game is 5-3. William "Bumby" Van Meter entered the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. Bumby, the junior, threw well in his two innings of work, giving UC a chance to win in the final innings.  

In the eighth and ninth innings, Charleston could not find any runs and lost this one 5-3. 

Game 2

The Basics 
Location: Archer Ballpark 
Score: UC 6, AU 4 
Records: UC 1-10 (0-0 MEC), AU 3-5 (0-0 GMAC) 

How it Happened 
Jay Peterson started on the mound for the Golden Eagles, and Drew Bryant started the game for Ashland. The game started as a pitcher's duel. Peterson and Bryant went back and forth, putting up scoreless innings. Peterson, the freshman, diced up the Ashland hitters with confidence from the left side. Breven Deckrosh entered the game in the bottom of the third and followed Peterson's act nicely with a scoreless inning of his own. Quickly after three innings, the game was tied at zero. 

UC finally broke the tie in the top of the fourth. Trent Dosenbach tripled, followed by an Andrew Kobryn single scoring Charleston's first run of the game. Ashland returned with a couple of runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth. A double walk, and an error led to the bases being loaded. Deckrosh was in a sticky situation, but he stayed calm and worked well. He had a strikeout but right after AU singled bringing two runs in for the Eagles. Deckrosh got another strikeout and a flyout to stop the damage.  

The Golden Eagles wouldn't lose the lead the lead for long. Drew Lucy drew a walk and Dame Witty tripled this inning tying the game up at 2-2. Deckrosh bounced back and had a clean bottom of the fifth. 

Ashland made a pitching change in the top of the sixth and UC capitalized. Logan Bradish hit a single and Drew Lucy stayed hot on the weekend, doubling to left field. Charleston took the lead 3-2 with just two innings remaining. 

Breven Deckrosh shoved and ended his day in the bottom of the sixth after another scoreless inning.  

UC put everything together in the top of the seventh and final inning. Offense was at a premium as Moose Lemond led off with a single and stolen base. Dame Witty doubled and now UC had runners on second and third. Colin "Cookie" Kemp hit a sac fly and Trent Dosenbach singled which brought in a run. With the game being now 5-2 Dosenbach stole second base and Andrew Kobryn hit a single bringing him in making the game 6-2. The Golden Eagles had a comfortable lead going into the bottom half of the last inning. 

Abe Fenwick replaced Deckrosh to close the game. Ashland put up a good fight as they led off the inning with a single followed by a home run making the game 6-4. Despite this, Fenwick continued to work, and although Ashland had a couple more hits, he closed the game for UC. The Golden Eagles got their first win of season 6-4.

Game 3

The Basics 
Location: Archer Ballpark 
Score: UC 3, AU 4 
Records: UC 1-11 (0-0 MEC), AU 4-5 (0-0 GMAC) 

How it Happened 
Game three started slowly for both teams. UC didn't score for the first couple of innings. Sophomore Harry Lamont started the game for the Golden Eagles after a couple of hits; Harry managed to put up a zero in the first inning.  

After Harry, Devin Fletcher got on the mound for UC; he had a good second inning making it through scoreless. 

Charleston struck first in the top of the third. Abe Fenwick led off with a walk, and Moose Lemond singled to right field. A wild pitch led to the Golden Eagles scoring their first run of the game. Fletcher turned around after Charleston's score and had a three-up three-down inning.  

UC scored again as another leadoff walk led to a John Stansbury Single. Ryan Comella hit them over, and Logan Bradish hit Kobryn in putting the Golden Eagles up 2-0. 

Devin Fletcher continued to work with another scoreless inning in the bottom of the fourth. Ashland returned the favor in the top of the fifth. Halfway through the game it was still 2-0 Charleston. 

The Golden Eagles brought in redshirt sophomore Sam Sheets for his first appearance of the season. Sheets pitched well and kept Ashland at bay in the bottom of the fifth.  

The top of the sixth was uneventful for UC; Ashland finally put up a run. Sam Sheets got two quick outs but after an AU double and triple, Ashland finally scored their first run of the game. After six, UC only had a 2-1 lead. 

Nothing happened in the top of the seventh for Charleston and Ashland capitalized on that momentum when it was their turn to hit. J.P. Shultz replaced Sheets. Two runners quickly got on. Shultz recorded an out, but a single scored Ashland's Second run, tying the game up at two. 

The Golden Eagles wanted revenge and in top of the eighth Moose Lemond singled and Dame Witty walked, putting runners on first and second early in the inning. Collin "Cookie" Kemp hit the runners over in a ground out, putting the runners on second and third. Trent Dosenbach was next and grounded out but got an RBI and UC was up again 3-2. 

Kai Close strolled in to make his college debut for the Golden Eagles. Close, a freshman, absolutely dominated the Ashland hitters. He struck out the side with ease and there was only one inning left to go.  

UC could not put up any insurance runs at the top of the ninth. That would come back to bite. Kai Close had his fourth consecutive strike out in the bottom of the ninth. He forced a lineout and there were two outs. After a single Close was taken out after a great outing. William "Bumby" Van Meter was called in to get the last out for UC. Bumby struck out what would have been the last AU hitter, but a wild pitch put him on first base. With runners on first and second a walk led to the bases being loaded for Ashland. Bumby had AU down to their final strike in a tense 3-2 ball game. With the bases loaded Ashland's Shimek hit a single to left field scoring two runs and walking the game off. Ashland came back and won this game 4-3. 

Up Next:
Charleston will head to Shepherdstown, West Virginia on March 7-8 to take on both Shepherd University and the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.