Trevecca Nazarene University

TAMPA - The Trevecca Nazarene University baseball team began their 2026 trip to the NCAA South Regional tournament with a tall order on Thursday. The Trojans had to take on the second-seeded and defending NCAA Division II National Champion University of Tampa Spartans on their own home field.
 
Throughout the afternoon, the Trojans hung with the Spartans, but in the end, Trevecca was unable to find the key hit to take the lead, and the Spartans took the win.
 
Trevecca (32-22) fell behind early, and though they did tie the score at 2-2 midway through the contest, Tampa (42-8) answered immediately and led for the rest of the game on their way to the 8-4 win. Trevecca will now play for their postseason lives on Friday against the loser of the second matchup of the regional between Rollins University and the University of West Alabama.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
This marks the second ever meeting between the Trojans and the Spartans, with the first coming at the 2021 NCAA Division II World Series in Cary, N.C. The Spartans came from behind in that game to beat Trevecca 7-6 in 10 innings, and the Spartans are now 2-0 all-time against Trevecca.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Tampa jumped on top early with a lead-off triple in the bottom of the first that was followed by a sacrifice fly to put the Spartans up 1-0. They added another run on an RBI single with one out in the third, and Tampa took the 2-0 lead into the top of the fifth frame.
 
Cade Moore led off the inning with a single, and he moved up to second on a bunt single from Caleb Webster. Landon Rogers followed with a sacrifice bunt that pushed the runners to second and third, and Jaxson Christ followed with a solid single to right-center that scored Moore and Webster to knot the score at 2-2.
 
In the bottom of the fifth, though, Tampa answered. Back-to-back singles and a groundout put runners at second and third for Walker Vanecek who lofted a 3-run homer to left that restored Tampa to the lead, this time at 5-2.
 
Trevecca clawed back to within one in the seventh, and they had the tying run at third, but they were unable to push it across. Rogers singled and Christ walked with one away, and Alex Fernandez followed with a double to left center that narrowly missed leaving the yard. Rogers scored on the Fernandez two-bagger, and Christ came home from third on an RBI groundout from Rylan Moses to pull Trevecca within one at 5-4.
 
Trevecca got the tying and go ahead runs on base again in the eighth when Drew Bradley walked and Webster was hit by a pitch, but a bid for a base hit from Rogers into the hole at second went for naught, and Tampa added three insurance runs in the bottom of the frame to secure the 8-4 win.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
 
* Rylan Moses 1-for-5, RBI
* Drew Bradley – 1-for-3, 2B, BB
* Cade Moore – 1-for-4, R
* Caleb Webster – 1-for-3, R
* Landon Rogers – 1-for-3, R
* Jaxson Christ – 1-for-3, BB, R, 2 RBI
* Alex Fernandez – 1-for-4, 2B, RBI
 
WP – Robert Satin (11-2) – 6.2 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 6 SO
LP – Logan Harrell (8-5) – 5.0 IP, 5 ER, 8 H, 1 BB, 5 SO
SV – Luke Fikar (7) – 2.1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 SO
 
UP NEXT
Trevecca will play in an elimination game on Friday against the loser of the game between Rollins University (34-14) and the University of West Alabama (34-15). First pitch of that game is slated for Noon CDT.