Herd Baseball Opens 2026 with Win over Evansville

Box Score (PDF) | Championship Fund

KENNESAW, Ga. – The Marshall University Baseball team (1-0) opened the season with a 5-2 win over the Evansville Aces on Friday in Kennesaw, Georgia.

"Opening Day is an exciting day, always," Herd Baseball Head Coach Greg Beals said. "It was an early start for us. We had a 7:30 a.m. bus, early BP, but the boys were ready to go. Just a great pitching performance from Bryce Blevins that set the tone for our ball club. Once Havrilla hit the homerun to tie the ballgame up, I think there was no looking back for The Herd today."

Opening Day starter Bryce Blevins delivered 7.0 innings of one-run baseball on just two hits, no walks and seven strikeouts with the run being unearned. Peyton Jackson earned his first collegiate save by stranding the bases loaded with the final out of the game.

At the dish, AJ Havrilla went 3-for-4 with a homer as Cooper Hinson also tallied his first dinger of the season.

After the Aces tallied an unearned run in the top of the first, Havrilla tied the game with his longball down the left-field line to lead off the bottom of the fourth.

After a pair of outs and an Ethan Murdoch single up the middle, Hinson stepped to the plate. The sophomore gave Marshall its first lead of 2026 with a two-run homerun down the right-field line to make it 3-1.

Then in the bottom of the fifth, Cleary Simpson led off with a double. Cam Harthan then reached on an error as Simpson scored. After a passed ball and a Havrilla single, Jackson Halter brought home Harthan with a sacrifice fly to make it 5-1.

Blevins settled in and retired 19 of the next 20 batters he faced to end his opening day outing.

Reliever Charlie Krebs came on from the bullpen to start the eighth. After a leadoff single, the junior ended the inning with a double play to keep the score 5-1.

After an Evansville homer and runners at first and second with two outs, Jackson came on for Krebs. After a four-pitch walk, Jackson induced a game-ending ground out with the bases loaded to get MU in the win column to start 2026.

UP NEXT
The Herd prepares for a doubleheader on Saturday, starting with another contest against Evansville at 11 a.m. and a game against host Kennesaw State at 4 p.m.

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---HerdZone.com---

Herd Baseball Opens 2026 with Win over Evansville

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Team Stats

AJ Havrilla

Ethan Murdoch

Cooper Hinson

Mason Onate

Players Mentioned

Bryce Blevins

Jackson Halter

Cam Harthan

AJ Havrilla

Cooper Hinson

Peyton Jackson

Charlie Krebs

Ethan Murdoch

Cleary Simpson

Marshall University Athletics