DANVILLE, Va. – The baseball team opened the 2026 season losing via walk off in the opener 3-2 and then chipped away from a deficit but fell short in game two 8-5 against Averett on the road on Saturday afternoon.
On the Mound
Skylar Albright's (Hendersonville, N.C./Hendersonville) first sight on a mound brought four scoreless innings allowing only two walks and marking two strikeouts.
Mason Sawyers (Culpeper, Va./Culpeper County) started game two with two innings of work with five earned runs scored.
Rhett Robbins (Frederica, Del./Lake Forest) went 2-for-3 in game two.
Inside the Batter's Box
Quade Gannon (Felton, Del./Lake Forest) reached base four times, his three hits in game one were a career high.
Amrit Brown (Asheville, N.C./Asheville) notched two hits in each end of the doubleheader.
From the Bullpen
Declan Musselman (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) allowed one run on one hit in his first 3 1/3 innings in relief in game one.
Finn Scott-Daniels (Annandale, Va./Annandale) notched three strikeouts in two innings of one-run work in game two.
Tim Rio (Manassas, Va./Unity Reed) and
Aaron Heller (Philadelphia, Pa./Jack Barrack Hebrew Acad.) allowed a run in relief on the back end of game two.
How it Happened – Averett 3, Hood 2
Albright's first appearance remained clean even with a base runner reaching in every inning, the Blazers were able to neutralize the threat in the first four innings.
With two outs and the bat in Gannon's hands in the top half of the fourth, he stroked a single up the middle and
Ty Broughton (Charles Town, W.Va./Washington) wheeled around from second to score the season's first run.
In the sixth, the Blazers manufactured another run with Brown leading off with his third hit of the afternoon was moved to second on a bunt from
Blaine Smith (Hume, Va./Fauquier), advanced on a groundout, and scored on
Jonathan Tyndall's (Felton, Del./Lake Forest) RBI single to center, giving Hood a 2–0 cushion.
Reliever
Declan Musselman (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) continued the momentum, giving Hood strong innings with just one run allowed and three strikeouts. Behind the two arms, Hood carried that two-run lead into the bottom of the eighth.
Averett rallied in the bottom half as a pair of hits were cashed in with two-run double by Averett's Drew Skinner.
In the ninth, Hood threatened immediately when
Kamari Chisolm (Gainesville, Va./Bishop O'Connell) singled and stole second, but a double play ended the inning and kept the game tied.
Averett secured the win in the bottom half on a pinch-hit RBI double by Nathan Michalowicz, bringing home the winning run.
How it Happened – Averett 8, Hood 5
Hood wasted no time getting on the board in the opening frame.
Rhett Robbins (Frederica, Del./Lake Forest) singled and was moved to third before he scored on
Cole Sims' (Elkton, Md./Saint Mark's) first hit as a Blazer with an infield RBI single giving the Blazers an early 1–0 lead.
Averett countered immediately, pushing across three runs in the bottom of the first and two more in the second to seize a 5–1 advantage.
Hood battled back in the fourth, sparked by
Amrit Brown's (Asheville, N.C./Asheville) leadoff double—his second hit of the game.
Sean Seely (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) later followed with his college first RBI single up the middle cutting the deficit to 5–3. Seely later added a stolen base as the Blazers threatened further.
The Cougars plated single runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings to extend its lead to 8–3 and stayed in the driver's seat.
Up Next
The squad travels to Bridgewater for a single nine-inning game set for Wednesday, February 18 with first pitch at 3:30 p.m..
