MACON, Ga. – The No. 1 seed Spring Hill College baseball team was eliminated by a score of 6-4 by No. 3 Edward Waters University in the 2026 SIAC Baseball Championship game this evening. The Badgers are 39-16, while the Tigers are 33-19. Spring Hill will wait and see if it receives an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II Baseball Regionals.
Edward Waters took a 1-0 lead after the first, but in the top of the third, Spring Hill responded. With one down,
Jaylen Jones singled to left. He later advanced when
John Webb reached on a bunt single, but an error by the pitcher allowed both runners to take second and third. Jones then scored off an RBI sacrifice fly to center by
Gavin Moran.
Following a scoreless fourth inning, the Badgers took the lead when they pushed two runs across on four hits. It started when
Alex Roux singled to center before moving to second with one out when Jones singled to center. Webb's RBI single to left scored Roux to make it 2-1 and moved Jones to second. A balk by the Tiger pitcher allowed both runners to move up 90 feet. Jones later touched home when Moran singled to left to make it 3-1.
Edward Waters retook the lead in the sixth when it pushed four runs across and then added another in the seventh to go up 6-3.
With Spring Hill down to its final three outs in the top of the ninth, the Badgers looked to rally. It started when
Eli Benoit was hit by a pitch to reach first, and then was lifted for pinch runner
Weston Kirk. Following a pop-up to second, Jatneir Torres singled through the left side to put runners on first and second. The Tigers were able to get the second out of the inning with a flyout to right field, but
Jordan Black kept the inning alive when he was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Now with Jones at the plate, he drew the RBI walk to score Kirk and cut the lead to 6-4, but a flyout to right field ended the Badger rally.
Pitcher
Nathaniel Helton took the loss to fall to 5-3. He allowed five runs on 10 hits over seven innings of work, while striking out four.
Jones paced all hitters at the plate, going 3-for-4. He added a walk, an RBI, and two runs scored.
Webb and Moran combined to go 4-for-7 with three RBIs.
Torres, Roux, and Black each tallied a hit, and Roux recorded a run scored.
