Yale Athletics

This weekend, Yale men’s baseball (1–2, 0–0 Ivy) opened their season with three games against the University of Richmond (2–5, 0–0 Colonial) at Pitt Field in Richmond, Virginia. 

The Bulldogs won their first game but ultimately fell to the Spiders on Sunday. 

“​​I feel like getting back on the field and seeing everyone compete again was really special,” Colton Shaw ’25 wrote to the News. “Getting some of the new guys involved as well as seeing the upperclassmen play again was something I had been looking forward to for a while. I think focusing on the little things in practice will get us over the hump. Taking care of the small details like sharpening up our plays and throwing strikes will help us compete at a higher level.”

On Friday, the Blue and White secured a 9–6 win over the Spiders to begin their season on the right foot. First year Beck Milner ’26 got things started with a homer to center field to bring Shaw and Jimmy Chatfield ’24 home, making it a 3–0 lead in the top of the first. This was Milner’s first official at-bat as a Bulldog. 

In the top of the third, Jeff Pierantoni ’24 was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Pierantoni advanced to first and brought Carson Swank ’23 home, bringing the Bulldogs to a 4–3 lead. In the top of the eighth, Shaw homered to left field, bringing AJ Gaich ’23 home and advancing the Bulldogs to an 8–5 lead. 

“My favorite moment of the weekend was our first practice at Richmond on Thursday,” Milner wrote to the News. “After an early morning and a long day of travel, finally reaching the warm weather, the buzz around the team was incredible.”

Chatfield started on the mound for the Bulldogs, with Easterly relieving in the top of the third. Rookie Tate Evans ’26 made his debut as a closer and pitched a scoreless ninth for the Bulldogs. 

The Bulldogs’ 9–6 victory was head coach Brian Hamm’s first win in a Yale uniform. 

On Sunday, the Bulldogs had a doubleheader, ultimately falling to the Spiders in both games. 

To start the first game on Sunday, both Gaich and Chatfield homered in the top of the first to give the Bulldogs an early 2–0 lead, and it seemed like the Bulldogs would keep their momentum going. In the top of the third, Chatfield singled, bringing two runs home.  

However, the Spiders fought back, keeping the game close throughout, and the Bulldogs held just a 6–5 lead after six innings.

In the top of the seventh, Shaw scored off of a double down the left field line by Swank, in what would turn out to be the Bulldogs’ last run of the game. Trailing 7–5 with just three innings to play, the Richmond offense sprung to life, scoring four runs in the bottom of the seventh to reclaim the lead.

Richmond tacked on two more in the bottom of eighth, and the Spiders’ defense stifled the Bulldogs late, giving up no runs in the last two innings.

The Bulldogs had eight hits and seven RBIs in the 11–7 defeat. 

“We need to continue to focus on our approach at the plate,” Hayden Sobecki ’25 wrote to the News. “We did a solid job of executing this past weekend at Richmond, but there’s more we can improve on leading into this weekend.”

In their second game of the day on Sunday, Martin scored the first run for the Bulldogs off of a single from Davis Hanson ’26 to left field. In the top of the fourth, Max Imhoff ’25 singled up the middle to bring Gaich and Robert Ciulla ’23 home. 

While the Bulldogs offense maintained a steady pace, the Spiders’ bats were explosive in the last game of the series. Three home runs in the first three innings set the tone for the game, and the early lead proved insurmountable as the Spiders cruised to a 16–6 victory. 

“I am most excited to be a part of this team of players and coaches; we are having a great time working hard, competing, getting better every day, enjoying the camaraderie, and representing Yale,” Hamm said. “We are a very young team that doesn’t have much experience playing at the college level, so I am looking forward to watching us grow and improve throughout the season.”

Looking ahead, the Bulldogs will travel to Montgomery, Alambama to compete against Alabama State in a three game series, with a doubleheader on Saturday and a game on Sunday.