The IUPUC baseball team kicked off their 2024 campaign at Grand Park on Saturday, hosting Aquinas (MI) in a high-scoring affair. The Crimson Pride fell behind early as Aquinas plated 5 runs in the opening frame. However, the home team showed resilience and fought back into the game with single tallies in the 1st and 2nd innings, followed by a 2-spot in the 3rd to cut the deficit to just one run at 7-6.

The Crimson Pride continued to scrap, tying the game up with a run in the 4th. But Aquinas responded with 3 more runs of their own to regain a 10-7 advantage. Undeterred, IUPUC mounted another comeback bid with a huge 5-run 5th inning rally capped off by Peyton Blinn's bases-clearing 3-run double to give the home team a 12-10 lead.

The seesaw battle continued into the later innings, where Aquinas was able to plate the decisive run in the 8th inning against reliever Jonathan Moreno, who took the tough luck loss on the day.

Offensively, the Crimson Pride were led by shortstop Wyatt Sutton (2-4, 3B, 2 RBIs) and first baseman Jared Ross (2-4, 3B) who both ripped triples and scored twice. Despite the opening day setback, IUPUC showed plenty of fight and look to build on the solid performance moving forward.