No. 16 Spartans Split with Swarthmore to Open Spartan Southern Classic

3/7/2026 8:21:00 PM

The Case Western Reserve University baseball team, ranked 16th in Division III, opened play at the Spartan Southern Classic with a split of a pair of games against Swarthmore College, falling 3-2 on a walk-off in the second game of the day, before coming back to win the late affair 12-7, at the Lexington County Baseball Stadium in Lexington, South Carolina.

The Spartans and the Garnet each moved to 6-3 for the season following the split.

Game 1 Recap: Swarthmore def. CWRU, 3-2

The Spartans fell behind 1-0 on a home run to leadoff the bottom of the first inning by Swarthmore's Leor Kedar, the first earned run allowed this season by junior pitcher and designated hitter Tyler Stillson.
CWRU remained behind by a run until the top of the sixth. Stillson opened the inning with a base hit and moved to third on a double by senior centerfielder Matt Trout. Stillson tied the game two batters later, crossing the plate on a run-scoring groundout by senior catcher Sean Donahue, and the Spartans took the lead on a two-out single by sophomore second baseman Calvin Gelle that allowed Trout to score from third.
The Spartans led 2-1 until the bottom of the eighth when the Garnet evened the score with a two-out single, and after CWRU was unable to score in the top of the ninth, Swarthmore won the game with a one-out walk-off single from Kedar.
The Spartans and the Garnet each finished with 10 hits. Donahue went three-for-four with an RBI in the contest.
Stillson went seven innings in the no-decision, allowing two runs on eight hits with no walks and eight strikeouts.
Sophomore left-handed pitcher Jeff Radinsky suffered the loss to fall to 1-1 on the year. Swarthmore reliever David Herrin picked up the win, improving to 1-1.

Game 2 Recap: CWRU def. Swarthmore, 12-7

After Swarthmore scored a run in the top of the first inning, the Spartans had an immediate response, as graduate student first baseman Eli Westrick drew a leadoff walk and Stillson followed with a two-run home run to right field, his second blast of the season. CWRU scored one more run in the inning to take a 3-1 lead by the end of the first.
The Spartans added another run in the second when Gelle drew a two-out bases-loaded walk to increase the team's lead to three runs.
Swarthmore evened the score with three runs in the top of the fourth against senior right-handed starting pitcher Archer Stankowski, who left the contest with a no-decision.
The Spartans regained the lead with a pair of two-strike hits to start the fifth inning, as Donahue singled and junior shortstop Nate Arterburn plated him with a double. Later in the inning, Trout drove in Arterburn with a single to left, and then Gelle added a two-RBI double to put CWRU in front 8-4.
CWRU added three more runs in the bottom of the seventh to go ahead 11-4. First-year Tucker Greer had a pinch hit RBI double during the inning, first-year catcher Collin Pool added a sacrifice fly, and first-year Elijah Sledge scored on a wild pitch.
The Garnet cut the lead to four with three runs in the top of the eighth, but Stillson drove in a run with a base hit in the bottom of the inning to set the score at 12-7.
Sophomore Oliver Miller pitched three innings in relief, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits with four strikeouts, earning the win to improve to 1-0. Sophomore Ayush Shetty closed out the game, pitching the final two innings and holding Swarthmore to one hit and a strikeout. Ian Born took the loss for the Garnet, dropping to 0-1.
CWRU finished the game with 12 hits and drew 11 walks. Gelle went three-for-four with a double, three runs batted in, a walk, and a run scored, while Westrick was two-for-four at the plate with four runs scored, two stolen bases, and two walks. Stillson added a two-for-five game at the plate with three RBIs, a run, a walk, and a home run.

Spartan Notes

Despite allowing the two runs in the no-decision in the first game, Stillson has gone 2-0 with a 0.86 ERA over his three starts this season and has struck out 29 batters over his 21 innings of work.
CWRU now stands at 4-3 all-time against Swarthmore and has won three of the last four games.