DELAND, Fla. — The wait was well worth it for Columbia Baseball (1-0, 0-0 IVY) and after 719 days away from the diamond, the Lions powered their way to an opening day, 8-3, win over Stetson (2-3, 0-0 ASUN), on Friday night at Melching Field at Conrad Park.
 
The Lions, who last won on Mar. 7, 2020, collected seven extra base hits, including a pair of home runs from Andy Blake and Tyler MacGregor, to go along with five strong innings from Sean Higgins (1-0) and four from the bullpen as they took down the Hatters.
 
Higgins collected the win, finishing with a solid line of 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 6 K, and his strong outing was supported by Saajan May (2.0 IP) and Joe Sheets (2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 K) who helped finish off the Hatters.  The Columbia pitching staff was in control from the first pitch Higgins tossed, not allowing a walk for the entire game as the Stetson hitters only reached base by putting the ball in play.
 
"Higgins gave us a great start and our bullpen and defense were very solid throughout," said head coach Brett Boretti.  "We had a great offensive team effort, and it was great to see everyone in the lineup contributing the way they did.  Getting a win on opening day is great, and it's even better to get it after the layoff we've had."
 
Columbia used a three-run burst in the seventh and a two-run burst in eighth to pad their lead as Sheets put up a pair of zeros over the final two innings to lock up opening day for the Lions.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED: Columbia wasted no time getting back into the swing of things and they set the tone from the first pitch.  In the first inning, Blake took his first hacks of the 2022 season and after working the count full, sent the full count pitch into the Florida night with his second career home run to quickly put Columbia up 1-0.
 
Higgins collected his first of six strikeouts on a 1-2 pitch that caught Kyle Ball looking in the first and over the next three innings Higgins held the Hatter scoreless, striking out four Hatters and only giving up two hits along the way. 
 
In the fourth, Skye Selinsky smacked a one-out double to put himself in scoring position.  The double paid off as with two outs, Griffin Palfrey put the ball in play, resulting in a throwing error by the shortstop which allowed Selinsky to come around and score, putting the score at 2-0.
 
Stetson finally got on the board in the fourth with a two-out solo home run from Daniel Labrador, but it did little to phase Higgins, working through a one-out triple in the fifth to finish up his solid day only allowing one run on four hits.
 
A leadoff double in the sixth from Hayden Schott eventually led to him coming around to score, helped along by a base hit from Anton Lazits and a sacrifice fly from Palfrey, and after six innings the Lions held a 3-1 advantage.
 
Columbia's offense used the seventh and eighth innings to put the game away, scoring three in the seventh and two in the eighth. 
 
The seventh began with a bang, as MacGregor and Weston Eberly each smashed their first career triples, with MacGregor leading the inning off and Eberly knocking him in with one out.  It was the first of three straight runs scored over three Columbia at bats, as Josh Solomon scored Eberly on a single of his own and Schott recorded his second double of the game to score Solomon from first.
 
After the seventh inning outburst, Columbia entered the eighth inning up 6-1.  With one out, Jacob Phelps reached on a throwing error from the shortstop, brining MacGregor to the plate with one out and a runner on.  MacGregor took the second pitch he saw deep, scoring Phelps with the two-run blast to put the finishing touches on Columbia's offensive outburst.
 
Stetson would get two runs in the seventh, off May, who had come in to relieve Higgins.  But it would be the only two runs the bullpen would give up, with Sheets joining May by putting up four solid innings of work out of the pen.  And the work from the pen, coupled with Columbia's work at the plate finished off Stetson to give the Lions the 8-3 opening day win.
 
GAME NOTES: This was Columbia's first opening day win since 2014 (1-0 at South Florida/Feb. 28) … It's the first time since Apr. 13, 2019 at Yale that the Lions have collected two or more triples in a game … The Lion pitching staff did not record a walk in the game, the first time that has happened wince Mar. 4, 2019 at Penn … This was the first time the Lions have ever beat Stetson, in what was the eighth meeting all-time.
 
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