PHOTOS

SAINT PETER, Minn. -- The University of Chicago baseball team made history on Saturday morning in the cold as they picked up their first NCAA Tournament win in program history with a 17-7 win over Beloit. The Maroons avenge their 2024 season-ending loss by sending the Buccaneers packing in the postseason.

The win is also the 27th of the season for UChicago, breaking the record for the most wins in a season of 26 set back in 2018.

Beloit got the bats going in the top of the first inning with three runs on five hits, but UChicago battled right back with three runs and five hits of their own. The Maroons opened the home half of the inning with four consecutive hits as Braden Jirovec and Erik Rindner each beat out infield singles. Then, Michael Gladden doubled home both runners, and Max Wiesner singled home Gladden to tie the game at three.

The Buccaneers kept the bats rolling in the second with three more runs to stretch the lead to 6-3. The offense went silent over the next three innings as neither team could string together any hits. Then, the UChicago bats came alive in the fifth inning. After a leadoff double by Richard Lu, Braden Jirovec beat out a ball back to the pitched, and both runners came around to score on a double by Erik Rindner. After a walk by Gladden and a single by Wiesner, Jackson Slipock got in on the fun with a two-run double to give the Maroons their first lead of the game.

The inning continued with a sacrifice fly by Eddie McCarthy and an RBI single by Nathan Bae to stretch the lead to 9-6. Richard Lu capped off the inning with the first UChicago home run of the game as he lofted a two-run home run over the right field wall for an 11-6 lead after the eight-run inning.

The Maroons added another run in the sixth inning on a solo home run by Michael Gladden, his second of the Regional. Then, in the seventh inning, Richard Lu followed a Jack Sharp single with his second home run of the game to stretch the lead to 14-6. After Beloit got one run back in the eighth, two more Maroons got in on the long ball action as Max Wiesner ripped a solo home run and Jack Sharp added a two-run home run for the fifth long ball of the game for UChicago. The five home runs tie a 2021 win over Knox for the most home runs in a game since 2013.

Max Wiesner led the UChicago attack with four hits, 2 runs scored, and a pair of RBIs. Richard Lu added three hits and four RBIs with a double and two home runs, his first two long balls of the season. In total, seven UChicago hitters tallied multi-hit games and six UChicago hitters added multi-RBI games as the bats were hot in the cold weather.

On the mound, Drew Bryan was outstanding in relief of Russell Kwinter, picking up his fourth win of the season as he went 6.0 innings with 6 strikeouts, allowing just one unearned run. Grant Tenuta came in to close out the game with a perfect ninth inning, striking out two of the three batters he faced.

With the win, the Maroons improve to 27-15 on the season and advance to the second semifinal game against the loser of #14 Gustavus Adolphus and #25 UW-Oshkosh on Saturday at 3:30 PM CT.