The Emerson baseball team began their 2025 campaign on a high note, defeating the Colby-Sawyer College Chargers 7-2 on March 1.
After three-and-a-half scoreless innings, graduate infielder Blake Benway got the Lions on the board with an opposite-field 2 RBI double, scoring sophomore Braeden O’Connell and graduate infielder Chris Ferara and giving Emerson a 2-0 lead. After Benway advanced to third, senior outfielder Jordi Arboleda hit a line drive to right field that brought Benway to home plate and put the Lions up 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth.
The Lions earned another trio of runs in the bottom of the sixth. After junior infielder Justin Fields recorded a sacrifice bunt to get two Lions in scoring position, senior outfielder Jordi Arboleda drilled a single to score O’Connell and give the Lions a 4-0 lead. As first-year infielder Liam Curley was up to bat, Colby-Sawyer threw a wild pitch that allowed Benway to come home for another run, giving the Lions a 5-0 advantage. First-year outfielder Ethan Gorman crushed an RBI double in his first collegiate hit to score Arboleda and bring Emerson up 6-0.
Senior infielder Briggs Loveland launched a ball over the right field fence for Emerson’s first home run of the season in the seventh inning. The Chargers delivered an over-the-fence homer of their own one inning later, getting on the board with a left field dinger in the top of the eighth. The Chargers added one more run off of a sacrifice fly, though Emerson still led by five. The Lions’ defense remained steadfast in the final two innings, as sophomore pitcher Shane Moriarty recorded the ground out that sealed the Lions’ first win of the season.
Benway and O’Connell led the Lions with two runs apiece, while Arboleda, Loveland, and Ferara tallied one each for the Lions. Graduate pitcher Aidan Rice earned the win for Emerson with four strikeouts, five forced outs, and five ground outs while giving up three hits and three walks to the Chargers.
Loveland appreciated the Lions’ “complete” play through nine innings.
“I thought defense was so solid today all around,” he added. “Offensively, we didn’t do too much up at the plate. We moved guys around, drew some walks, we bunted a lot—which I really liked. And you can’t say enough about the pitching—to go from Rice to Tyler [Metcalf] to Shane like that, and just how efficient they were, it was just a complete win.”
Loveland also shouted out several Lions who made their debuts Saturday: first-years Gorman, Callahan, and Curley and graduate catcher Nick Hubbe, who came to Emerson after spending four years at Bard College.
“I just liked how level-headed they all seemed,” he said. “To come in right away and have your name on the starting lineup day one, it’s a really special moment, one, but two, they deserve to be there. Those are guys that deserve to be in the lineup every day, and they’re going to be huge for us when we play teams like Clark, Babson, [and] Wheaton. I was just impressed with how they handled it all.”
The senior has emphasized the importance of communication with his co-captains, Rice and Ferara, and that message has radiated throughout the team.
“For us three, it’s all about being on the same page,” Loveland said. “When we’re all communicating well as a team, it just makes everything flow smoothly. It’s not just us three—it’s all 40 of us. It’s everyone from the coaching staff, to the trainers, to the starters, to the bench players. Communicating with each other and acting like brothers is really important.”
Going forward, Loveland believes momentum is key as the season continues to roll, “one by one, game by game,” or as the back of their sweatshirts say, “Little by little.”
“[Last year], we would let the losses really dictate the momentum for us the rest of the way,” he said. “When we have a win like that, where we play so complete, we should expect to keep playing that way, no matter who the opponent is.”
The Lions will return to the New England Baseball Complex on March 4 to take on Elms College at 3:30 p.m.
