DuBois, PA – CMCC Baseball could not hold on to an early lead in their first game at the USCAA Small College World Series, falling 12-6 to #8 seeded Central Penn College. The #9 Mustangs went up 5-0 in the top of the first but eventually lost the lead in the fifth inning to drop their play-in game at the double elimination national tournament. Designated hitter Logan Carpenter reached base safely all four times while catcher Zac Gorman drove in two RBIs.
The game could not have started much better for CMCC. The team had struggled to score runs early in games over the final few weeks of the YSCC season, often needing until the fifth inning or later to get their first run on the board. There were no such struggles here though. The Mustangs came galloping out of the gate, announcing their return to the USCAA's biggest stage by scoring five runs in the top of the first inning.
Brandon Gour worked a walk to lead things off and moved over to second on Hayden Durrell's groundout. Garren Post then brought him to the plate when he lined an RBI double into left field. Carpenter caught a break when his chopper to short was thrown wide of the bag, allowing Post to trot home for a 2-0 lead. Jake Calver followed that up by lacing the ball off the right fielder's glove to put two men on base.
Cody Cleaveland drilled a double to wall between left field and center to score one, prompting a mound visit by the Knights to talk with starting pitcher Cameron Smiley. It did not disrupt Central Maine's momentum. Gorman made it 5-0 with a two-run hard-hit ground ball through the gap into center field, and a courtesy-running Steven White then stole second. Central Penn did get Ryan Stone to fly out before Lee Robertson singled to cycle the batting order all the way through. Gour flied out to deep center to end the inning.
The Knights did respond with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning. USCAA 1st-Team All-American Dave Thomas worked a two-out walk to put a runner on base for Nic Joseph, and the clean-up hitter delivered with a two-run home run over the right field fence to cut the score to 5-2.
Both offenses would cool off after the hot start on a scorching day at Stern Field. CMCC starter Kyle Delano was effective on the mound, retiring the side in order in the second and getting out of a jam in the third with runners on second and third and one out. Both defenses also made an impact. Central Penn turned a double play to end the top of the fourth only for Central Maine to do the exact same thing to them in the next half inning.
The Mustangs appeared to be on the verge of extending their lead in the top of the fifth, getting back-to-back singles from Post and Carpenter to bring Smiley's day to an end with Colten Zerby coming on to pitch the rest of the inning. It appeared one run was about to cross the plate when Calver's sac-bunt attempt was thrown wide of first, but the freshman was ruled out for batter interference being judge by the home plate umpire to have veered outside the basepath. Cleaveland was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but with one out Gorman's ground ball to second turned into an inning-ending double play.
It would prove costly for CMCC. Central Penn would flip the script in the bottom half of the inning by scoring nine runs to take the lead. With the bases loaded and the meat of the order coming up, Tanner Boyd hit a two RBI single to pull within one. Thomas followed suit with two RBIs of his own and after Joseph singled, Delano was replaced on the mound by Teddy McFarland. The Mustangs appeared to get the force at second base on Tanner McCoy's high bouncing hit up the middle, but Robertson's foot was ruled to be off the bag while collecting the flip from Gour, leaving the bases loaded once again.
They wouldn't stay that way for long. Gabe Kaufman hit a towering grand slam home run over the right field fence to put the Knights up 10-5. They scored one more in the inning three batters later when Terrell Smith-Cole hit an RBI single to plate Kyle Brent. That prompted another pitching change with Jeff Meisner coming in to finish out the game.
Suddenly behind by five runs, the Central Maine bats went to work in the top of the sixth. Stone led off with a double and motored over to third on a wild pitch, allowing Robertson to drive him in with a sac-fly to right field. However, Central Penn would take it back when a throw from first to third for a potential inning-ending double play bounced wide.
Down to their last three outs, Carpenter would lead off the seventh with a single and Cameron Dostie was hit by a pitch to put two on with nobody out. Shane Jewett and Leo Woods both entered as pinch runners, but two fly outs and a strike out prevented any hopes of a comeback.
The game was the first at the national tournament for the Mustangs after Sunday's festivities. The team attended the Small College World Series banquet on Sunday afternoon at the DuBois Country Club where the 2025 USCAA All-American awards were handed out. That was followed by the Home Run Derby that night where CMCC's Brady Vincent finished tied for fourth in the championship round.
Central Maine now drops down into the loser's bracket and will now need to win seven straight games to claim the national championship. They start with an elimination game against the #6 seeded Florida National University Conquistadors on Tuesday afternoon at 1:00 pm.
