Baseball Opens Season with Win Over Columbia

Baseball opened the 2024 season on Friday afternoon in Columbia, Mo., taking on the Cougars of Columbia in the first game of the day. The Tigers and Cougars are two of the top four teams that were on the outside of the NAIA Top 25 preseason poll released in November. Doane struck first and posted an 8-3 win.

The Tiger offense had a slow start as the first four batters of the game struck out, however, on the first ball put in play, Doane was in front. Aaron Vulcano, in his first at-bat as a Tiger, hit a one-out home run to give his team a 1-0 lead. Justin Nevells followed with a home run for Doane's second run of the game and the Tigers led 2-0.

In the third inning, Doane plated four more runs. Nevells hit a bases-clearing triple and came in to score on an error for a 6-0 lead. Columbia came back with three runs in the third inning on five hits to cut the lead in half.

The Tigers picked up a pair of runs in the fourth inning as Joe Osborn had an RBI-single and Narumi Okayasu plated a run with a fielder's choice. Columbia threatened one more time, in the sixth inning, as they loaded the bases with one out but came up empty.

Aaron Forrest (1-0) started for the Tigers and went 6.0 innings, allowing three runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out three. The win moved Forrest into a tie for third all-time in career wins. Ethan Merk threw the final inning, striking out two of the three batters he faced.

Doane had eight hits in the game, two from Nevells as he went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and four driven in. The Tigers had four extra base hits in the game as Nate Mensik had a double in addition to the triple from Nevells and the home runs from Vulcano and Nevells.

Thirty minutes following the game, the Tigers will take on Culver-Stockton (Mo.) in the second game of the day.