WESTMINSTER, Md. – The McDaniel College baseball team split a doubleheader with Swarthmore on Sunday to secure the second seed in the 2026 Centennial Conference Baseball Championship.

This marks the first time in program history the Green Terror (28-12, 11-7) have advanced to the Centennial Conference tournament in three consecutive seasons. 

Prior to game one, seniors James Cosgrove, Kyle Carl, Todd Calhoun, Ben Davis, Zach Gaeta, Brady Goyne, Tyson Nercessian and graduate student Shane Daly were honored with a pregame ceremony for Senior Day.

Sophomore Thomas Mezzullo broke the program record for base hits in a single season in a 12-9 win for the Green Terror in the opener over the Garnet (24-14, 9-9).

Game 1: McDaniel 12, Swarthmore 9

McDaniel plated the game's first two runs in the first inning on an RBI-single from junior Ethan Haddock and an RBI-single from junior Shea McKenna to make the score 2-0. The Garnet responded with six runs in the top of the second; the Green Terror then rallied with a five-run bottom half to retake the lead. Daly scored junior Quinn Dean on an RBI-single and Davis drove in two on a two-run double. Mezzullo scored on an RBI-groundout to tie the score 6-6, and Haddock reached on an error to score Davis and give McDaniel a 7-6 lead.

Swarthmore scored three runs in the top half of the fourth to move in front, 9-7. The Green Terror again answered with a three-run frame of their own in the fifth inning, scoring on an RBI-groundout from Daly, a sacrifice fly from Mezzullo, and a tie-breaking RBI-single from Davis to make the score 10-9 in favor of McDaniel.

An RBI-double from junior DJ Stolba and and RBI-single from Daly added two insurance runs for the Green Terror in the sixth inning, The Garnet reached base only once across the final three innings as the Green Terror held on to win the opener, 12-9.

Daly and Davis each finished with three RBIs while Daly collected three base hits in five at-bats. Mezzullo's two hits broke the single-season program record for base hits, giving him 68 on the year and surpassing Marty Windisch '16, who had 67 hits in 2016. Haddock went 1-for-4 with two RBIs while Stolba had a two-hit day with an RBI.

First-year Chase Shepard pitched five innings in relief and picked up his third win, striking out one and walking one while allowing four hits in five scoreless innings.

Game 2: Swarthmore 11, McDaniel 2

A three-run homer punctuated a four-run first inning for the Garnet in game two. An RBI-single from Davis made the score 4-1 after one inning.

Swarthmore plated two runs in the second on a two-run double to go ahead 6-1. The Garnet added a seventh run on a sacrifice fly in the fourth for a 7-1 advantage. A two-run triple in the fifth gave the visitors a 9-1 lead.

Davis grounded into a double play in the bottom of the seventh but scored Daly to cut the deficit to seven. The Garnet added two more runs in the ninth for the game's final 11-2 margin.

Davis went 3-for-5 in game two with an RBI while Daly had two hits and two runs scored from the leadoff spot. Mezzullo, Dean and sophomore Anthony Cerone each collected base hits in the loss.

Junior Ryan Buecker took the loss on the mound, allowing four earned runs on five hits with one strikeout and two walks. Nercessian pitched six innings in relief, totaling one strikeout, four walks, five earned runs and seven hits.

The second-seeded Green Terror will host third-seeded Washington College in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Centennial Conference Baseball Championship on Thursday at Preston Field. First pitch time has yet to be announced.