They were down five runs. They were two innings into their championship game. And they were staring at a storm of longballs that might have buried most teams.
But Arcadia University wasn’t most teams.
Not on Sunday.
Not in the MAC Freedom title game.
Not with a trophy on the line.
No. 3-seeded Arcadia stormed back from a 5-0 hole, silenced a power surge from No. 1-seeded Stevens, and scratched and clawed its way to a thrilling 7-6 win to capture the 2025 Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom Championship in Hoboken.
And for his fingerprints all over the comeback, Jake Hendershot took home tournament MVP honors.
The afternoon began inauspiciously enough. Stevens opened the bottom of the first with a solo homer, then blitzed Arcadia’s pitching in the second with three more blasts—yes, three—to build a 5-0 lead that looked like it might stand for the rest of the day. But the Knights weren’t interested in playing out the script.
Anthony Bruno got the comeback rolling in the top of the third, lining a two-run single to right that brought home Derek Rivera and Ryan Radigan. That was the first crack in the armor. And the cracks only widened from there.
In the sixth, it was Joshua Agriesti's turn. His two-run double found the gap in left-center, chasing home Max Oswald and Bruno and slicing the deficit to a single run. Then came Radigan, who ripped a single down the left field line. That knock scored Hendershot and Agriesti—and, just like that, the Knights had the lead.
But they weren’t done.
Thomas Strauch added insurance in the seventh, punching a single up the middle to bring in Eric Shandler. Arcadia had turned a five-run canyon into a two-run cushion.
Stevens made it interesting in the ninth, pushing across a run with two outs on an error. But Jadon Dormer slammed the door with a strikeout, igniting a dogpile and punching the Knights’ ticket to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament.
Vinny Versaci picked up the win with 1.2 scoreless innings of relief. Bruno and Radigan each had two hits. Radigan and Agriesti both drove in a pair. Seven different Knights crossed the plate.
Arcadia heads into the NCAA tournament with a 28-15 record. Their destination? That’ll be revealed Monday at noon, when the bracket is unveiled.
And if Sunday was any indication, nobody should want to see the Knights in their bracket.
