It took 10 innings, two doubles in the final frame, and a whole lot of grit, but Neumann's season isn’t done yet.
After dropping their opener Friday to Marymount, 7-4, the Knights bounced back in dramatic fashion, outlasting Immaculata University, 6-5, in an elimination game to keep their championship hopes alive in the Atlantic East Conference tournament.
Donovan Brooks led the charge, going 5-for-9 across both games with two doubles, three RBI, three runs scored, and a walk. Andrew Brown added a 3-for-5 day with three walks, a hit-by-pitch, an RBI, and two runs scored. Thomas Carroll doubled twice with an RBI in the opener, while JerVal Shuler delivered the big blows in Game 2, driving in two runs with a double and scoring once.
Game 1 was a tug-of-war until the late innings. Marymount broke a scoreless tie in the third on a wild pitch, but Carroll’s RBI double in the sixth evened things up. The Saints responded with a three-run homer in the bottom half to grab a 4-1 lead. Neumann clawed back—a two-run single from Brooks in the seventh made it 4-3, and Brown’s RBI single in the eighth tied it again. But Marymount had the last word, reclaiming the lead with two run-scoring singles in the bottom of the eighth to seal it.
That set the stage for a win-or-go-home thriller in the nightcap.
Immaculata struck first with an RBI single in the second, but Shuler’s two-run infield single in the bottom half flipped the lead to Neumann. Kilmer and Brooks followed with back-to-back RBI singles in the third to push it to 4-1.
But the Mighty Macs weren’t done. They chipped away in the eighth with a two-run single and a bases-loaded walk to tie it. Neumann briefly retook the lead in the bottom half when Shuler drew a bases-loaded walk, but Immaculata’s RBI single in the ninth forced extras.
In the 10th, with one out, Shuler doubled to left. Then Anthony Rakotz stepped in—and doubled to center, driving home Shuler with the winning run and setting off a celebration in Aston.
Zach Mullins gave Neumann a gutsy start, throwing 93 pitches over 7.1 innings, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk. Chris Balshuweit (4-0) earned the win with 1.1 scoreless innings, striking out two.
With the win, Neumann (27-12) advances to Saturday for a rematch with Marymount at 1:00 p.m. The Knights will need to win twice to capture the 2025 Atlantic East Conference championship.
