Bridgeport Wins Season Opener at Preston (With Photo Gallery)
By Michael Minnich on April 01, 2026
KINGWOOD – It was the opener, sure, and it was Preston, yeah, but the Bridgeport Indians baseball team looked in midseason form in defeating the Knights, 15-0, on Monday.
“For an opening-day game, I’m really pleased,” Bridgeport coach Robert Shields said. “I thought we hit the ball really hard, hit the ball in the alleys, had some good situational hitting and ran the bases well.”
After a scoreless top of the first inning, Bridgeport put up run totals of five, six and four in the next free frames to bring the mercy rule into effect after four innings.
Kasen Baun was 2 for 3 at the plate with a home run, a run and three RBIs and got the win with three innings of one-hit ball, striking out eight and walking three.
Luke Rohrig singled, doubled, homered, scored two runs and drove in four.
“He’s a handful for opposing teams,” Shields said. “He can run well, so that’s going to help him beat out a lot of base hits when he hits it on the ground, too.”
Aidan Dunn started at shortstop, doubling and driving in two runs, then came on to work a scoreless fourth on the mound with one strikeout and a walk.
“Pitching was good,” Shields said. “Kasen was all around the plate, which was positive, and then Aidan came in and we got him some work.”
Cole Arnett added two runs and two RBIs.
Guy Avolio and Cooper Straley started the breakaway second with walks, then Dom Fazalare’s flyout advanced Avolio to third.
After Avolio scored, Christian Farley followed with an RBI single.
Jax McNally walked and Baun followed two batters later with a three-run home run to center, ballooning Bridgeport’s lead to 5-0.
Bridgeport then loaded the bases but couldn’t squeeze another run across.
In the third, Fazalare and McNally singled and both scored on Dunn’s double to center.
Rohrig delivered an RBI double two batters later, then an Owen Sondericker walk and Arnett’s two-RBI single moved the Tribe into double figures.
Straley turned it up to 11-0 with an RBI single.
Two walks in the Bridgeport fourth led to Anthony Julian’s RBI single, then Rohrig smashed a three-run home run to right field.
“We’re just going to keep building from this,” Shields said.
Bridgeport (1-0) travels to Marshall University to play Cabell Midland (Friday, 11:30 a.m.), PikeView (Friday, 2 p.m.) and Herbert Hoover (Saturday, 9 a.m.).
Editor's Note: More photos from the game will be posted later this week.
