Wayne State University’s baseball team lost its first game of the 2026 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament on May 7, falling 8-5 to Parkside. The Warriors, seeded second with a record of 35-13, will now face Purdue Northwest in an elimination game scheduled for Friday morning.
The loss came after Parkside scored three runs in the opening inning. Wayne State responded with a solo home run by Owen Tuccinardi, his twelfth of the season. Tuccinardi is now two home runs away from breaking the program’s single-season record set by Paul LaMantia in 2010.
Parkside extended its lead with additional runs in the third and fifth innings. Wayne State narrowed the deficit to two runs during Tony Hatzigeorgiou’s at-bat in the sixth inning when a throwing error allowed Drew Hill and Bennett Hitzelberger to score. However, Parkside answered back with a two-run homer and an RBI single in the seventh inning.
Wayne State added two more runs as Tuccinardi hit a sacrifice fly scoring Brady Blakita and Hitzelberger singled home Hill, but these would be their final scores of the game. Starting pitcher Will Lowery lasted five innings, giving up five earned runs on ten hits while striking out five batters without issuing any walks.
The Wayne State bullpen featured Philip Miller, TJ McAllister, and Joel Mator for relief appearances over the final innings. The Warriors compete at the NCAA Division II level within the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and play their home games in Detroit as part of Wayne State University’s athletics program—nicknamed “the Warriors”—with ‘W the Warrior’ serving as mascot, according to the official website.
The team captured its last GLIAC Tournament title in 2010 according to their official website. The outcome against Purdue Northwest will determine whether this year’s squad can continue competing for another championship.
