DELAND, Fla. (May 23, 2026) — The University of North Alabama baseball team beat No. 3 FGCU in a 6-5 thriller to advance to the ASUN Championship Final against No. 2 Lipscomb on Saturday at Melching Field in DeLand, Fla.
After losing the 14-inning thriller against Lipscomb that ended past 2 a.m. ET, the Lions played FGCU at 10:30 a.m. ET in an elimination game. After that win, the Lions advanced to their first ASUN Championship Final in school history and rematched Lipscomb 30 minutes later.
The game went to extra innings once again. Leading 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, UNA fell after an error in center field, which led to a 10th inning walk-off walk with the bases loaded from Lipscomb's Kai Holm.
North Alabama (31-28, 19-11 ASUN) secured its first 30-win season in the Division I era. This marks the second season the Lions made the ASUN Tournament and the first year that the team made the championship final. UNA was on the hunt for its first conference tournament title since 1999.
To have the opportunity for the championship game, North Alabama had to defeat No. 3 FGCU less than eight hours after the extra innings heartbreaker to Lipscomb.
UNA played 33 innings of baseball in a span of 22 hours with game one against Lipscomb going 14 innings, FGCU going nine and the second game against Lipscomb going 10.
In the process, Nash Rippen hit his 18th home run of the season which broke the record for most in a season all-time; the record had been held since 1989 by Mike Burns and was matched in 1993 by DJ Harris.
Four Lions were awarded All-Tournament Team selections in Tripp Patterson, Wes Walker, Nash Rippen and Dylan Coleman.
North Alabama hit .300 for the tournament — the best for a team that made it past Tuesday. The Lions held the second-best postseason ERA at 2.92 and a had a .976 fielding percentage in the tournament.
The team fought through two weather delays that spanned over seven hours in their first two games. UNA also dealt with the start time of game one against Lipscomb being delayed over six hours.
North Alabama won three games this tournament compared to one from a year ago as the Lions fought out of the single elimination phase. The team eliminated No.5 Jacksonville 5-0 and knocked off the No. 1 seed in North Florida 11-4 in the process.
Petey Craska led the tournament in putouts with 48 and had a 1.000 fielding percentage. Gavin Oswald delivered a 0.00 ERA with 5.1 innings of work and two hits. Four Lions hit over .300 in Coleman (.375), Rippen (.350), Justin Santoyo (.333) and Tyler LePage (.333). Walker led the tournament with two home runs.
Game 1 – No. 4 North Alabama 6, No. 3 Florida Gulf Coast 5
North Alabama used two home runs to propel the Lions to victory over No. 3 FGCU (36-22, 17-12 ASUN) by a 6-5 final Saturday morning.
The Lions were 0-6 in Division I history against the Eagles before today's win — a series in 2019 and one in 2023 with the Eagles ranked No. 19 in the nation.
The Lion defense and pitching staff held 2026 Kyle Lewis Mid-Major Player of the Year Evan Dempsey hitless in today's affair. Dempsey had been held hitless only 10 other times through their 58-game season. Today was his first time going 0-for-5 this season.
Nash Rippen became the star as he hit his 18th home run of the season, which came behind Dylan Coleman's third triple of the year. The record breaker came in the seventh inning to make it a 6-3 lead.
The final batter hit a rope to Rippen who leapt off the ground to make the catch. Expecting the ball to go over his head, the base runner was near third. Rippen made the leaping grab then launched to LePage at second for the game-ending double play.
To stave off elimination, the Lions threw senior John Allen Stogner. An unsung hero, Stogner went 5.0 innings with two strikeouts and allowed five hits. He left runners stranded across his five innings in what was his first start since a win over UT Martin on April 14.
After Stogner, Kelly Crumpton helped to slow the Eagles with three innings and two strikeouts. He came in with two runners on and a single helped load the bases. He worked with a strikeout and two fly outs to eliminate the threat.
Florence native Josh Bowerman closed the game and earned the save as he pitched the ball for Rippen to make the double play.
North Alabama held the best batting team in the conference to .278. UNA hit .316 for the game and had a .385 clip with two outs.
Coleman had a four-hit day with two runs and a triple. Rippen went 3-for-4 with two runs, two doubles, four RBIs and a home run.
Rippen may get the notoriety, however, Wes Walker started the game with the bang as he went yard for the second time this postseason to tie the game.
This win sent North Alabama to their first ASUN Championship Final in Division I history.
Pitchers of Record
W – John Allen Stogner (3-2)
L – Sebastian Lippman (1-3)
S – Josh Bowerman (1)
Game 2 – No. 2 Lipscomb 5, No. 4 North Alabama 4 (F/10)
North Alabama returned to face Lipscomb (29-24, 19-11 ASUN) a final time, less than 12 hours since the pairs recent meeting. Lipscomb advanced on a bases loaded walk-off walk to win 6-5 in the 10th inning.
It was inevitable that the ASUN Gold Division Co-Champions would battle it out for the crown and automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament.
UNA had 12 hits for the game and batted .316 and hit .400 with runners in scoring position. The Bison hit .273 but had three extra base hits allowed by the North Alabama defense.
The Lions had 30 minutes to prepare for their second game of the day and went with Jake Boynar for the start. Boynar exited quickly as the bases loaded around him, which inserted Jordan Touhey into the game.
The redshirt-freshman worked a sacrifice fly and a double play to get out of the jam in the first. Touhey went 3.1 innings and allowed a single run on three hits from the Lipscomb offense.
After Touhey, Hunter Bell led the near rest of the way with 5.2 innings pitched and two strikeouts. Bell was tacked with the loss, however, he left four runners stranded and threw five scoreless innings. He allowed just two runs — one earned.
Will Millard, Cayden Sheffield, Santoyo and Walker led the way in game two with multi-hit games. Walker and Santoyo both enjoyed three-hit games while Rippen and Craska each added a hit. Sheffield led the team with two RBIs.
Sheffield was a pinch hitter for Bryant Loving, who came in down 3-2. Sheffield hit a bloop single to move runners around in his first at-bat to tie the game 3-3.
In his third at-bat, he hit a stripe shot down the third base line to score Santoyo and take the lead, 4-3. However, trudging down first base an injury occurred that would take Sheffield out of the remainder of the game, placing Alex Wade in his spot.
Bell earned a strikeout in the bottom of the ninth inning before getting the next batter to ground out to second. With two outs, a fly ball line drive went to center field that could not be handled, scoring the tying run sitting at third.
This led to the second game with extra innings against Lipscomb in the 24-hour span. UNA could not get anything to materialize offensively before loading the bases in the bottom of the 10th. The Lions walked in the final run, leading to the 5-4 defeat.
Pitchers of Record
W – Caden Shank (2-1)
L – Hunter Bell (0-2)
S – N/A
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