LEXINGTON, KY. - After six hours of rain delays, the Beloit College Baseball team finally kicked off the 2024 NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament. Beloit struggled offensively, mustering just five hits. Highlighting the offense was Matt O'Leary (Clarendon Hills, Ill.). With a two run bomb in the top of the fifth, O'Leary became the all time hits leader at Beloit, passing his former teammate, Garrison Ferone. 

Starting pitcher Aiden Phipps (Simi Valley, Calif.) went 4.2 innings, before making way to Harvey Pena (Riverside, Calif.). Pena went 2.1 innings, striking out four while giving up just two hits. Tommy Murray (Rockton, Ill.) pitched the first two outs of the ninth, before handing the ball to Kaiya Nishino (Seattle, Wash.). Nishino became the all time leader in appearances today. Neither Murray nor Nishino gave up a hit. 

Prior to O'Leary's home run, the Bucs plated their first run in the same inning. Brendan Meyers (Palatine, Ill.) led off the inning with a pinch hit appearance. He singled through the left side. Ryan Kopp (Pinole, Calif.) came into run and moved to second after Jack Alport (Arlington Heights, Ill.) also singled through the left side. Brett Kiger (Beloit, Wis.) reached on a fielder's choice that cut Alport down at second. An error on the throw by the short stop allowed Kiger to move to second and Kopp to score from second. The Buccaneers were held hit-less over the remainder of the game. 

Beloit will face the host school Transylvania University tomorrow in a win or go home game. First pitch from Legends field is set for 12 pm ET. Transylvania comes into the game off of a 21-7 loss to Birmingham Southern in the night cap.