IRVINE, Calif. – The Concordia University Irvine kick off the 2026 season against Northwest Nazarene with a double header. The Golden Eagles split on the first day dropping the first game and bouncing back in the second with scores 5-13 and 5-3. There are a handful of new players for the CUI that took the field and made their debut making an immediate impact.
 
CUI 5, NNU 13

Golden Eagles starter Matthew Kaiser battled through three innings allowing seven runs and six earned on six hits while striking out three.Jayden Daya came in and had two strikeouts and allowed three runs on five hits.
 
Luka Brancato and Luis Ricardo Acevedo combined to limit further runs with Brancato allowing two runs over 1.1 innings. Troy May closed the game with 2.1 scoreless innings giving up just three hits and retiring hitters efficiently.
 
NNU started things off in the second with a sacrifice fly and then scoring another six runs in the third. Concordia Irvine showed resilience in the bottom of the fifth inning. Madison delivered a two-run home run to right center scoring Nolan Caira and giving the Eagles a spark. Later in the inning Landry Spitler doubled to right field, driving in Dylan Knowles to trim the deficit to 10–3.
 
The Nighthawks scored three runs in the seventh. Madison and Spitler answered back yet again with two runs but NNU was able to hold CUI at the last two innings with three hits and four left on base.
 
CUI 5, NNU 3

Freshman pitchers took control of the second game on the mound with Shane Timmons picking up his first win of the season. Timmons started for CUI and went six innings giving up six hits and two earned runs with five strikeouts. Alessandro Martinez came in to relieve Timmons and went one inning finishing the game for the Green and Gold.
 
Quick work was done between both pitchers to start until bottom of the third with Madison at up at the plate. The junior smacked his second home run on the day with a three run homer to right field bringing Spitler and Caira around the bases.
 
Dylan Knowles and Cooper Marinelli had an RBI single and RBI double to extend their lead 5-1 going into the seventh. The seventh inning was a nail biter as the Nighthawks tried to get things going their way but Martinez was able to finish the game with a strikeout and ground out by a close 5-3 score.
 
 
The Golden Eagles will conclude their series with Northwest Nazarene Saturday Jan. 31 with 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. slated start times.
 
To see the full CUI baseball schedule click HERE.