The 17th-ranked Case Western Reserve University kicked off the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship with a dominating 19-9 win over North Central College on Friday at Nobby's Ballpark in Cleveland.

The Spartans, who improved to 28-12-1 with the win, will advance to the winners' bracket game to face Arcadia University on Saturday afternoon at noon at Nobby's Ballpark. The winner of Saturday's meeting will earn a spot in the championship on Sunday, while the losing team will play later in the day on Saturday in an elimination game.

North Central fell to 26-18 overall and will face 16th-ranked Centre College in an elimination game at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.

Senior right fielder Nick Harms finished the game three-for-four with two runs, three RBIs, two walks, and a home run. His seventh-inning single was the 200th hit of his career, as he became the sixth player in program history to reach the milestone in a Spartan uniform.

After falling behind 3-0, the Spartans sent 13 batters to the plate and exploded for eight runs in the third inning to take control of the game. North Central picked up a run in the fourth to cut the lead to four runs, but a run-scoring single by graduate student third baseman Zack Carinci put the Spartans back ahead by five runs, 9-4. The Cardinals scored again in the top of the sixth, but CWRU added onto its lead with five runs in the bottom of the sixth, including three on Harms' 13th home run of the season, and scored five more in the seventh with two coming off senior left fielder Logan Andreyko's first home run of the campaign, to put the Spartans ahead 19-5.

North Central scored four in its final at-bat, but it was too little too late for the Cardinals.

Sophomore southpaw Quinn Saunders started and went the first four and a third innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on nine hits and four walks with six strikeouts in a no-decision. First-year Ayush Shetty went the final four and two-thirds innings, giving up five runs on eight hits with a pair of strikeouts and earned the first win of his collegiate career, improving to 1-0.

North Central starter Chris Rogers suffered the loss, falling to 3-5 on the season.

CWRU finished the game with 18 hits and drew nine walks in the game. Junior center fielder Matt Trout went three-for-six with a double, three runs, three RBIs, and a stolen base. Graduate student second baseman Franco Alonso added three hits and a stolen base, while graduate student catcher Jack Anderson, Carinci, and sophomore shortstop Nate Arterburn each notched a pair of hits.

Fans can follow Saturday's action with live video and statistics. Links to track the contest are available on the Regional Tournament webpage at https://athletics.case.edu/sports/2025/4/30/2025-ncaa-diii-baseball-championship-regional-round.aspx.

Spartan Notes

• CWRU improved to 16-14 all-time in NCAA Tournament games, while North Central fell to 28-25.

• Friday's contest was the first-ever meeting between the Spartans and the Cardinals.

• CWRU improved to 3-2 all-time in NCAA Tournament games at Nobby's Ballpark.

• The Spartans have now scored 378 runs this season, the second-most in a season in program history and only 31 behind the program record of 409, set during the 2011 season.

• The Spartans stole three more bases on as many tries on Friday and have a program record 103 stolen bases this season. CWRU has now been successful on its last 44 stolen base attempts over the team's last 11 contests.

• With his two hits on Friday, Anderson is seven hits away from 300 for his career.

• Saturday's game will be the second meeting this season between CWRU and Arcadia. The Spartans beat the Knights 10-6 on March 11 in Lexington, South Carolina.