HOUSTON, Texas (January 30, 2026) - Rollins baseball opened their season at the Houston Winter Invitational at Daikin Park, home of the Astros, against host and 2025 national runner-up, Central Missouri. The Tars held a lead midway through, but eventually fell by a final of 10-6.
The first two innings were uneventful, but the third saw the first opportunity of the game for the Tars. With two outs,
Joey Rubin and
AJ Barrios singles to put runners on the corners, but a strikeout ended the threat.
Noah Greenseid drew the start for the Tars, and held the Mules scoreless through two innings. In the third, a leadoff walk, a stolen base, and a base hit had Central Missouri ahead. With a man on second in the inning, Greenseid induced a fly out and a groundout to escape further damage.
A pitching change from the Mules to start the fourth helped the Tars.
Xavier Lopez walked to leadoff, and moved to third on a one-out single from Jimmy Theis. A wild pitch moved each runner up to tie the game.
Collin Hughes then followed with a double to right, scoring Thies to give the Tars the lead. Two walks loaded the bases for Rollins with two outs, but a groundout left all three runners stranded.
Central Missouri tied the game in the bottom half on a wild pitch and throwing error.
Pitching mistakes once again assisted Rollins in the fifth. A walk to
Michael Furry saw the leadoff man on safely for the second straight inning. He moved to second on a balk, to third on a flyout, and then scored on a bases loaded walk to Hughes, giving Rollins a 3-2 edge.
Unfortunately, the train went off the tracks in the bottom of the fifth. The Mules used four hits and a Rollins error to plate four runs and take a commanding 6-3 lead. Then, in the sixth, four walks, two sac flies, and a seeing-eye single resulted in four more runs for Central Missouri.
Rollins showed some fight, chipping away at the lead in the seventh. Matthew Matteo led off with a single, and went to third on a double play ball. With two outs,
Jayden Brown singled to scored Matteo, followed by a double from
Mauri Bejarano, and a double from Rubin to drive in two more, making the final of 10-6.
Jack Haynes had scoreless efforts on the mound in the seventh and eighth innings in a strong season debut.
Rubin led the offense with two hits, a walk, and two RBI. Hughes also had two RBI in his Rollins debut. The Tars reached base 18 times with eight hits, three hit-by-pitch, and seven walks, but stranded eleven runners.
Rollins will be right back at it tomorrow as they face the Arkansas Tech Wonderboys at Daikin Park. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00pm eastern.
