Men’s Basketball: 2024 Ro CBI Champions

Seattle University Men’s Basketball won it all last week at the 2024 Ro College Basketball Invitational (CBI) Tournament at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Fla. Playing Evansville March 25, the Redhawks dominated the second half of play, finishing with a 71-57 win in the quarterfinals.

Strong second half play from Senior forward Seyi Reiley and Redshirt Senior guard Cameron Tyson gave the Redhawks their first lead since early in the first, as they led 37-36 with just under 15 minutes to play. Tyson and Junior forward Kobe Williamson each added 11 points to the board and Senior guard Alex Schumacher finished the contest with a game-high 22 points.

The Redhawks racked in another win, 75-58, March 26 against Fairfield in the semifinals.

Redshirt Sophomore guard John Christofilis and Tyson both racked in a game-high 21 points, while Junior guard Paris Dawson added 7 points. With this victory, the Redhawks advanced to the Ro CBI title game. 

In the March 27 championship game, they would defeat High Point, 77-67. The team’s defense gave Seattle U a 30-22 lead into the break while clutch plays from Schumacher and Tyson closed out the back-and-forth game.

The Redhawks’ four-game win streak ends their season with a 23-14 overall record and as 2024 Ro CBI Champions. 

Softball Bounces Back with Sweep Against Stephen F. Austin

Seattle U Softball fell to Oregon State, 5-3 March 27 in a non-conference contest at Logan Field on campus.

Sitting at 11-19 on the season, the Redhawks headed into a three-game conference series with Stephen F. Austin March 29. The Redhawks took both games of the initial doubleheader, 4-1 and 10-0. Senior pitcher Stefanie Madrigal had six strikeouts in game one while Freshman pitcher Avari Morris, posted a career-high nine strikeouts in game two. 

In the opener, the Redhawks led the game 1-0 until the sixth inning. It was there they pulled away, scoring three runs on three hits. Sophomore infielder Taylor Fitch used a sacrifice fly to bring in Freshman infielder Mikee Morris to double the lead 2-0 late.

Freshman catcher Karen Spadafora hit the ball into center field to bring home pinch-runner and Sophomore infielder KJ Hopfer from second and Senior infielder Lily Garcia ran the base making it 4-0. 

In game two, Senior infielder Jasmine Wehn opened the game with a home run into right field which put the Redhawks in front. In the third inning, Mikee Morris put the team in scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. 

Seattle U grabbed another win March 30, 6-2, completing a three-game sweep against Stephen F. Austin. In all three contests, the Redhawks scored in the first inning, opening their Saturday play with three runs on four hits. 

Track and Field: Franklin Sets School Record 

Seattle U Track and Field participated in both the Mike Fanelli Track Classic and the Stanford Invitational this weekend. Outstanding performances were exhibited by the Redhawks, most notably Redshirt Senior Alex Franklin, who set a new school record in the men’s outdoor 800 meter with a time of 1:52:51. Franklin advanced from his all-time fifth place spot, beating his previous best time by over a second. 

Sophomore Azalea Groleau continued her impressive season, with a time of 16:52:22 for the women’s 5000 meter. The time earned Groleau a second-place spot in the school’s record books as she finished 10th out of the 157 competitors in the race. 

The meet saw 12 personal best records, giving the Redhawks a total of 51 on the outdoor season. 

Men’s Tennis Comes Up Short vs. ACU

Seattle U Men’s Tennis played their first conference match of the season March 30, with a loss against Abilene Christian University (ACU) 4-3. 

Playing doubles, Redshirt Junior Jun Sasagawa and Junior Filip Stipic lost to ACU’s No.1 doubles by a score of 6-2 which mimicked Senior Julian Worn and Junior Michael Frank’s defeat to ACU’s No. 2 doubles (2-6) and Junior Veselin Kiselkov and Sophomore Yu-Han Hsieh’s loss to ACU’s No. 3 doubles with the same score. 

Sasagawa, playing first singles, won his match 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 while Stipic won in the No. 2 spot   after his opponent suffered a match-ending injury (4-3) and Worn (5-7, 6-2, 7-6) won as well, bringing the team to a 3-1 overall lead. However, the lead would be salted away, as defeats from Junior Dario Ristovski (3-6, 1-6), Kiselkov (6-7, 2-6) and Frank (6-7, 7-5, 2-6), resulted in an overall loss of 4-3. 

Baseball Drops Oregon Series

Seattle U Baseball was defeated by Oregon, 5-4 after a 10-inning thriller March 27. The Redhawks had taken their first lead of the night in the top of the 10th, 4-1, before the Ducks rallied back to win on an extra inning walk-off. 

In game two of the four-game series with Oregon March 28 at PK Park, the Redhawks took another loss, 10-2. Freshman utility player Sam Kane gave his team the only RBI of the night on a home run. Game three of their series with Oregon March 29 gave the Redhawks another loss, 9-2.

In the final contest of the series against Oregon, Saturday afternoon, the Redhawks dropped the game to the Ducks at PK Park, 14-7.