The Benedictine Mesa baseball team earned its first victory of the season on Monday night, edging out Nelson University in a high-scoring 8-7 battle.

Nelson struck first in the opening inning when S. Hess singled to left-center, driving in two runs as G. Aguilar and K. Kajiwara crossed the plate. The Warriors extended their lead to 3-0 after G. Paco scored on an error by the left fielder.

Benedictine responded in the third inning with a powerful swing from Carlos Parra, who launched a three-run homer down the left-field line, bringing home Preston Vine-Close and Oliver Davies to tie the game at 3-3. However, Nelson quickly regained control in the bottom half of the inning. J. Stockton drew a bases-loaded walk to push across a run, followed by a sacrifice fly from J. King to make it 5-3. A wild sequence saw Z. Walsh steal third and score on an error by the pitcher, giving the Warriors a 6-3 advantage.

The Redhawks roared back in the fourth inning, starting with Jack Moore’s RBI single that plated Tatum III. Davies followed with another RBI single, cutting the deficit to one. Alec Larson’s groundout brought home Ethen Graham, tying the game at 6-6. The momentum fully shifted when Jacob Bauler reached on an error, allowing Vine-Close and Davies to score unearned runs, giving Benedictine an 8-6 lead.

Nelson made one final push in the ninth when Aguilar grounded out to second, driving in R. Johnson to trim the deficit to one. However, the Redhawks’ defense held strong, securing the 8-7 victory.