Syracuse, N.Y. – The Le Moyne College baseball team opens its season with a three-game series at Tarleton State University beginning on Friday at 4:00 p.m. ET/3:00 CT at the Tarleton State Baseball Complex in Stephenville, Texas.
 
The Dolphins are coming off a 20-28 overall record in their second campaign back at the Division I level, including 17-13 in NEC action, missing out on the NEC Championship by just one game.

The Dolphins will play a 51-game schedule in 2026, including 11 NEC three-game series and 18 non-conference affairs and will include 19 games at Dick Rockwell Field.

The Dolphins return 25 letterwinners, including eight position players who appeared in at least 30 games and one starting pitcher. Junior catcher Cooper Romich (North Chili, N.Y./Churchville-Chili) earned NEC Second Team All-Conference honors after slashing .333/.449/.449 in conference play with 17 runs scored and 13 runs batted, while slashing .319.436/.436 overall with 11 doubles, 21 runs scored and 13 RBI. The team's leading hitter amongst qualifiers (2 PA/G and 75% of games played) is infielder Tim Denet (West Harrison, N.Y./Iona Prep), who slashed .295/.437/.513 with a team high-tying eight home runs, team-best 40 runs scored and 33 RBI as a starter in 42 of 44 games played as a freshman. Senior infielder Adam Sullivan (Syracuse, N.Y./Marcellus) slashed .292/.383/.382 with eight doubles, 28 RBI, 24 runs scored, 22 walks and five stolen bases as a starter in 38 of 39 games played. Juniors Ethan Farina (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa/Saint Rose) and Mike Whelehan (Hilton, N.Y./Hilton) are also back in the infield mix after slashing .283/.396/.442 and .234/.344/.288, respectively, while Farina had eight doubles, four home runs, 30 RBI, 28 runs scored and 10 stolen bases as a starter in 39 of 42 games played and Whelehan posted 20 runs scored, 15 RBI and five stolen bases as a starter in 29 of 37 games played.

Returning in the outfield are seniors Paulie Goodness (Palmyra, N.Y./Palmyra-Macedon/Finger Lakes Community College) and Tyler Campbell (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill/Onondaga C.C.) and junior Jack Cannon (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder). Goodness slashed .283/.426/.310 with 35 runs scored, 19 RBI, 29 stolen bases (second-most in the NEC) and 27 walks as a starter in 41 of 43 games played. Campbell slashed .270/.406/.413 with four home runs, 28 runs scored, 23 RBI and 28 walks as a starter in 34 of 36 games played. Cannon turned in a slash line of .273/.369/.482 with six home runs, a team-best 35 RBI, 29 runs scored and 23 stolen bases (fifth-most in the NEC) as a starter in 36 of 39 games played.

On the mound, redshirt junior AJ Petraitis (Kings Park, N.Y./Kings Park) is the only member of last year's rotation back. He went 3-3 with a 6.08 earned run average and 47 strikeouts over 74.0 innings. He'll get the nod in the first game against the Texans.

Starting on the bump in Saturday's matchup will be fourth-year sophomore Eric Swiencicki (Lancaster, N.Y./St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute). He'll be taking the hill for the first time since a 23-pitch outing at Delaware State on March 17, 2024, a span of 699 days. As a reliever as a freshman in 2023, he went 3-2 with three saves, a 4.30 ERA and 45 strikeouts over 37.2 innings over 17 appearances, including a start in the NCAA Super Regional. In his injury-shortened sophomore campaign, struck out four batters over 3.2 innings over three appearances.

Sunday's starter is senior southpaw Colin Skermont (Yorkville, N.Y./Whitesboro/Herkimer College). He went 2-2 with a 6.99 ERA and 37 strikeouts over 37.1 innings over 14 appearances, two of which were starts, in his first year as a Dolphin last year.

In the bullpen, the Dolphins have redshirt senior Steven Freer (Kingston, N.Y./Kingston) and senior Luke Connors (Brampton, Ontario/Heart Lake/Monroe Community College). Freer tossed 9.1 innings over seven appearances and struck out eight batters, while Connors pitched 26.2 innings over 13 appearances and recorded 17 strikeouts.

The Dolphins added nine newcomers for 2026, including two transfers and seven freshmen. Redshirt freshman right-handed pitcher Derek Constance transferred to Le Moyne from Stony Brook University and junior right-handed pitcher Ian Goodness joins brother Paulie with the Dolphins after two years at Finger Lakes Community College. The freshmen class is made up of outfielders Luke Becker and Nick Kriegelstein, infielder Isaac Brozon, right-handed pitchers Luke VanMarter, Jack Molini and Landon Cook and left-handed pitcher Connor Usowski.

The series with the Texans is the first time the Dolphins have faced Tarleton State.

The Texans were voted to finish fifth in the 2026 WAC Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll, finishing with 15 points, ahead of Utah Tech (11 points) and UT Arlington (10 points).

Tarleton State is returning much of their top production from a season ago, bringing back four of its top-five leaders in batting average from those who qualified. Pitching-wise, Tarleton State returns its top-three ERA leaders and top-five WHIP leaders.

Tarleton State had three players named Preseason All-WAC among the 12 earning a spot conference-wide. Slade McCloud took the 2B spot, Sergio Guerra took the catcher spot and Rayner Heinrich was named to one of the three outfield spots. Tarleton State Abilene Christian tied for the most Preseason All-WAC members with three. Brian Panneton was named among the top starting pitchers in the country by D1Baseball.com, ranking No. 36 among mid-major starters and No. 122 overall nationally entering the season. McCloud was ranked as the No. 10 second baseman among mid-major players and No. 40 overall entering the season, according to D1Baseball.com. Guerra was ranked as the No. 6 mid-major catcher in the country and No. 24 overall entering 2026, according to D1Baseball.com.