FORT MEYERS, Fla. - The Royals Baseball Season came to an end on Saturday against the #5 seeded St. Thomas University on Day 3 of The Sun Conference Tournament. Despite a late push by the Royals, Warner was unable to retake the lead against the Bobcats and would fall 1 win short of making the Conference Championship game by a final score of 9-to-17.
Warner struck first in Saturday's elimination game scoring in the 1st Inning when
Raul Olivera stole home during a double steal attempt with
Jacob Gumieny.
Gabriel Rodriguez brought in the Royals 2nd run of the game in the 2nd Inning on a disciplined at bat that saw him drawing a bases-loaded walk to score
Adriel Torres-Gonzalez and give Warner a 2-0 lead. The high-powered Bobcat offense pulled away over the next few Innings as the Royals found themselves down 2-to-14 after 5 Innings.
The Royals bounced back in the 6th with a 3 run rally of their own as Rodriguez recorded his 2nd RBI of the day on a single out to right field bringing home
Ethan Pues. Danny Garca followed that up with a 2 RBI double into left center field to score Rodriguez and
Timothy Dunn. Warner continued to chip away during the 7th Inning as the team drove in 3 more runs in Inning. Dunn recorded his 1st RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly left field that saw
Paddy Smith reach home safely. Rodriguez went on to drive in his 3rd RBI of the game when he doubled to left center to bring Pues in to score before Garcia brought home
Carlito Collins on a sacrifice fly for Warner's 8th run of the game. After the Bobcats drove in a few insurance runs in the next 2 Innings, Warner was able to bring in one more run on RBI by Garcia that scored Collins and end with a final score of 9-to-17.
Warner ends their season with a 26-27 overall record with a 14-14 record in the Sun Conference during the regular season. Over the course of the 2026 season, the Royals earned 9 wins against NAIA top 25 and RV opponents while winning 4 multi-game series and split 4 series in what was the 7th toughest strength of schedule in the NAIA. The Royals saw a lot of impressive individual performances throughout the season that saw 3 position players record 50 or more starts on the year in
Paddy Smith,
Adriel Torres-Gonzalez and
Gabriel Rodriguez. Rodriguez started and played in all 53 games for the Royals while also tallying team leading 69 hits, 40 stolen bases and 56 runs placing him 4th, 2nd and 4th in the Sun Conference respectively.
JD Swarbrick also lead all eligible Sun Conference batters with a .404 batting average during the season and was 10th in the Conference in OPS with a 1.032.
Easton Nunez had a tremendous Freshman year for the Royals leading the team in wins with 7 in 10 starts with an ERA of 4.23 and struck out 44 on the year. Senior
Trenton Chenard lead all Royals pitchers in stirkeouts on the season with 47 and did so with only 47.0 Innings pitched.
The Royals have a bright future ahead as they prepare to welcome their incoming class of Freshman and transfer student-athletes as they look to build upon this year's success.
Warner Season Stat Leaders -
HRs: Ethan Pues (7)
Hits: Gabriel Rodriguez (69)
RBIs: Paddy Smith (37)
Runs: Gabriel Rodriguez (56)
Batting Avg.: JD Swarbrick (.404)
Ks: Trenton Chenard (47)
Wins: Easton Nunez (7)
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