Baseball Opens Regular Season With Come From Behind Victory
David Creed •
The Whaler baseball team began their 2026 regular season with a come from behind 7-6 victory over the O’Bryant Tigers on Friday and lost 15-4 to the Brighton Bengals on Saturday.
Nantucket fell into a 6-0 hole against O’Bryant through two innings, but scored one run in the third inning and five runs in the fourth inning to tie the game. In the sixth inning, sophomore outfielder Justin Torres ripped a triple to right field and scored on a balk during the next at-bat.
The Whalers were the beneficiaries of some excellent pitching in relief from George Paulino-Lopez and Patrick Norris, who head coach Jack Pearson told the Current before the season would be key contributors on the mound this spring after developing at the junior varsity level last spring.
Paulino-Lopez threw two and two-thirds innings without allowing a run, struck out three batters, and allowed just two hits and one walk. Norris closed the game out and tossed two shutout innings while striking out two batters.
Junior catcher Eli MacIver led Nantucket with a pair of hits including a double and picked up a pair of RBIs. Senior captain Ronald Del Rosario Gomez went two for three and walked once while driving in two runs.
On Saturday, the Whalers found themselves in a close game against Brighton before the Bengals pulled away late. Nantucket trailed 6-4 entering the bottom of the fifth inning, but the Bengals scored seven runs to extend their lead to 13-4 entering the sixth inning.
Torres, Keegan Canty, and Andrew Lavin each tallied an RBI.
The Whalers will try to improve to 1-1 when they host the Bourne Canalmen on Tuesday, March 31st at 4 p.m. Below are some photos from Saturday's game against Brighton.
