YORKTOWN — Delta baseball took a couple of punches to open the 2026 season.
After falling 11-1 at Guerin Catholic in their season opener on Monday, March 30, the Eagles returned to Delaware County for a rivalry doubleheader at Yorktown on Saturday, April 4. In the first game of the DH, the Tigers immediately dealt the Eagles another tough blow, taking a 5-0 lead after the first two innings.
But Delta hung around, chipping away at the Yorktown lead a little bit at a time — two runs in the third, one in the fifth and another in the sixth. All of a sudden, the Eagles entered the seventh trailing by just one run.
After three consecutive walks and a hit-by-pitch, it was a 5-5 game with the bases loaded as senior shortstop Everett Linn stepped to the plate. By far the most productive returning bat for the two-time reigning regional champions, Linn’s teammates and coaches were certain that he would provide the clutch hit.
“He’s a great hitter, and I know he’s capable of a lot of things, so I had the utmost confidence,” senior pitcher Sebastian Gillum said.
That confidence was not misplaced. Linn gave the Eagles exactly what they needed with a line drive into left field that crossed two runs and gave Delta its first lead of the game. Yorktown was unable to match those two runs in the bottom of the seventh, and Delta picked up its first win of the young 2026 season.
“We were just preaching, ‘Big knock! Big knock!’ We knew we were due for one,” Delta coach Jacob Van Pelt said. “We kept getting guys on, kept getting guys on, kept getting guys on, and it was just like, we’ve got to break through at some point. Finally, senior leadership. Credit to Everett, that was a huge hit. With him stepping up, I just had a feeling, you know, confidence in your dude.”
According to Linn, the energy he felt from Delta’s rambunctious dugout acted as a manifestation of his teammates’ confidence in him. From the time they went down five all the way to Linn’s go-ahead hit, the Eagles’ spiritedness and enthusiasm for one another was on full display.
“Absolutely everything. The mojo is everything,” Linn said. “It’s the feeling you get when you step up to the box, you feel confidence when your team’s got your back. Just happy to be there, and happiness creates success.”
Linn wasn’t the only senior leader stepping up for a Delta team that just graduated 10 players from last year’s regional champion team. A trio of seniors put in good work on the mound with Ayden Mitchell drawing the start and going 2⅓ innings, Gillum earning the win in his 3⅔ innings, and Maddox Huffman coming in to notch a save in the seventh.
“The thing I focus on the most is, I know that if I can place my pitches properly, I trust my field a lot,” Gillum said. “I think I only had a couple strikeouts, and it was mainly guys in the field making plays, and I have a lot of confidence in that.”
Delta’s momentum carried over from the first game to the second as the Eagles took a 5-0 lead in the first inning. However, the game was suspended due to heavy rain after the top of the second inning and will be resumed at a later date.
While the rain canceled the doubleheader, it did not dampen the spirits of the Eagles. For a Delta team looking to replace almost all of last year’s production, a comeback win over its biggest rival served as a big early-season confidence booster.
“We got some guys that are learning the game, we got some pretty tough guys, and they enjoy playing the game,” Van Pelt said. “I think that’s an intangible you just don’t teach. You have a bunch of guys that love playing the game, and I’m just super proud of them. We got some work to do, still got some training, some teaching, but I’m proud of them for win one.”
Both teams are back in action with home-and-home series against Hoosier Heritage Conference rivals on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 7-8. Delta (1-1, 1-0 HHC) will host Mt. Vernon (2-0) Tuesday and visit the Marauders on Wednesday, while Yorktown (0-1, 0-1 HHC) will do the same with Pendleton Heights (2-2, 1-0 HHC).
Contact Cade Hampton via email at cbhampton@usatodayco.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Delta baseball rallies past Yorktown to pick up first win of 2026
Reporting by Cade Hampton, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
