Upset Alert: Six Top 25 Teams Lose On Opening Day
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College baseball’s unpredictability didn’t take long to reveal itself in 2025, as No. 5 Virginia opened its season Friday with a 5-4 loss to unranked Michigan in 11 innings in Puerto Rico, marking one of five losses by ranked teams on Opening Day.
The Cavaliers’ loss marks the second time in the last three years that at least one top-five team dropped its season opener, joining then-No. 2 Tennessee and No. 4 Stanford, which lost on Opening Day in 2023.
Virginia never led against the Wolverines in Friday’s shocker.
Michigan two-way player and preseason Third Team All-American Mitch Voit, who started at second base, opened the scoring in the first inning with an RBI double off Virginia starter Jay Woolfolk, who assumed the Cavaliers’ ace position after projected Friday starter Evan Blanco missed his start due to a minor ailment.
Michigan designated hitter Colby Tuner followed up Voit’s knock with an RBI groundout in the opening frame.
The Cavs tied the game with runs in the third and fourth innings, but Michigan reclaimed its lead shortly thereafter on a two-run home run from catcher Matt Spear, a graduate transfer from San Jose State.
Virginia answered in the subsequent half inning thanks to a two-run home run from two-way player Chris Arroyo, a transfer from Pasco-Hernando College and Puerto Rico native.
The two teams then engaged in a back-and-forth pitching battle with scoreless innings until Spear put a ball in play down the line in left that was mishandled by Cavaliers first baseman Antonio Perrotta, which allowed Voit to score from first to win the game.
While an Opening Day defeat is easy to write off in the grand scheme of a long college baseball season, the Cavaliers’ loss is still somewhat notable.
Virginia was held back at times in 2024 by inconsistency on the mound, an element of its game that was a concern entering 2025 given its lack of experienced arms. Woolfolk entered the season with just seven career Division I starts, while Bryson Moore and Tomas Valincius, who are opening the season in the Cavs’ rotation have made a combined four Division I starts.
Virginia will also need multiple arms to emerge in its bullpen, which lost two key contributors from 2024, righty Chase Hungate (transfer to Mississippi State) and lefty Angelo Tonas (graduation).
“We’re going to need guys to step up on the mound, plain and simple,” tenured head coach Brian O’Connor told Baseball America in January. “We have the talent but, besides Evan (Blanco), we don’t have a lot of experienced starters.”
The Cavaliers will look to bounce back at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday against Villanova.
No. 10 Duke Downed by Cincinnati
Duke put its best foot forward on Friday, starting All-American two-way player Kyle Johnson and rolling out a lineup brimming with returning talent from the Blue Devils’ 2024 team, which won the ACC Tournament.
But Chris Pollard’s team never overcame an early deficit against unranked Cincinnati, losing 8-3.
Things looked reasonably promising for Duke early.
Johnson allowed just one unearned run in his first two innings of work and solo home runs from third baseman Ben Miller and designated hitter Andrew Yu in the first and second innings, respectively gave the Blue Devils an early lead.
But a bases-loaded walk from Johnson plus Bearcat runs on a fielding error and sacrifice fly in the third proved to be too much to overcome as Cincinnati never trailed again.
Cincinnati third baseman Kerrington Cross, BA’s top player in the state of Ohio in 2025, slugged a solo home run in the fourth inning and right fielder Landyn Vidourek capped off the Bearcats scoring in the seventh with a two-run blast.
The Blue Devils will have a chance to get into the win column for the first time this year on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET in Durham.
Ole Miss Bests No. 22 Arizona in Texas
Within minutes of Cincinnati’s Opening Day victory over Duke, unranked Ole Miss completed the third upset victory of 2025, beating No. 22 Arizona, 2-1, in a pitcher’s duel at Globe Life Field in the Shriners College Showdown.
The Wildcats held the Rebels without a run for the first four innings of play but a sacrifice fly from third baseman Luke Hill and solo home run from center fielder Isaac Humphrey in back-to-back plate appearances in the fifth proved to be enough.
Ole Miss starting pitcher Hunter Elliott offered five scoreless innings and was backed up by relievers Mason Morris and Connor Spencer, who limited Arizona to just one run in four innings.
Even with the 2025 season almost entirely in front of the Rebels, Friday’s victory was an important boost.
Ole Miss posted back-to-back losing seasons in 2023 and 2024, marking the first time that it finished a season under .500 under longtime head coach Mike Bianco.
No. 20 Kentucky Splits Doubleheader Against Lipscomb
It appeared as though Kentucky had little fear in its Opening Day doubleheader against Lipscomb after besting the Bisons 11-0 to open play.
However, the Wildcats’ bats fell silent in the second end of the twin bill, leading to an upset 3-1 loss.
Lipscomb lefty Rigo Ramos was the story in the second contest as he offered five scoreless innings with four strikeouts and just two hits allowed en route to his first win of the season.
Kentucky managed just one hit, a bunt single, in its first four innings against Ramos and failed to capitalize on its best opportunity of the evening against him when it loaded the bases with one out in the fifth and struck out twice to end the frame.
A three-run fourth inning from the Bisons in the fourth off Kentucky southpaw Ben Cleaver proved to be the difference. Designated hitter Keaton Mahan and first baseman Damion Kenealy Jr. picked up RBIs on singles and Kenealy scored on a wild pitch to round out Lipscomb’s scoring.
Lipscomb also benefited from stellar relief pitching as junior righty Jace Trautner and senior righties Collin Bosley-Smith and Kaleb Kantola combined to throw four innings of one-run ball with the lone Kentucky score coming with two outs in ninth.
The Wildcats will look to win their season-opening series against Lipscomb on Sunday afternoon.
UNLV defeats No. 25 Indiana
When UNLV left fielder Dean Toigo blasted a first-inning grand slam against Indiana, it seemed as though it could be the start of an offensive duel in Surprise, Arizona.
However, it was the pitching from both teams that ended up taking center stage, especially for the Rebels, whose arms limited the Hoosiers to just two runs en route to a 4-2 victory.
Sophomore righty Carson Lane opened things up for UNLV with 4.1 innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts and righthanded relievers Will Marquart and Mason Dillow followed it up with 4.2 combined innings while allowing just one run on four hits.
The outing wasn’t entirely negative for Indiana.
Senior righty Drew Buhr threw four scoreless frames with just two hits allowed and five strikeouts out of the Hoosier bullpen, an encouraging performance for a team that entered the season aiming to establish pitching depth.
“The early part of the season will be about figuring out our roles on the mound,” head coach Jeff Mercer told Baseball America in January. “We have a lot of good stuff and we’ll see how that plays out.”
The Hoosiers will look to bounce back on Saturday night against Xavier, while UNLV looks to take down another Top 25 squad, No. 9 Oregon State.
Louisville Takes Extra-Inning Thriller against No. 14 Texas
No matter what Louisville tried at the plate, it simply fell flat for the majority of its season-opening meeting with No. 14 Texas.
Longhorn starting pitcher Jared Spencer stymied the Cardinals’ bats, striking out six in 5.2 scoreless innings. Then righty Ruger Riojas, a transfer from UTSA expected to close for Jim Schlossnagle’s Texas squad this year, piled on 2.1 more scoreless frames.
It wasn’t until Louisville trailed 2-0 with two outs in the home half of the ninth that it was able to break through with a two-RBI single to right from designated hitter Garrett Pike, who entered the game just two innings earlier as a pinch hitter.
It provided the offensive spark the Cardinals needed. After surrendering a solo home run to Texas freshman third baseman Adrian Rodriguez in the 10th, they managed two more scores in the bottom of the of inning on an RBI singles from left fielder Zion Rose and center fielder Lucas Moore, the latter of whom was responsible for a two-strike, two-out, walk-off hit.
“Just nice to rally late,” Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell said. “Winning is great but knowing you can do it when you’re behind and down to your last out or strike, this is a game hopefully we can take with us and we’ll have to do something like this again.”
While the Cardinals’ late offense propelled them to a season-opening Top 25 victory, there was plenty to celebrate about their performance on the mound, too, especially from starter Patrick Forbes.
The righty, who routinely touched 97 mph with his fastball and mixed in a vicious slider, finished his outing with 11 strikeouts to just one walk in five innings while allowing two runs.
“So many positives were going to come out of this game, win or lose tonight,” McDonnell said. “It starts with Forbes.”
Louisville will look to win back-to-back games against ranked teams when it faces No. 13 Oklahoma State on Saturday while Texas aims to secure its first win under head coach Jim Schlossnagle against conference foe Ole Miss (1-0).
