PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Freshman Yedan Diaz laced a two-run double in the fifth and redshirt junior Aidan Vining tossed his fifth complete game of the season to give the JWU (Providence) baseball a 7-4 win in the best-of-three Great Northeast Conference (GNAC) Championship series with Mitchell College Thursday afternoon at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletic Complex.

Diaz broke a 1-1 tie with a two-run double in the fifth and Vining improved to 9-0 on the season as he struck out 10 Mariners for his fifth double-digit strikeout effort of 2025. The Woburn, Massachusetts native allowed 10 hits and four runs (three earned), and has now recorded 25 punchouts and walked just one batter in 18.0 innings against the defending conference champions this season.

With the win, the Wildcats (27-13) moved to within one win of capturing their fourth GNAC Championship in five years (2021-23). The two schools will play game two on Saturday, May 10 at 1 p.m. in Providence with a winner-take-all game three to follow (if necessary).

Redshirt junior Ryan Ducey led off the bottom of the fourth with a triple and scored on a sac fly off the bat of senior Trevor Juan to stake JWU to a 1-0 lead. After Mitchell pulled even with a run in the fifth, Diaz double to left-center to bring home seniors Zachary Amero and Xavier Botelho and make it 3-1. Ducey followed with a two-run single to plate Diaz and senior Ryan St. Jean and extend the lead to 5-1.

The Mariners (25-17) pushed across three in the sixth to climb to within one (5-4), but an RBI single from Juan in the seventh and another form Ducey in the eighth restored the Wildcats three-run cushion. Vining then worked around a one-out single in the ninth to fan the final two Mariners and wrap up the win.

Ducey finished with four hits, three RBI, and two runs scored.