Columbia University’s baseball team will begin its 2026 season with a three-game series against Mercer at OrthoGeorgia Park this weekend. The opening game is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m., followed by games on Saturday and Sunday.
The Lions’ starting pitchers for the series are Alex Sotiropoulos, Tomas Lopez, and Thomas Santana. Sotiropoulos posted a 5-3 record with a 6.64 ERA in 2025, while Lopez finished last season with a 2-0 record and a 0.73 ERA. Santana recorded five wins and four losses with an ERA of 5.84.
Mercer comes into the series after improving to a 3-1 record following an 8-0 win over Georgia State, highlighted by Logan Shepherd’s two home runs—his second multi-homer game in less than a week. In the previous season, Mercer finished with an overall record of 35-25 and reached the Southern Conference Tournament Championship round.
Columbia head coach Brett Boretti emphasized pitching and defense ahead of the season opener. “Offense usually takes a little longer to come around, so we’ve been stressing the pitching and defense as the keys to this weekend,” Boretti told GoColumbiaLions.com before the team’s trip to Macon. “We need to limit the amount of free bases we give up and put pressure on the other team to beat us and not beat ourselves. I would like to see us be aggressive at the plate and on the bases.”
This matchup marks Columbia’s first meeting with Mercer and only its third game ever against a Southern Conference opponent.
Last year, Columbia started its campaign with an extra-inning win over Kennesaw State, where Sotiropoulos earned his first collegiate victory.
In preseason polling, Columbia was selected as favorites in the Ivy League Preseason Poll for 2026 by league sports information directors and media members. The Lions received nine first-place votes out of sixteen total ballots.
“Our pitching staff has a chance to be really good,” said Boretti. “The experience, arms, and innings pitched we have returning are our strengths. As we work with that, we will try to shore up the defense as best as we can. Offensively, we have a lot of guys coming back in the lineup, but we will probably be more aggressive on the basepaths and put more in motion.”
The team’s schedule includes several notable matchups such as road trips against Kansas State from February 27–29 and West Virginia from March 6–8—both teams participated in last year’s NCAA Tournament Super Regionals.
Columbia returns seven All-Ivy League selections from last season including Jack Kail and Cole Fellows; Fellows led conference play hitters batting .329 against Ivy opponents. Additional contributors include Tate Vogler at first base (.297 average), Hunter Snyder (.306 average), outfielder Ben Fishel (.303 average), catchers Anthony Temesvary and Owen Estabrook, along with pitchers Thomas Santana (two-time All-Ivy) and Alex Sotiropoulos (second-team honoree). Tomas Lopez brings international experience after playing for Brazil in the World Baseball Classic qualifiers.
Boretti noted roster changes heading into this year: “We graduated 11 guys, which is a substantial group of guys that left,” he said. “We’ve got a great trio of captains with Jack Kail, Cole Fellows and Thomas Santana. They are guys who have been playing here for all four years that they’ve been here. Our team looks up to them, and they’ve done a great job passing along our culture to the newer guys we’ve brought in.”
Since 2012 Columbia has led Ivy League baseball programs in several categories including conference wins (168), victories over ranked teams (11), NCAA Tournament wins (7), league championships (7), Major League Baseball draft picks (12) as well as player placements within MLB organizations (18).
In their most recent campaign Columbia secured its eighth Ivy League title under Boretti’s leadership—seventh since 2013—with an overall record of 30-19 including leading statistics across batting average (.289 tied for lead), home runs (77), runs scored (417), hits (506), RBIs (383), total bases (881) slugging percentage (.503) plus strong plate discipline resulting in one of top on-base percentages (.394). The Lions also performed strongly at home posting twelve wins from thirteen games played at Robertson Field at Satow Stadium.
Following their opening series versus Mercer Columbia travels next week to face Kansas State before continuing non-conference play through early March.
