2026 Eagles Walk Off Merchants to Capture 2026 Western Colorado MABL Championship
Western Colorado MABL
Eagles 4, Merchants 3
Suplizio Field, Grand Junction, Colorado…The Eagles are the 2026 Western Colorado MABL Champions, capturing the title in dramatic fashion with a 4-3 walk-off victory over the Merchants under the lights at Suplizio Field.
The Eagles struck first, scoring two runs in the bottom of the second inning. Behind a complete-game performance from Evan Waring, the Eagles held that 2-0 lead deep into the night.
But the Merchants refused to go quietly.
They scored a run in the seventh and another in the eighth to tie the game at 2-2. Then, in the top of the ninth, the Merchants pushed across another run to take their first lead of the championship game, 3-2.
After leading for most of the night, the Eagles suddenly found themselves three outs away from watching the championship slip away. Instead, they put together one final rally.
Brett Burrows opened the bottom of the ninth with a single, putting the tying run aboard. Davion Lopez followed with a double, bringing Burrows home and tying the game at 3-3.
With Lopez now representing the championship-winning run, Alex Martinez stepped to the plate and drove in a run. Lopez was sent home and crossed the plate safely.
Walk-off. Ballgame. Championship. Eagles 4. Merchants 3.
Three consecutive hits had erased the Merchants’ ninth-inning lead and sent the Eagles into celebration around home plate as the 2026 Western Colorado MABL Champions.
While the ninth-inning rally provided the dramatic ending, Waring’s performance on the mound gave the Eagles the opportunity to get there. Waring pitched all nine innings and allowed zero earned runs, going the distance to secure the championship.
The season numbers make the championship finish even more fitting.
The Eagles collectively hit .466 with a .593 on-base percentage, .626 slugging percentage, and 198 hits during the season.
Several of their offensive leaders were in the thick of it when the championship was on the line.
Brett Burrows: .636 AVG | 28 H | .909 SLG
Davion Lopez: .633 AVG | .725 OBP | 19 H
Evan Waring: .575 AVG | .702 OBP | .950 SLG | 23 H, plus the complete-game championship win
Alex Martinez: .513 AVG | 20 H | .692 SLG
Those four were among the Eagles’ strongest performers throughout the season, and three of them combined for all three hits in the bottom of the ninth.
Burrows started it. Lopez tied it. Martinez walked it off.
The championship was also the culmination of a season in which the Eagles had to continually adjust.
Several players were lost to injuries along the way, leaving the team with a shortened roster that primarily relied on around 11 players during the final stretch. A few key pieces were added as the season progressed, helping the Eagles fill those gaps and continue competing.
Rather than letting the smaller roster derail their season, the group kept showing up.
By championship night, 12 Eagles suited up at Suplizio Field for one final game. Each player received his own walk-up song and introduction before taking the field, adding to the atmosphere of playing a championship under the lights at one of Grand Junction’s signature baseball venues.
A few hours later, those same players were celebrating together as champions. The victory capped an important year not only for the Eagles, but for adult men’s baseball in Western Colorado.
Western Colorado MABL has been part of the valley for several years, but 2026 brought a renewed effort to give the league a fresh perspective and keep it moving forward. With Michael (Shausten) taking over as league president, those involved wanted to make sure one of the area’s few opportunities for adult men to continue playing organized baseball didn’t disappear.
The people behind the league volunteer their spare time because they love baseball. The goal is to keep growing the league, adding players and teams, and giving more men throughout Western Colorado the chance to experience traditional wood-bat baseball.
For the Eagles, that renewed season couldn’t have ended in a more fitting way.
They battled through injuries. They played through a shortened roster. They watched a two-run championship lead disappear over the final three innings. And after falling behind for the first time in the top of the ninth, they had three outs left to change the ending.
They needed all three hits. And they got them. 2026 WCMABL Champion Eagles!
Championship Game Roster
Cody Andrews • Evan Waring • Marcus Pleiss • Brett Burrows • Zac Martinez • Alex Martinez • Aaron Womack • Davion Lopez • Andrew Lynch • Milton Arroyo • Keegan Arnold • Jordan Foxx