Golden Eagles baseball sets eyes on E8 title

By: Victor Menendez

Jason Story (#10), DJ Stoianovich (#13) and Zach Eldred (#3) pose for a photo on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (Brockport Athletics/Liv Metz)

BROCKPORT, N.Y. -- On May 14, 2023, Brockport Golden Eagles baseball pulled off a dramatic extra inning victory in a do-or-die Game 3 against Cortland to claim their first SUNYAC title since 2010. After losing a few key players like pitcher Andrew Huffman prior to the 2024 season, the Golden Eagles went from 14-4 in conference play in 2023, to 9-9, missing the SUNYAC tournament. This season, moving from the SUNYAC to the Empire 8 conference, the green and gold are ready for redemption.

The Golden Eagles added fifth-year outfielder, and Utica transfer, Jason Story to the squad this year. Story led the E8 in home runs in 2024 with 11, was top five in OPS (1.134), and was named to the E8 first team.

“As a grad student going into my last year of college baseball, I was looking to go to a team with a great culture that is hungry to win,” Story said. “When I toured Brockport, everything about it checked the boxes for things I was looking for in a program.”

Story played in the E8 with Utica for four years before coming to Brockport. He’ll return to Utica on May 2 for a two-game series against his old team.

“I’m looking forward to sharing the field with all my teammates,” Story said. “We’ve been competing with each other all fall and winter, just making each other better each day.”

“Adding a guy like Story has been great,” Golden Eagles junior second baseman Josh Indek said. “He’s a ball of energy and always has a smile on his face. But he’s also a killer and can switch into game mode in a snap of the finger.”

Indek led the Golden Eagles in hits, walks and stolen bases in his sophomore season, putting up a .445 OBP.

Josh Indek (#15) standing on base during a game on Tuesday, Apr. 30, 2024. (Brockport Athletics/Kat Althouse)

“As a program, we want to start off being in a new conference with a bang,” Indek said. “Last year did not live up to our expectations and none of us want to go through that again. So I think we can take last year as a learning experience and use it as motivation.”

The Golden Eagles had two players make an All-Conference team in 2024 and return to the team in 2025. One of those players is fifth year outfielder Zach Eldred. Eldred took home first team honors in 2023 when he led the Golden Eagles in AVG, OBP, SLG, hits, home runs, RBI and many other stats. He earned second team honors in 2024 hitting .320 and leading Brockport with a .942 OPS.

“To go from a championship team to a team that didn’t make the playoffs was enough fuel for our guys to want to change and make an impact not only individually, but as an entire system,” Eldred said. “We’ve changed from a team of guys who play baseball at a high level to a program of brothers that look out for each other and encourage improvement in all aspects of life.”

The Golden Eagles will open their season on Saturday, Feb. 22 in North Carolina. They’ll face off against William Peace University in a doubleheader with the first game starting at 1 p.m. Then they’ll make stops in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida before coming back to Western New York. Conference play begins on Mar. 21 against Keuka College and the Golden Eagles home opener will be on Apr. 4 against Elmira College.