BRISTOL — After a heartbreaking loss in the 2024 Division II final, the Mount Abraham baseball team wore T-shirts this year that read, “Unfinished Business.”

Unfortunately, after visiting No. 6 seed Enosburg upset the No. 3 Eagles in a Monday quarterfinal, 8-4, what is still a young and talented Mount Abe team will have to turn its focus on the 2026 season to achieve that goal.

The trouble for the Eagles, who completed a fine season at 12-4, began early on Monday against Enosburg. The Hornets are a solid team that improved to 12-6 with the victory, but had taken a 17-0 beating from the Eagles in Bristol earlier this season. One Enosburg parent in the stands even said he wasn’t sure he wanted to make the trip south to watch another thrashing.

But usually reliable Eagle sophomore starter Stefan Johnson struggled with his control on Monday. The Hornets scored all the runs they would need — five — in the first inning, all charged to Johnson, who walked three and hit a batter.

MOUNT ABE JUNIOR leadoff hitter Brody Barnard finds his path to first base blocked when an errant throw pulls the Enosburg first baseman off the bag during Monday’s D-II quarterfinal in Bristol.
Independent photo/Steve James

Leadoff hitter Grady Gervais singled, and Johnson walked the next hitter and hit the third Hornet batter with a pitch to load the bases with none out. The next batter fouled out, but an infield error and a pitch that got past the Eagle catcher made it 2-0. Hornet Sawyer Bentley then stroked a two-run single, and it was 4-0.

After two more walks reloaded the bases, Coach Jason Barnard waved junior Evan Corrigan to the mound. Corrigan hit the first batter — Gervais again as the Hornets batted around — to force in one run, but got the third out on a fly ball to limit the damage.

The Eagles got their leadoff hitters on in each of the first two innings against Enosburg lefty starter Luke Burns. But Brody Barnard was caught stealing in the first inning, and after sophomore Cam Castillo singled in the second, Burns picked a courtesy runner off first base.

Meanwhile, the Hornets padded their lead in the second inning. A walk and Ethan Bosley’s infield hit brought Bentley to the plate, and he launched a towering home run over the left-field fence to give his team an 8-0 lead.

Corrigan settled down from there, finishing by allowing just those three earned runs on four hits, striking out eight, walking none and picking off two baserunners. Corrigan also earned the pitching win in the Eagles’ first-round playoff victory.

Corrigan also got the Eagles on the scoreboard in the third. He led off by walking, reached third on two groundball outs, and scored on a head-first dive on a wild pitch.

Burns matched him until the fifth inning, when the Eagles took advantage of his sudden inability to throw strikes. Aricin Griffin and Johnson led off the inning by drawing walks, which brought Fletcher Bentley to the mound to relieve Burns. The runners moved up when Bentley threw wildly to first on a pickoff throw. Griffin scored on a wild pitch, and Corrigan walked and stole second.

MOUNT ABE JUNIOR Evan Corrigan delivers a pitch during the Eagles’ D-II quarterfinal home game vs. Enosburg on Monday.
Independent photo/Steve James

Johnson bolted home on Irie Mazur’s ground ball to second, and Corrigan scored on Riley Coffey’s squeeze bunt. The pitcher made another throwing error on the throw to first trying to get Coffey out, and Coffey went to second with one out. But Bentley worked around a walk with two strikeouts to escape the inning with Enosburg up, 8-4.

The Eagles appeared to have momentum, but over the next two innings managed only two more baserunners off two more Hornet pitchers. Gervais tossed 1.2 innings and walked Johnson, and Sawyer Bentley came on to strike out the game’s final batter in the bottom of the seventh.

There were a couple debated calls that went against Mount Abe, but ultimately the Eagles, normally a strong offensive team, managed just one hit off the four Hornet pitchers — Castillo’s second-inning single.

Most of the Mount Abe roster will return in 2026 for another run at a title; Griffin, Coffey, Connor Peck and Gavin Conrad graduated on Saturday.