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WORCESTER – Holy Cross senior center fielder CJ Egrie fractured his right elbow early in his sophomore season, missed the rest of that year and endured months of recovery and rehab. On his arm he still wears a bulky, black sleeve, which serves an important physical purpose and is also a reminder of all he withstood to return and become one of HC’s most vital players the last two seasons.
As Egrie was coming back from his injury, doctors cautioned him he might want to consider playing part-time.
“I was like, ‘That’s not going to happen,’” Egrie said before a recent practice at Fitton Field. ‘“That’s not who I am. That’s not what I came to Holy Cross for.’”
Egrie, the 2025 and 2026 Patriot League Player of the Year, and his classmate and roommate, senior ace Jaden Wywoda, have epitomized that resolve throughout this season while leading the Crusaders to their second straight Patriot League championship and NCAA Tournament appearance under coach Ed Kahovec.
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“We wouldn’t be where we are without them,” Holy Cross freshman Liam Daly of Paxton and Worcester Academy said. “They are the definition of our team.”
Holy Cross (25-28) will face No. 6 overall seed Texas (40-13) in the first game of the Austin Regional at 1 p.m. May 29.
The right-handed Wywoda (6-4, 3.76 ERA) will get the start against the Longhorns.
“I’m super excited,” said Wywoda, who is the NCAA leader in complete games with five. “It’s going to be a great challenge, but we’ve faced adversity all year, so we’re going to do our thing.”
Holy Cross graduated eight seniors from its outstanding 2025 team and started this season slowly before coming together down the stretch. The Crusaders, who beat Army in the semifinals and Bucknell in the championship series, were the first No. 4 seed in 16 seasons to capture the PL tourney title and the first non-service academy Patriot League program to win back-to-back titles.
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“We didn’t know when the end of our season was going to be,” Wywoda said. “We snuck in as the four seed and going into Army we said, ‘OK, let’s do this thing,’ and it was the same at Bucknell.”
Egrie, who earlier this season became HC’s all-time stolen bases leader, set the tone for the Crusaders in the decisive Game 3 at Bucknell with his swipe of home in the first inning.
With one out, Egrie, HC’s leadoff batter, was at third, junior Gianni Royer at second, and junior Ryan Grundy up and facing Bucknell’s Tyler Seidman.
“It was Coach Kahovec’s call,” Egrie said. “The pitcher was looking at Gianni on second and not paying any attention to me. Coach Kahovec (who is the third-base coach) said, ‘Want to steal home?’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’ There was no better time to do it than the first inning.”
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Egrie reached base five times in the game and stole four bases and helped the Crusaders to a 14-11 victory.
While Egrie got things started for the Crusaders, Wywoda closed the game out.
Coming off a complete-game gem in Game 1, Wywoda threw 4-2/3 innings of relief in Game 3 to earn the save.
“I wanted to leave it all on the field,” Wywoda said. “I pitched well in Game 1, which was so much fun, and when we got to Game 3, I texted (HC associate coach Sam Tinkham) and said, ‘I’m ready to go. Whatever you need me to do.’”
In a span of about 40 hours, Wywoda threw 196 pitches.
“I’ve never seen anything like that in college baseball,” Kahovec said. “He’s just a blast from the past. He showed a high level of selflessness and toughness.”
Wywoda was the Patriot League Tournament MVP. Egrie, who is batting a team-best .338, tied a tourney record by scoring 10 runs. He also holds the all-time Holy Cross runs record.
“You can’t overstate how important those guys have been to our program,” Kahovec said, “not just as players, but as people, tremendous individuals, students and leaders. They put us on their backs all season, especially in the postseason tournament. Any time your best players play their best baseball when the lights are the brightest, you know you have special guys and you have guys who follow them.”
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Egrie, Wywoda and junior John LaFleur are HC’s captains this season. Right-handed pitcher Brock Graf is the team’s other senior.
“Leading with Jaden and John has been a great experience,” Egrie said. “We learned so much from the seniors last year that we knew exactly how we needed to handle things. The guys make it super easy. They bought into everything and are always giving 110%.”
Egrie, who has one season of eligibility remaining, is committed to the University of North Carolina for his fifth year.
After Holy Cross’ graduation ceremony at the DCU Center May 22, Egrie and Wywoda came to Fitton Field in their caps and gowns.
“Our moms wanted to take all the corny pictures,” Wywoda said with a laugh. “It was great.
“It’s been the job of CJ and me and John and Brock, too, to help the team grow and keep going,” Wywoda said. “I think this program is going in a great direction.”
—Contact Jennifer Toland at [email protected]. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @JenTolandTG.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Holy Cross senior baseball duo eyes NCAA tournament run
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