RICHMOND, Va. — For a franchise and a city that have spent years waiting for this moment, the opening of CarMax Park was never going to feel ordinary. It marked a transition from The Diamond into something new, something long anticipated, and something that finally belonged to the present.

On Tuesday night, the Richmond Flying Squirrels stepped into that moment and shaped it as it unfolded.

A 3 to 2 win over Altoona secured the first victory in CarMax Park history, but the score alone does not capture the weight of the night. Across nine innings, the game became a sequence of firsts. Each inning added another detail. Each play layered meaning onto a stadium finding its identity in real time.

At the center of it were two players whose contributions defined the arc of the game in different ways. Sabin Ceballos delivered in both the opening and closing moments. Titus Dumitru produced the swing that will be remembered as long as the ballpark stands.

A Stadium Finds Its Rhythm

The first pitch arrived at 7:04 p.m., a small detail that now carries permanent significance. From the beginning, the energy inside CarMax Park felt anticipatory, as if the crowd understood that every moment might matter later.

Altoona recorded the first hit of the game in the opening inning, briefly quieting the building. That moment did not last long.

In the bottom half, Dayson Croes stepped in and delivered the first hit for Richmond in its new home. It was a simple single to center field, but it marked the first imprint of the Flying Squirrels on the field itself.

That set the stage for the first true eruption from the crowd.

Ceballos and the First Run

With Croes advancing into scoring position, Sabin Ceballos came to the plate with an early chance to define the moment.

He did not need a highlight swing to do it.

Ceballos grounded out, a routine play in most contexts. But Croes crossed home plate, and the play became the first Richmond run in CarMax Park history. It was the first time the crowd rose together with purpose, the first moment when the stadium felt fully alive.

That moment belonged to Ceballos, even if it came without the visual drama of a hit. It established a pattern that would return later in the game.

Momentum Builds Through the Middle Innings

As the game moved forward, the sense of occasion remained present in every detail.

Richmond’s pitching staff recorded the first strikeout in the ballpark during the second inning. In the third, Croes continued to shape the early narrative, delivering a double that pushed Richmond ahead and reinforced his role as a catalyst at the top of the lineup.

The game itself tightened from there. It settled into a competitive rhythm, the kind of low margin contest where each opportunity carries weight. Even as the action became more familiar, the context never did. Every pitch still felt like it could become part of the record.

That feeling proved correct in the sixth inning.

Dumitru’s Moment

Titus Dumitru stepped to the plate in the top of the sixth and delivered the swing that will define the ballpark’s early history.

The contact was clean. The trajectory was clear. The result was immediate.

A home run to left field tied the game and marked the first time a ball left the yard at CarMax Park. In that instant, Dumitru became part of the structure of the stadium’s story.

For Richmond, it shifted the game back to even. For the ballpark, it created a permanent reference point. There will always be a first home run here. Dumitru now owns it.

Moments like that exist beyond the outcome of a single game. They become part of the place itself, something that will be recalled and repeated long after the details of the box score fade.

Ceballos Returns in the Defining Moment

By the eighth inning, the score remained tied, and the game had reached its most important stretch.

Richmond needed a response. It needed a moment that would turn history into a win.

Once again, that moment found Sabin Ceballos.

With Croes on base and advancing into scoring position, Ceballos stepped in with a chance to shift the outcome. This time, he lifted a sacrifice fly to left field.

Croes tagged and scored.

The play gave Richmond a 3 to 2 lead. It also completed Ceballos’ imprint on the night. He had driven in the first run and the winning run, framing the game from beginning to end.

It was not a loud performance, but it was a decisive one.

Closing the First Chapter

The ninth inning brought one final challenge, but Richmond held its ground. When the final out was recorded, the Flying Squirrels had secured more than a victory.

They had defined the first chapter of CarMax Park.

The night did not belong to a single moment. It belonged to a collection of them, each connected, each building on the last.

Croes set the tone with the first hit and constant pressure on the bases. Ceballos delivered when it mattered most, both early and late. Dumitru provided the swing that will live in the stadium’s history.

Together, those moments gave shape to something new.

There will be bigger games here. There will be louder crowds and higher stakes. But there will only ever be one first game.

On this night, the Flying Squirrels did more than win.

They gave CarMax Park its first memories.