KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Kalamazoo College baseball team defeated Trine University 9-2 in the first game of a doubleheader at Woodworth Field Thursday.
Trine scored a run in the top of the first but the Thunder lead was quickly erased as the Hornets scored five runs in the bottom of the second. Kalamazoo added two runs in the fourth and two in the sixth while allowing just one run over the final six innings.
Kalamazoo had eight hits in the game while the Hornet pitching staff limited Trine to four.
Ryan Orr improved to 4-1 with the win allowing just three hits in five innings with five strikeouts and no walks. Ryan Franklin pitched a scoreless inning of relief in the sixth.
Ian Kobernick was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Jack Clark drove in two runs and was one of six Hornets with one hit.
Game two proved to be a pitchers' dual between Kalamazoo's Aaron Schwark and Trine's Ben Wheaton before each team's bats heated up late, with Trine ultimately pulling out the 5-4 win.
Trine took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning but the Hornet bats picked up Schwark in the sixth tying the ballgame on a Mitch VanKoevering single up the middle. With the start in game two, VanKoevering became the career leader in games played in Kalamazoo history.
The Thunder jumped out to a 5-1 lead when they knocked in four in the eighth, but the Hornets didn't go quietly. Kalamazoo drove in three runners in the bottom of the ninth and hoped to send the game to extras or come away with a walk-off win but Kobernick was the last Hornet to touch home on an RBI single from Clark.
Joe Giacalone provided a strong 1 1/3 innings of work out of the bullpen keeping K within striking distance late.
David Kracht led the Hornets offensively with a 3-for-4 effort. Orr, Kobernick and VanKoevering each ended the second game with two hits.
The Hornets will head to Trine this Saturday to close out the four-game series.