WESTFIELD, Ind. - The Kalamazoo College baseball team played a neutral site doubleheader against Elmhurst on Saturday afternoon (Mar. 11). The Hornets swept the Bluejays by the scores of 7-3 and 5-0.
GAME 1 - Kalamazoo 7, Elmhurst 3
Kalamazoo scored the first three runs of the game in the bottom of the first inning to jump out in front of Elmhurst. Cooper Mills started the game with a double, and then Lukas Bolton followed him up with a single to put runners on first and third. Next, Cam Kelly put down a sacrifice bunt that plated Mills. Then, after a pitch hit Robert Newland and David Stechow walked, Daniel Beccari knocked in two runs with a two-out single.
The Hornets extended their lead by two in the second as a Mills single, a Bolton walk, and two stolen bases put runners on second and third with one out. Harrison Poeszat singled in Mills for the first run and Bolton crossed the plate on a wild pitch.
Elmhurst scored its first run of the ball game in the third, unearned due to a Kalamazoo error. The run was scored on a two-out double. The Hornets responded with a run in the fourth to push the lead back out to five. Newland reached on a fielder's choice and stole second before Stechow brought him in on an RBI single.
The Bluejays returned with a sacrifice fly in the fifth, but Kalamazoo scored its final run in the sixth. Newland started the inning with a walk, stole second, and ended up on third after a groundout. Beccari lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to bring in Newland. Elmhurst would score the game's last run in the seventh on a single.
Thomas Sylvester (2-1) gained the win on the mound after going five innings and allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits and three walks, plus striking out five. Joe Wade pitched a clean sixth inning with two strikeouts, and Steven Shelton surrendered one unearned run in the seventh with two strikeouts.
Mills was a perfect 3-3 at the plate with a walk and two runs scored. Bolton reached three times with two runs, and Beccari led the team with three RBI.
GAME 2 - Kalamazoo 5, Elmhurst 0
For the second straight game, Mills opened up the action with a double and scored on a two-out single by Newland. The Hornets' lead extended in the second inning out to 3-0. Tanner Hawkins and Liam Regan singled to start the inning and moved up on a sacrifice bunt. Mills picked up an RBI groundout and after a pitch hit Bolton, Hawkins and Bolton executed a double steal to plate Hawkins.
Kalamazoo brought in another run in the third as Beccari picked up an RBI single after Kelly reached on a fielder's choice and stole second. The final run was scored in the fifth as Bolton led off the inning with a triple and Poeszat was hit by a pitch. Newland bounced into a fielder's choice, allowing Bolton to come home.
Jacob Davis (1-0) pitched a complete game shutout by scattering five hits and striking out four.
Newland was 2-3 with two RBI as Mills, Bolton, Beccari, Hawkins, and Regan collected a hit a piece.
Kalamazoo will head to Marietta, Ohio, to begin its spring break trip with a neutral site game against Otterbein on Thursday (Mar. 16).