KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Kalamazoo College baseball team played its MIAA opener against Albion at home on Monday afternoon (Apr. 3). What was scheduled to be a seven-inning and nine-inning doubleheader turned into a single nine-inning game due to weather and field conditions. Nevertheless, the Hornets prevailed in their conference opener, defeating the Britons 13-6.
Albion scored the first three runs of the ball game in the first inning, but Kalamazoo held a 4-3 lead by the end of the third. The Hornets scratched one run across the plate in the second as Cam Kelly walked with one out, made it to second on a wild pitch, and scored on an RBI single by Daniel Beccari. In the third, a David Stechow walk and a Cooper Mills bunt single set up a two-run double by Harrison Poeszat to tie the game. Kalamazoo followed that exact sequence to load the bases as Ryar Rinehart walked and Kelly laid down another bunt single. Finally, Poeszat scored on a fielder's choice to take the lead.
The Britons answered with two more runs in the fourth to regain the lead, but the Hornets came right back and got ahead of Albion for the final time in the same inning. A Tanner Hawkins single and a Lukas Bolton walk put two runners on with no outs, and Stechow brought them both in on a single to center field for the 6-5 lead. Kalamazoo created some distance in the sixth with another four runs. Robert Newland had a two-RBI single that scored Mills and Poeszat. Hawkins got an RBI on a sacrifice fly, and then Stechow was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Three more runs crossed the plate for Kalamazoo in the seventh as Newland walked with the bases loaded, a run scored when Albion turned a double play, and Stechow was hit again with runners on all three bases. The Britons would score one in the eighth to make the final score 13-6.
Thomas Sylvester (4-1) got the win after pitching five innings and allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits and four walks while striking out eight. Brenden Oprinski threw two shutout innings with a strikeout. Braden Mussat surrendered a run on two hits in the eighth, and Blake Parpart finished the game out in the ninth.
The Hornet offense collected 10 hits, 15 walks, and was hit by a pitch six times. The one extra-base hit came from Poeszat with a double, while he also had a single, three runs scored, two RBI, and two walks. Mills led the team with three hits, scoring twice and walking once. Bolton totaled four walks on the day, with Stechow and Newland collecting four RBI each.
Kalamazoo will continue MIAA play by hosting a Hope for a single game on Tuesday (Apr. 4), starting at 4 p.m.