ANGOLA, Ind. - The Kalamazoo College baseball team went on the road for the first time in MIAA play at Trine on Friday afternoon (Apr. 7). The Hornets' eight-game winning streak was snapped as a six-run first inning by the Thunder propelled them to a 7-3 win.
Kalamazoo jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning as Lukas Bolton began the game with a double and eventually scored on a bunt single by Cooper Mills. Then, Ryar Rinehart came through with a big two-out double down the left field line to bring in Mills.
Unfortunately, the Hornets' lead was short-lived as Trine scored six runs (five earned) on four hits, two walks, a sacrifice fly, and an error on the Kalamazoo defense. Jacob Davis (2-2) started on the hill for the Hornets and got one out on a sacrifice bunt before being pulled. Brenden Oprinski got the other two outs in the inning, one coming as a strikeout.
Gabe Sokol came in to throw the next four and two-thirds innings, allowing just one unearned run in the second inning. He scattered five hits and struck out two. Kaden Sotomayor relieved Sokol in the sixth and got the last out of the inning on a groundout. The other run Kalamazoo scored came in the fifth inning with Robert Newland getting the inning going with a double and stolen base. Tanner Hawkins reached on an error by the Thunder, allowing Newland to score.
Ben Van Nes pitched a scoreless seventh inning, surrendering just one hit and striking out two. Jaden Williams threw another scoreless inning in the eighth with one hit and strikeout apiece.
Mills and Rinehart had a hit and RBI each, while Bolton, Newland, and Logan Lockhart collected the other three hits. Lockhart got his hit in his first collegiate at-bat.
Kalamazoo will return to Woodworth Field to complete the series with Trine in a doubleheader tomorrow (Apr. 8), beginning at 1 p.m.