KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Kalamazoo College baseball team finished the regular season with a home doubleheader against Adrian on Saturday afternoon (May 6). The Bulldog bats out-slugged the Hornets in game one with a 9-6 win, but Kalamazoo responded in game two with a 10-5 victory. With that win, the Hornets won the MIAA Regular season title outright with a 17-4 conference record, the first regular season title for Kalamazoo since 1927. In addition, the baseball team now has 30 wins, the second team in the program's history with the 2017 team (31 wins) that has been done. Seniors Harrison Poeszat, Brenden Oprinski, and Thomas Sylvester were also honored in between games during the senior day ceremony.
Game One
Scoring was at a premium in the first game of the doubleheader, as 14 of the 15 runs were scored within the first five innings. Adrian got two runs on the board in the first, and Kalamazoo responded with two in the second. An RBI single by Tanner Hawkins plated the first run, and then Hawkins eventually came around to score on a Bulldog error.
However, the Bulldogs got to the Hornet starter Jacob Davis (4-4) in the third with another three runs. Davis lasted two and a third innings, allowing five runs (three earned) on six hits, three walks, and two defensive errors with two strikeouts. The Hornets got two of the runs back in the bottom half of the inning, with the first coming from a solo home run off the bat of Ryar Rinehart. After already breaking the single-season RBI record, Rinehart is now tied with Spencer Baldwin (2022) for the most home runs in a single season at nine. Lukas Bolton also picked up an RBI single in the inning for the second run.
Chase Cummins got the final two outs in the third and pitched the fourth for Kalamazoo. He surrendered two hits, one of which was a two-run home run, as the Adrian lead was 7-4 after four innings. The Hornets scored their fifth run of the game in the bottom of the inning as Rinehart brought in another run on a single.
The Bulldogs had an answer every time Kalamazoo scored, as Gabe Sokol gave up two runs in the fifth inning on four hits to take a 9-5 lead. The last run of the game was scored by the Hornets in the sixth on an error by Adrian. Ben Van Nes threw three scoreless innings in relief with a strikeout, and then Blake Parpart pitched the final inning and did not allow a run.
Rinehart was 3-5 in the first game with a home run and two RBI, as Hawkins also collected two hits. Bolton found his way on base twice with a hit and a walk.
Game Two
Kalamazoo responded as the aggressor in game two by scoring the first seven runs. Five crossed the plate in the third inning as Cooper Mills brought in the first two on a single up the middle. Then, Ryar Rinehart brought in his 68th run of the season on a sacrifice fly, Mills scored on a wild pitch, and David Stechow laid down a safety squeeze bunt that allowed Harrison Poeszat to score.
Tanner Hawkins continued his productive day with an RBI single in the fifth, and then a Poeszat double brought in Cam Kelly in the sixth. Braden Mussat (6-0) threw six scoreless innings in his start, allowing just one hit and two walks with seven strikeouts.
Adrian started tacking on some runs with two in the seventh and another three in the eighth to cut the Kalamazoo lead to 7-5. The Hornets picked up three insurance runs in the eighth inning on three bases-loaded walks by Rinehart, Hawkins, and Logan Lockhart.
Brenden Oprinski allowed the five runs on eight hits but then settled down to finish the three-inning save (3) with two strikeouts. Robert Newland and Hawkins collected two hits each, with Mills and Hawkins driving in four runs combined.
Kalamazoo has earned the right to host the MIAA Tournament as the #1 seed on Wednesday-Friday (May 10-12) at Woodworth Field. The Hornets' first game will be against #4 Hope on Wednesday, beginning at 4 p.m.