RICHMOND, Ind. – Opening day for baseball means spring is finally here and the Kalamazoo College baseball team showed a spring in its step Saturday afternoon beating Earlham College on the road, 7-3.
The Hornets took an early 1-0 lead at Sadler Stadium as Jack Clark scored on a Quaker error in the top of the first.
After Earlham countered with a run of its own in the bottom half of the inning, a pair of RBI singles from Josh Reuter and David Kracht broke the deadlock in the fourth.
With Kalamazoo leading 4-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth, Earlham got a run back and threatened to regain the lead as it loaded the bases with just one out, but the Hornets' Steve Simmons came in to relieve starter Ryan Orr and closed out the inning with back-to-back strikeouts.
Orr ended his day throwing 7.1 innings of work while surrendering three runs on six hits. He recorded five strikeouts and ended the day as the winning pitcher.
The Hornets tacked on three more insurance runs in the top of the ninth and Simmons closed out the game in the bottom half, earning the save.
Kracht and Reuter were two of four Hornets to end their day with multiple hits. Kracht went 2-for-6 with an RBI while Reuter ended 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
Also recording two hits for Kalamazoo were Clark and Ian Kobernick. The duo went 2-for-5 and 2-for-3, respectively, while scoring three runs collectively.
Brett Garwood and Connor Grant each went 1-for-3 scoring two runs apiece.
Kalamazoo will complete its three game set with Earlham tomorrow afternoon with the first game of its doubleheader beginning at noon.