The Kalamazoo College baseball team had six student-athletes named to an All-MIAA team on Thursday (May 11). In his first season of collegiate baseball, Ryar Rinehart was named the MIAA Most Valuable Player and to the All-MIAA First Team. Also selected to the first team were Harrison Poeszat, Braden Mussat, and David Stechow. Thomas Sylvester and Tanner Hawkins earned second team honors. This is the second time Sylvester has been named to an All-MIAA team, while it was the first for Poeszat, Mussat, Stechow, Hawkins, and Rinehart.
Kalamazoo finished the 2023 regular season with a 30-9 (17-4 MIAA) record and earned the outright MIAA Regular Season Title. The Hornets began the season 12-6 before heading into MIAA play and had two separate winning streaks of eight and 11 games. From Mar. 22-May 3, Kalamazoo won 24 of 26 games to help propel the team to the second 30-win season in program history.
Rinehart is the first Kalamazoo position player to be named MIAA MVP in program history and the second player with pitcher Andy Bradford who was the co-MVP in 1990. He had a monster year by being the batting title champion with a .481 average in conference play and breaking the single-season MIAA records for RBI (50) and slugging percentage (.926) in the 21 MIAA games. He also led the conference with 39 hits and seven home runs while being tied for the most runs at 32. In addition, Rinehart collected nine doubles, three triples, 13 walks, and a .534 on-base percentage during MIAA play. Including non-conference games, Rinehart had a .422/.484/.789 slash line with 54 hits, 12 doubles, four triples, nine home runs, 68 RBI, 42 runs, and 19 walks in 36 games during the regular season. He led the Hornets in average, slugging percentage, triples, home runs, and RBI. Rinehart had 18 multi-hit and 17 multi-RBI games, including a 4-4 performance with three doubles and six RBI against Albion. He has shattered the single-season RBI record of 52 that Doug Propson had in 2022 while also being tied with Spencer Baldwin with the most home runs at nine from last season. Rinehart was named MIAA Player of the Week twice and NCBWA DIII Rookie of the Week once this season.
Poeszat was equally impressive this season by hitting .425 with 31 hits in 21 MIAA games. His nine doubles, two triples, and two home runs led to a .685 slugging percentage, and his 12 walks and 12 hit-by-pitches contributed to a .567 on-base percentage which was the best in the conference. In addition, Poeszat scored 32 runs and collected 23 RBI. Overall this regular season; he had a slash line of .414/.541/.662 with 55 hits, 17 doubles, two triples, four home runs, 43 RBI, 50 runs, 17 walks, and 21 hit-by-pitches in 39 games. Poeszat led the team in hits, doubles, hit-by-pitches, and on-base percentage. In addition, he broke the single-season and career records for hit-by-pitches.
Mussat had a breakout season as a weekend rotation starter for the Hornets after mostly being a reliever for his first two seasons. During conference play, he made seven appearances (six starts) and went 5-0 with a 1.41 ERA and 29 strikeouts compared to eight walks. In 32 innings, Mussat allowed just nine runs (five earned) on 25 hits in MIAA play. Overall, he had a perfect 6-0 record in 11 appearances (eight starts) with one complete game shutout and a team-best 1.37 ERA. In 46 innings, Mussat allowed 11 runs (seven earned) on 34 hits and 10 walks with 38 strikeouts. If he were to keep his ERA below 1.60, he would have the best single-season ERA in program history.
Stechow transitioned from a utility bench player in his first season to the everyday second baseman in his second season. In 21 MIAA games, he had a slash line of .357/.427/.452 with 30 hits, six doubles, a triple, 31 RBI, and 21 runs. During conference play, Stechow hit anywhere from first, second, fourth, or fifth in the lineup. Including non-conference games, he had a .361 average with 48 hits and 42 RBI in 37 games. His seven doubles and one triple contributed to his .429 slugging percentage. Stechow also added 11 walks and 12 hit-by-pitches for a .449 on-base percentage. In addition, he was named the MIAA Player of the Week once this season.
Sylvester was Kalamazoo's #1 weekend starter this season, making six starts in MIAA play, going 5-1. In 28 and two-thirds innings, he had a 4.08 ERA with 17 runs (13 earned) on 30 hits and 17 walks with 28 strikeouts. Up until his loss against Adrian, Sylvester did not allow more than four earned runs in a start for the other five starts made. In 11 total starts during the regular season, he had an 8-2 record with a 3.70 ERA in 56 innings. Sylvester had 69 strikeouts compared to 26 walks and had a .229 batting average against. He is currently tied with Ryan Orr (2016 and 2018) and Bob Bale (1958) for the most single-season wins in program history. In addition, Sylvester was selected as the MIAA Pitcher of the Week once this season.
Hawkins slowly moved from hitting ninth to sixth in his first season of being the everyday left fielder. He had a .371 average during conference play with 26 hits, 25 runs, and 13 RBI. His six doubles led to a .457 slugging percentage, while his 11 walks and eight hit-by-pitched contributed to a .495 on-base percentage. On the season, Hawkins had a .331/.439/.394 slash line with 42 hits, eight doubles, 19 RBI, 34 runs, and 17 walks.