JACKSONVILLE, Ill. - The Kalamazoo College baseball team gained two more wins over Grinnell and Elmhurst in a round-robin tournament on Saturday (Mar. 9) by the scores of 11-0 (7 inn.) over the Pioneers and 13-6 over the Bluejays. Kalamazoo improved to 8-0 with the wins, while Grinnell dropped to 3-5 and Elmhurst dropped to 0-5.
Game One
Scoring Plays
Kalamazoo grabbed a 5-0 lead in the second inning, with all runs coming after the bases were loaded with two outs. Cade Preissing gained an RBI after being hit with a pitch, and Cooper Mills drove in two on a single. Harrison Poeszat began his big day with a two-RBI single for the Hornets.
Three doubles in the third inning plated two more, with Logan Lockhart, Alex Fenkell, and Cam Kelly recording the hits. Fenkell and Kelly collected the RBI.
Another two runs scored in the fourth inning as Robert Newland crossed the plate on a perfectly executed double steal, and Lockhart brought in David Stechow on a single.
The final two runs were scored in the fifth inning as Poeszat drove in Preissing and Kelly for the 11-0 victory.
Pitching
Jacob Davis (2-0) was on the attack, allowing just three hits and two walks in the complete-game shutout. Davis also struck out two batters.
Hitting
Logan Lockhart was 3-4 at the plate with an RBI. Harrison Poeszat went 2-4 with four RBI. Cam Kelly was on base three times with two walks and a hit, Alex Fenkell finished with two hits, and Cooper Mills had two RBI. David Stechow had three stolen bases, and Robert Newland swiped two bags.
Game Two
Scoring Plays
Kalamazoo scored the game's first run on a double steal that allowed Cooper Mills to cross the plate. The Hornets extend that lead to 2-0 in the third inning on an RBI single by Harrison Poeszat. Elmhurst responded with a two-run home run in the bottom of the inning to tie the game up.
The Hornets used the long ball in the fifth inning to regain the lead as Poeszat brought in Mills and Liam Regan on a three-run shot.
The big inning for Kalamazoo came in the seventh, as four runs were scored to extend the lead to 9-2. Poeszat collected another two RBI on a single, Logan Lockhart gained an RBI after bouncing into a fielder's choice, and David Stechow scored on a double steal.
In the eighth inning, Alex DiDio brought Cam Kelly home on an RBI groundout. The Hornets scored three more runs in the ninth inning on a Lukas Bolton sacrifice fly and a two-RBI single by Preissing. The Bluejays scored four runs in the bottom of the inning to make the final score read 13-6 on three bases-loaded walks and an RBI single.
Pitching
Robert Ahlgren (1-0) earned his first collegiate baseball win after allowing two runs on two hits and a walk with three strikeouts in four innings. Charlie Peterson threw two scoreless innings in the fifth and sixth with two hits and a strikeout.
Ben Van Nes struck out the side in the seventh, and Logan Lockhart did the same in the eighth in his pitching debut for the Hornets.
Joe Wade loaded the bases and allowed a run on a hit, a walk, and two hit batters. Blake Parpart came in with the bases loaded, and all three scored on a hit and two walks, with the runs being charged to Wade. Parpart got the final two outs on a strikeout and a groundout.
Hitting
Harrison Poeszat finished 3-5 at the plate with six RBI. Cade Preissing went 2-4 with a walk and two RBI. Cooper Mills reached three times on a hit and two walks.
Statistics
2B: Fenkell (3), Kelly (1), Lockhart (2), Mills (3), Newland (4)
3B: none
HR: Poeszat (1)
RBI: Poeszat 10 (16), Preissing 3 (10), Lockhart 2 (16), Mills 2 (9), Bolton (7), DiDio (2), Fenkell (6), Kelly (8)
SF: Bolton (2)
SB: Stechow 4 (6), Mills 2 (3), Newland 2 (5), Preissing 2 (2), Kelly (1)
BB: Kelly 4 (6), Mills 2 (9), Preissing 2 (8), Fenkell (2), Newland (5), Stechow (3)
HBP: Beccari (1), Lockhart (1), Newland (7)
(Season Total)
Up Next
Kalamazoo will finish the round-robin tournament on Sunday with a single game against Wartburg at 11 a.m.