Ryar Rinehart of the Kalamazoo College baseball team was selected as the MIAA Baseball Player of the Week on Monday (Apr. 22). This is the third time in his career that the sophomore has earned the conference honor, with this being the first this season.
Kalamazoo continued MIAA play with a mid-week home game against Hope on Apr. 16 before playing a three-game series against Trine on Apr. 19 and 21. The Hornets fell to the Flying Dutchmen 14-0 in seven innings before sweeping the Thunder 15-2 in seven innings, 2-1, and 9-5.
Rinehart led the offense with a .643 average, with nine hits, six RBI, five runs scored, three home runs, and a double. He recorded a hit in all four games, including two multi-hit games. His best game was in game one against Trine when Rinehart went 5-5 with three home runs, four runs scored, and six RBI. The three home runs tied a single-game record that Blake Bean set in 2022 against Manchester. His five hits are behind four Kalamazoo batters who have recorded six in a game, and the six RBI are behind five Kalamazoo batters who have eight (2) and seven (3) RBI in a game.
Coming off a freshman year that saw Rinehart be named to the All-MIAA First Team, the MIAA MVP, the D3baseball.com National Rookie of the Year, and a D3baseball.com/ABCA/Rawlings DIII All-American, he is now getting his footing underneath of him after some early injuries. In 22 games, Rinehart is hitting .289 with a .400 on-base and .539 slugging percentage over 76 at-bats. He has 22 hits, two doubles, a triple, five home runs, 23 RBI, 22 runs scored, and 14 walks. In 15 conference games, he is hitting .375 with a .471 OBP, .714 SLG, 21 hits, two doubles, a triple, five home runs, 20 RBI, 12 runs scored, and 10 walks.
The Hornets will continue the season with a non-conference road mid-week game at Wheaton on Wednesday (Apr. 24) before playing Olivet in a three-game series with a road game on Friday (Apr. 26) and a home doubleheader on Saturday (Apr. 27).