ANGOLA, Ind. – Fueled by a six-run bottom of the first inning, the Trine University baseball team picked up their fourth straight Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) win 7-3 over Kalamazoo College on Friday afternoon. Four victories to start the conference slate is the most since joining the MIAA in the 2005 season.
With the win, the Thunder are now 13-9 overall and 4-0 in conference play. The Hornets will return home with a 13-6 record on the season and fall to even at 1-1 inside the MIAA.
Eight of the ten combined runs in the game were scored in the very first inning. A pair of extra base hits from Kalamazoo and three hits in total resulted in two runs crossing the plate for the visitors. Trine would send 10 batters to the dish in the bottom half of the inning to counter.
A Matthew Martin walk would turn into instant offense when Robert Kortas smashed a double into right center. An Adam Stefanelli walk and Dalton Nikirk sacrifice bunt put two in scoring position for Cory Erbskorn. Consecutive RBI singles by he and Easton Rhodes plated two and Avery Fulford followed that up with an RBI double to chase the opposing starter from the game at 0.1 innings pitched. A sacrifice fly by Matt Weis and fielding error made it 6-2 Thunder at the end of the first.
After a shaky first, starting pitcher Josh Hoogewerf settled in and retired Kalamazoo 1-2-3 in the second, third and fourth innings. He had four punchouts in that time and the offense was able to provide another run of insurance in the bottom of the second when Stefanelli drove in Kortas with an RBI single. An extra base hit and error pulled the Hornets back to down four at 7-3, but that's where the score would remain through nine innings.
Hoogewerf was undeterred by the additional run crossing the plate for Kalamazoo and proceeded to retire the final six batters he faced to make it an even seven innings of work. In total, Hoogwerf (4-1) allowed just four hits and three earned runs and struck out a career-high 10 batters while not issuing a walk.
Out of the bullpen emerged Cole Decker in the top of the eighth. The left-hander would work around a single and a two-out catcher's interference call to put a zero on the board and Kortas took the mound from the designated hitter spot to close out the ballgame. In his first pitching appearance since early March, Kortas would get three outs thanks to Weis picking off a baserunner on first.
Along with his inning of relief work, Kortas was also 3-for-4 in the batter's box with a double, two runs scored and an RBI. Erbskorn had multiple hits as well at 2-for-4, while Stefanelli and Martin reached base twice via one base hit and one walk apiece.
The three-game series between Trine and Kalamazoo concludes on Saturday, April 8 when the Thunder are away from home for a doubleheader kicking off at 1 p.m.