ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University baseball team was defeated by Adrian College 10-3 in the series finale between the two teams. The Thunder dropped the season series with the Bulldogs 2-1 after taking the first game via a 15th inning walk-off single.
The loss marks eight in a row for Trine and the team is 13-17 overall and 4-8 inside the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA). The Adrian win puts them at 16-14 and 8-4 in league play.
The Bulldogs put up three runs (two earned) in the top of the first inning to claim an early lead. A solo homerun by Adrian in the second extended the lead to 4-0, but Robert Kortas delivered a perfectly placed ball down the right field line for a triple. Avery Fulford brought him home with a groundball out to cut into the Adrian lead.
Another solo homerun for the Bulldogs gave the visitors some breathing room through the middle innings. Starter Noah Brettin (2-3) exited after tossing a zero in the top half of the fourth. A two-run blast off the relief pitcher Jack Villarreal made it 7-1. The Bulldogs tacked on another run with three hits in the top of the sixth, but Trine was able to counter with a run of their own in the bottom half. Adam Stefanelli doubled into the gap and pinch runner Tyler Wise scored via a Joel Walton RBI single.
The seventh and eighth innings also resulted in a single run for Adrian to widen the gap to 10-2. The Thunder loaded the bases in the eighth without recording a hit, but an unlucky line drive double play thwarted the scoring opportunity. Singles by Fulford and Matt Weis in the bottom of the ninth allowed a run to score on an error to get to the final score of 10-3.
Jackson O'Keefe reached base three times in the game, twice on walks. Seven hits were spread amongst seven different student-athletes in the Thunder lineup. Rylan McBride and Cam Nagel threw multiple innings out of the bullpen for the team, including a scoreless 1.1 innings from Nagel.
Trine stays at home on Friday, April 21 against the Calvin University Knights beginning at 4 p.m.