KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Trine University baseball team hung tough with Kalamazoo College in Sunday's doubleheader, but dropped both games to fall to 10-22 overall and 2-13 inside the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA). The Hornets advanced to 22-8 overall and 11-4 in league play after a 2-1 win in game one and a 9-5 victory in the second game of the day.
GAME ONE RECAP:
A two-out single by Joel Walton drove in the game's first run in the top of the first after Luke Burford led off the inning with a hit and Daniel Rumberger moved him to second via a sacrifice bunt.
Cam Nagel took the hill and kept a zero on the board for the first two innings. A groundball double play retired two in the third, but a run came across to score for Kalamazoo to even the score at 1-1. He would bounce back for shutout innings in both the fourth and fifth as well to keep the game tied. An RBI double in the sixth inning allowed the Hornets o sneak out in front, 2-1.
Cole Temple and Easton Rhodes had hits in the seventh, but the team was unable to scratch across a run. Jack Villarreal entered from the bullpen in the late innings and twirled a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the seventh and induced a double play in the eighth to give Trine one final chance to knot it up.
Temple led off the ninth inning with a double to put the tying run in scoring position, but he was erased by a pickoff move that would propel the Hornets to the win.
The Thunder outhit their opposition 8-5, with multi-hit games credited to Temple and Brody Bond. Burford and Walton reached base twice with one hit and one walk apiece.
GAME TWO RECAP:
Kalamazoo would cross home plate first in game two of the afternoon behind a one-out single to right center. Starting pitcher Owen Mitchell settled in nicely from there for scoreless innings in the second and third.
Trine would take the lead in the top of the fourth after Dalton Nikirk, Bond, Temple and Rhodes had hits on four consecutive at-bats. That would put the Thunder ahead 2-1, but the lead would be short lived. The Hornets retook the lead 4-2 after a three-run inning that chased Mitchell from the game.
Kalamazoo increased their advantage to 8-2 with unearned runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. A Rumberger double would be duplicated by Nikirk in the top of the eighth inning to get one run back, but the Hornets matched with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning.
Even while trailing 9-3, Trine fought to the end with a pair of runs scored in the top of the ninth. The first three batters of the inning reached to load the bags for Tyler Beyke. A two-run double for the senior made it 9-5, but the rally was not enough as the Thunder ultimately fell by a score of 9-5.
Trine was credited with four doubles in the game off the bats of Rumberger, Nikirk, Rhodes and Beyke. Rhodes was 2-for-3 and reached base a third time with a walk. Reid Courtwright had two strikeouts to lead a pitching staff that only one man toss more than two innings. Rylan McBride, Courtwright, Kade Keele and Cole Decker all had zero earned runs on their ledgers despite the loss.
UP NEXT:
Trine begins a three-game set with Alma College beginning on Friday, April 26 at 4 p.m.