ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University baseball team concluded the 2024 season with a victory against The University of Olivet, 12-8. That game was seven innings in length after game one of Sunday's doubleheader went into extra innings. The Comets secured the game and series win with a 4-0 triumph in 12 innings.
GAME ONE RECAP:
Both starting pitchers started the game red hot as the first 22 batters combined were retired. Senior Josh Hoogewerf got the nod in game one and twirled a gem. Senior Daniel Rumberger broke up the opposing no-hit bid with a double into straightaway center field in the fourth and the top of the fifth marked the first time a Comet reached base.
Senior Tyler Beyke singled through the left side of the infield and Rumberger draw a walk to put traffic on the basepaths in the sixth, but the zero held strong. A leadoff single for Olivet in the eighth was erased on a groundball double play back to Hoogewerf. He would go 8.0 innings and surrender just four hits while he fanned 10 on strikes to tie his career high.
Junior Noah Brettin was called upon in the ninth and got out of the inning after leaving the go-ahead run stranded on third. In the bottom of the ninth, Rumberger found himself in scoring position as well thanks to a leadoff single and a sacrifice bunt by senior Dalton Nikirk, but he was left on to force extra innings.
In the tenth, junior Preston Henschen gunned down a runner from behind the plate to help extend the game. It was not until the 12th inning when a three-run homerun put the visitors in front. The Comets would tack on an RBI single to make it 4-0 going into the last half inning. A 1-2-3 frame for Olivet allowed them to take game one on the day with a shutout.
Beyke (3-for-4) and Rumberger (2-for-4) were the only men to reach base in the game for the offense. Brettin (2-4) was saddled with the loss after his long relief appearance of 3.2 innings. 12 strikeouts in the game are the most for the pitching staff this season. Hoogewerf nabbed his 150th career punchout in the loss and now has 209.2 innings pitched, the most in Trine's NCAA DIII era.
GAME TWO RECAP:
Senior Cam Nagel took the ball for the final time in game two for the Thunder. Two hits in the first inning for Olivet helped push a run across, but Trine responded for four in the bottom half of the inning. Freshman Luke Burford doubled to start the inning and a combination of walks, wild pitches and passed balls allowed two runs to score. Senior Easton Rhodes blasted a two-run homerun out to right center to get the lead to 4-1.
Nagel settled in for a 1-2-3 inning in the second and the Thunder piled on in the bottom of the second. Rumberger delivered an RBI single and junior Joel Walton smashed a two-run bomb to increase the Trine lead to 7-1.
In total, 11 straight Olivet hitters were retired for the righty on the mound before the Comets struck for two unearned runs in the frame. An error extended the inning and loaded the bases for the opposing cleanup hitter, who drove in two on a line drive double. Junior Dane DuBois kept the line moving on offense for senior Jack Kletzly with a two-out RBI double in the fourth.
The Thunder answered two runs by Olivet with four of their own to widen the gap to 12-3 through five. Rumberger launched a solo homerun with two away and an error further extended the inning. Freshman Nathan Gilmet and Rhodes had run-scoring hits to plate three unearned runs for Trine.
In the sixth, seniors Jake Schumacher and Michael Brucker got the call from the bullpen and each sat down the batter they faced. Senior Kade Keele ran into some trouble, but fellow graduating classmate Cole Decker got him out of the seventh and final inning with the scoreboard reading 12-8 in favor of the Thunder.
Nagel (3-6) tallied his 100th career strikeout in the win, one of three he had in the outing. He allowed just five hits, one earned run and one walk in his 5.1 innings pitched. Rumberger was 3-for-3 with a walk in the game and Rhodes had a three-hit game as well at 3-for-4 with four RBIs. Walton and Rumberger each had a pair of runs batted in.
At year's end, the Thunder held a record of 11-27 and 3-18 inside the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA). The Comets had the same overall record but were slightly better inside the conference at 5-16.