Kalamazoo, Mich. - The Alma College baseball team closed out a four-game series with Kalamazoo on Sunday (May 1), splitting a road doubleheader with the Hornets. The Scots won the first game, 12-5, in seven innings, but saw Kalamazoo score six unanswered runs in the second game to fall, 6-2.
Alma is now 23-12 overall and 14-10 in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, which ties the school record for most wins in a season, set by the 1981 squad. In addition, the Scots tied the record for most league wins, which was matched in 1999, 2006 and 2011. Alma is now guaranteed a .500 season in league play and remains in search of its first winning conference season since 2003 and the first since the MIAA adopted its' 28-game format in 2006.
The Scots remain in the race for their first-ever appearance in the MIAA Tournament, which features the top four teams in the league standings. Alma currently sits in fourth place, one game ahead of Trine University and one game behind Kalamazoo. The Scots are 2.5 games out of second place, held by Hope College. Adrian College has a four-game lead on the rest of the field.
Alma will conclude the regular season on Friday and Saturday, May 6-7, with a four-game series against Olivet College. The series begins in Alma on Friday with a 2:00 p.m. start to the doubleheader, while the series shifts to Olivet on Saturday, with the two-game set beginning at 1:00 p.m. Friday's game will be senior day, with nine seniors being honors during the afternoon.
Game 1 - Alma 12, at Kalamazoo 5
The Scots took a 7-0 lead with a six-run second inning en route to tying the school record with their 23rd win of the season. Senior Yoan De La Rosa (Bronx, N.Y./Morris/Monroe College) went 2-for-3 in the win with two RBIs, a double and a triple to extend his hitting streak to seven games, while sophomore Austin Roeske (Warren, Mich./De La Salle Collegiate) went 4-for-4 with an RBI and a pair of doubles.
Senior Colin Nash (Brighton, Mich./Brighton) worked the mound for 5.1 innings and picked up his sixth win of the season, recording two strikeouts.
Senior Dayne San Miguel (Wheeler, Mich./Breckenridge/Kellogg CC), junior Alex Peczynski(Farmington Hills, Mich./Detroit Catholic Central) and sophomore Nick Swanson (West Bloomfield, Mich./Notre Dame Prep) all recorded two hits in the victory as Alma outhit the Hornets, 14-10.
Game 2 - at Kalamazoo 6, Alma 2
The Hornets scored six unanswered runs to erase a 2-0 Alma lead and take the second game, 6-2, to earn the series split.
The Scots put two runs on the board in the top of the second inning when junior Adam Thoryk(Syracuse, N.Y./John C. Birdlebough/St. John Fisher) hit a two-RBI double, scoring De La Rosa and senior Doug Walters (Brighton, Mich./Brighton). Thoryk finished the game 2-for-4.
Alma was shut out after that, stranding six runners over the course of the final seven innings while the Hornets tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the fourth, then added three runs in the end of the sixth to pull ahead for good.
Senior Phil Jock (Memphis, Mich./Memphis) threw six innings for the Scots, striking out eight batters, while senior Blake Ordiway (Holly, Mich./Holly) worked the final two innings in relief.