GRINNELL, Iowa – Barely into his collegiate baseball career, Sam Galanek '18 has already etched his name into the Grinnell College record book.
Galanek blasted three home runs to tie a school record during Thursday afternoon's 9-1 over Simpson College at Pioneer Park. It marked the second time in as many days the Pioneers beat a team from the Iowa Conference.
Galanek joined two other Pioneers in the three-homer club, Jimmy Bombulie in 2001 and Mike Nodzenski in 2009 and again in 2011.
Graham Fisher '16 complemented Galanek's performance with four-hit pitching over seven innings. He fanned six batters while earning his first win of the year.
Also standing out offensive for the Pioneers, who improved to 4-8, was Anthony Mack '16. He had a triple and double, while Michael Slattery '18 and Teague Towner '17 also had two hits each.
Grinnell opened the scoring in the second inning when Mack was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, plating Towner.
In the third, Matt Godinsky '16 was hit by a pitch before Galanek homered over the center field fence.
Grinnell made it 6-0 in the fourth. Godinsky had an RBI single to left after Mack tripled to right-center, and Galanek followed with a homer to center.
After Simpson scored in the sixth, Grinnell got a run back in the bottom of the inning on another homer to center by Galanek.
In the eighth, Towner hit a two-run single to right to score Matt Hammond '17 and Walker Bell '15.
Besides Fisher's strong mound performance, Noah Mathews '17 closed out the game with one-hit ball over the final two innings. He struck out two.
With the loss, Simpson dropped to 4-10 on the season.
Grinnell has a week off before opening Midwest Conference play next Thursday against Monmouth College. The first game of the twin bill at Pioneer Park begins at 1 p.m.