May 6, 2023

Kalamazoo claims top spot in MIAA on final weekend

More news about: Kalamazoo
St. Mary's College of Maryland (11-17) hosted the Gallaudet Bison (7-31) to conclude the regular season in a United East Conference doubleheader. The Seahawks won both games against the Bison, both by a score of 13-0.
St. Maty's (Md.) athletics photo


Kalamazoo finished the regular season with a home doubleheader against Adrian on Saturday afternoon. The Bulldog bats out-slugged the Hornets in game one with a 9-6 win, but Kalamazoo responded in game two with a 10-5 victory. With that win, the Hornets won the MIAA Regular season title outright with a 17-4 conference record, the first regular season title for Kalamazoo since 1927. In addition, the baseball team now has 30 wins, the second team in the program's history with the 2017 team (31 wins) that has been done.

Fourth-seeded William Paterson (25-15, 12-6 NJAC) saw its season come to an end with an 11-0 loss to top-seeded and 19th-ranked Rowan (30-11, 13-5 NJAC) May 6 in the second round of the New Jersey Athletic Conference Tournament. Brett Hilsheimer finished 3-for-4 with two RBI's and two runs scored as the Kean University baseball team advanced in the loser's bracket of the New Jersey Athletic Conference Tournament with a 17-0 shutout of Stockton University on Saturday afternoon. Josh Jackson finished 2-for-3 with a homerun, three runs scored, and two RBI's for the Cougars who improve to 24-16-1 overall. Cooper Fiore and Nick Avagnano both tallied a hit for the Ospreys who finish their season at 22-20 overall. TCNJ, ranked No. 5 in the NJAC tournament defeated the No. 3 seeded Red Hawks of Montclair State on Saturday night by a score of 12-5. Starter Ben Amon showed out on Saturday, earning his sixth win of the year and going six innings and allowing two runs on just four days rest from a complete game against Rutgers-Camden on Monday. In his six innings, he gave up six hits and struck out five while walking one.

Sixth-seeded Penn State Altoona began its postseason quest on Saturday afternoon, starting an Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament first round, best-of-three series against third seed Mount Aloysius College at Calandra-Smith Field. Mount Aloysius (17-19) earned a 10-6 win in game one, but Penn State Altoona (16-25) held on for a 12-11 victory in game two to stave off elimination and force a third matchup between the teams. The decisive game three will be Sunday at Mount Aloysius. The winner of that game advances to the AMCC championship rounds. The Lions dug themselves a hole, allowing Mount Aloysius to run up a 9-2 lead through seven innings en route to a four-run victory for the home team. The Mounties' win was keyed by a five-run seventh inning. Penn State Altoona used a big performance at the plate to get past Mount Aloysius in game two, avoiding elimination and forcing a third game of the series tomorrow. The Lions totaled 22 hits as a team, tying for the seventh-most hits in a game in program history. After dropping the last two doubleheaders over the last two seasons to Pitt-Greensburg, Hilbert took their revenge in the First Round playoff series this afternoon. The Hawks earned a lop-sided opening victory (25-11) fueled by three heavy-hitting innings and solid pitching on the mound in G 1, and they then swept the Bobcats in the night cap, winning 17-5, with another hot middle-innings performance. Rookies Ronald Mort improved to 2-1 and Brennen Hediger grabbed his fifth win, improving to 5-4 in the nightcap.

At N.C. Wesleyan, it was the Battling Bishops sweeping two games from fifth-seeded Pfeiffer which advances them into the best-of-three championship series next week. N.C. Wesleyan took the first game by a 25-5 margin, in seven innings, while game two went N.C. Wesleyan's way, 8-5. At Methodist, the first game saw sixth-seeded Brevard eliminate second-seeded Methodist, 4-0. With the win, Brevard needed to defeat third-seeded William Peace to take the bracket but the Pacers had other ideas. With a ninth-inning comeback, William Peace forced extra innings and claimed a 13-9 win in ten innings to force a winner-take-all game tomorrow, Sunday. The winner of that contest will advance to face N.C. Wesleyan in the best-of-three championship series.

Top-seeded and top-ranked Johns Hopkins won its 15th straight game to advance to the Centennial Conference championship for the 15th time, while third-seeded Dickinson secured its first CC postseason wins in program history to move on to the final opposite the Blue Jays. In the opening game of the day, Dickinson used a six-run bottom of the sixth inning to rally past fifth-seeded Haverford, 8-6, in the first elimination game of the double-elimination portion of the tournament. In the winner's bracket, Hopkins then topped second-ranked Franklin & Marshall 5-1 to move on to the championship. Gabe Romano punched out a career-high 10 batters in a complete-game effort, the first complete game for a JHU pitcher this season. Dickinson then blanked F&M 8-0 in the third and final game of the day, including a three home run fifth inning that broke the game open. Andrew Mazzone and Kaden Sigmon led the Red Devils at the plate throughout the day, with Mazzone going 4-for-10 through the two games with two home runs, six RBIs and three runs scored, and Sigon batting 6-for-10 with three RBIs. Koll Peichel hurled a complete game four-hitter with a career-high 15 strikeouts against the Diplomats to send the Red Devils to the championship for the first time. This will mark the first title game appearance for the Red Devils, who had only once previously made the CC postseason (2004).

No. 3 and second-seeded Shenandoah opened up ODAC Tournament play Saturday with a 6-3 victory over seventh-seeded Guilford. Shenandoah (35-5) scored four runs in the eighth to rally past the Quakers (20-18-1). Senior Hayden Snelsire tossed a four-hit shutout with a career-high 13 strikeouts as the fourth-seeded and 14th-ranked Randolph-Macon baseball team edged fifth-seeded Hampden-Sydney 2-0 on Saturday afternoon in Game 1 of the opening round series of the ODAC Championship. Lynchburg fell in the Game 1 of its first round Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament game Saturday. The fourth-ranked and top-seeded Hornets dropped a 7-6 decision to eighth-seeded Bridgewater. The Hornets (33-6) face elimination against Bridgewater in Game 2 of the series on Sunday. No. 3 seed Roanoke got an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth and Alex Markus pitched a three up, three strikeout ninth as the Maroons earned a 5-3 win over No. 6 seed Washington and Lee in their Game 1 of a best-of-three series.

Hardin-Simmons advanced to the American Southwest Conference Championship game with a 7-6 win over Texas-Dallas on Saturday afternoon at Woods Field in Marshall. HSU will play in the championship game against East Texas Baptist on Sunday and needs just one win for the championship. The Cowboys are looking for their first ASC title. The Cowboys had to rally for the win on Saturday as UTD scored three runs in the first inning. Jeremy Colon tied the game with a two-run single to right in the bottom of the eighth. Luke Kirkbride came up and drove in Craig Symmes, who had pinch run for Colon. Brandon Bane kept the Cowboys in the game, pitching against his former team. He went six innings and allowed four earned runs. Wyatt Tumlinson came in and worked the final three innings for the Cowboys allowing just one hit to earn the win. East Texas Baptist scored 30 runs in two elimination games, defeating LeTourneau 9-4 and Texas-Dallas 21-2.

No. 23 Tufts rallied from being down 6-0 in the first inning of game one, earning a 12-6 win in the opening contest of the New England Small College Athletic ConferenceQuarterfinal series with Amherst College. The Mammoths would post their own rally in game two, coming back late from a 3-0 deficit to pick up an 8-3 win in the nightcap to force a decisive game three on Sunday. Bowdoin pinned a 10-4 setback on top-seeded Wesleyan in the second game of the best-of-three playoff series to earn a Saturday split and force game three. In the opener Wesleyan took the game 8-4. Patrick Murphy closed the game out with a top-notch performance, going the distance for his fourth complete game of the season. The junior allowed just one earned run while striking out a career-high nine, picking up his fifth win of the season. Five Cardinals recorded multi-hit games while Ernie Little broke the program single-season stolen base record as he nabbed his 24th steal of the season to pass Sam Player on the all-time list. Colby and Middlebury swept their three game series and adance to the final weekend tournament.

No. 8 and top-seeded Wheaton (Mass.) used its aggressive style on the basepaths to produce the game-winning run in the bottom of the 12th and come away with a 6-5 walk-off victory over fourth-seeded MIT this afternoon in the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference Tournament at Sidell Stadium on the campus of host Wheaton in Norton, Mass. Senior Tim Noone tossed a complete game and seven different players recorded a hit as third-seeded Babson defeated second-seeded Clark University, 4-2, in the opening round of the NEWMAC Tournament on Saturday afternoon at Granger Field. With the win, Babson improves to 23-16 and will face No. 8/11 Wheaton on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. in Norton, Mass. Clark (18-20) will meet fourth-seeded MIT in an elimination game at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Misericordia University opened the postseason with a 4-3 win over DeSales in the opening game of the MAC Freedom semifinals, Saturday afternoon at Tambur Field. The Cougars stole five bases as part of a four-run third inning. Brock Bollinger had two hits and drove in a run and Jason Sanfilippo added two hits. David McCurry scattered seven hits over five innings to earn the win and Tyler Leonard worked four scoreless innings to pick up the save. Carson Denham tossed a gem for the No. 1 seed Arcadia University Saturday to the tune of a complete-game allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits with two walks and nine strikeouts to defeat No. 4 Stevens 7-2 in game one of the 2023 Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom Semifinals.

Top-seeded Mitchell College punched their ticket the New England Collegiate Conference title game on Saturday afternoon, blowing past third-seeded New England College 28-2 on at Alumni Field. The Mariners pounded out 17 hits and scored seven or more runs in three different innings, as senior Ryan Solimine held the Pilgrim bats in check, scattering six hits and two runs (one earned) across eight innings of work, walking one and striking out eight. Eastern Nazarene powered past Lesley 15-6 before topping New England College 8-1 Saturday to advance to the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Tournament championship series. ENC will need to defeat Mitchell twice to advance to the NCAA Playoffs.

Second baseman Conor Smith's two-homer game on Saturday led Lebanon Valley to an 8-2 victory over York College in the first game of a best-of-three series in the Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth Semifinals at McGill Field on Saturday afternoon. Lebanon Valley (25-15-1) picked up a key game one victory behind a balanced effort, featuring power at the plate and solid pitching on the mound. Smith had a career day in the batter's box, driving in five runs with a grand slam in the fifth inning. Starting pitcher Tommy Moore Jr. delivered a solid performance to keep York (20-19) in check, striking out seven batters in seven innings of work. #2 Alvernia (26-15) overcame a four-run deficit and held off a late threat from #3 Widener (21-18) to take game one, 7-6, of the MAC Commonwealth Semifinal on Saturday afternoon at Alvernia. Widener took a 4-0 lead before Alvernia took the lead, 5-4, in the bottom of the fifth. Alvernia made it a 7-4 game in the sixth. Widener got one back in the 7th, had the bases loaded in the eighth, and had the game-tying run on second in the ninth. But, Alvernia got out of the jam to take game one.

Piedmont, Maryville, and Huntingdon posted crucial wins during Day Four of the 2023 Collegiate Conference of the South Championship on a beautiful day at LaGrange College, the site of this year's conference championship. Each of the three teams will be in action tomorrow as the conference championship continues on. Piedmont enters Sunday's action as the only team remaining yet to drop a game during the championship. Piedmont is moving on as the only undefeated team in the CCS tournament after a 4-2 win over Belhaven Saturday. The turning point in the game for Piedmont was when the Lions were able to answer back in the bottom of the fifth after surrendering two runs to claim the lead again. In the second game of the afternoon, Maryville eliminated Belhaven from this weekend's action and advance to Sunday's play with a 5-1 win. The Scots hit two solo home runs and their pitching staff made those two runs hold up in the win. In the third and final game of the day at LaGrange, third-seeded Huntingdon won their second-consecutive game of the weekend in convincing fashion as the Hawks scored five runs in the home half of the third inning on their way to an impressive 11-1 win. It's the second straight game where their offense has scored 11 runs or more as they posted 13 in a win last night against Maryville.

Centenary (La.) scored the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth and held on for a 5-4 victory over Southwestern in an elimination game at the 2023 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship Saturday evening at the The Depot at Cleburne Station. After Gary Hewitt's one-out single and advancement to second on a wild pitch, Jobee Boone moved Hewitt to third with a groundout to Southwestern' first baseman Trent Raschke. Now faced with two outs and the go-ahead run 90 feet away, Lenny Forth hit a high chopper down the third baseline whose rushed throw pulled Pirates' first baseman Jacob Tanner off the bag and allowed Hewitt to score what would eventually be the winning run. Centenary's Parker Primeaux went the distance on the bump, coming through with a gutsy, nine-inning, 132-pitch effort where the senior scattered 11 hits and allowed four runs (three earned) while striking out eight and walking two. On the strenghth of 12 stolen bases and the combined pitching of Cade McGahan and Jack Martinez, Trinity (Texas) cruised to the title game of the 2023 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference championships for the fourth straight time, and 25th time in program history with a 10-1 defeat of top-seeded Texas Lutheran. The elimination game between Texas Lutheran and Centenary (La.) was suspended with the Bulldogs up 4-0 in the second inning and will continue on Sunday.

Rochester scored in six straight innings, scoring ten unanswered runs to earn a 10-2 victory over Bard on Saturday evening at Towers Field in a Liberty League Crossover series matchup. The win puts Rochester (26-12, 17-3 Liberty League) one win away from qualifying for the Liberty League conference tournament next weekend. Bard (8-20, 5-12), will need to sweep both ends of a doubleheader against the Yellowjackets on Sunday to keep its season alive. Senior Aaron Whitley was dominant in all aspects of the game for Rochester, going 4-for-4 with 2 doubles, 2 home runs, 4 RBI, 4 runs scored and 3 stolen bases. His 12 total bases in the win are tied for third most in a single-game in Rochester baseball history. Three hundred and sixty-four days after Clarkson swept Skidmore on Castle Diamond, the Thoroughbreds took revenge with a Saturday sweep, 23-1, 6-5, in a Liberty League crossover series. Skidmore slugged a program record five home runs in the opener for a 23-1 blowout win. Then, Ewen Donald hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning of game two to bring around the winning run from second base and send Skidmore into a celebration. The Thoroughbreds advance to the Liberty League Tournament. RIT swept Vassar in the Crossover Divisional Series on Saturday to advance to the Liberty League conference tournament, winning game one, 8-4, and game two, 4-3, for the victory in the best-of-three series. Union split a doubleheader against St. Lawrence to force a game three in the series on Saturday afternoon at Shuttleworth Park. Union won decisively in game one with a 17-2, but the visiting Saints stormed back to take game two, 9-2. First-year Caleb Miller was a double short of the cycle as he went 4-for-5 with three RBI and three runs scored. Senior Colby Nash went 1-for-1 with a homerun and three RBI while junior Thomas Parisi also went yard in a 2-for-2 effort with two runs scored and a RBI. St. Lawrence loaded the bases in the sixth in the nightcap, prompting a pitching change for Union. Three straight singles and a two-run homerun gave the visitors a 9-2 lead. The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute came through with a 5-4 victory after a lopsided 14-0 loss in Game 1 of the day against the Ithaca Bombers in the Liberty League Crossover Weekend on Saturday afternoon at Robison Field. Both squads will now play a third and deciding game on Sunday afternoon at 12 p.m. in Troy.

On Saturday afternoon, Anna Maria split with a 6-4 loss to Johnson & Wales than earned a spot in the championship game with a 3-2 win over Elms in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference conference tournament at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletics Complex. A pair of two-run innings by the J&W Wildcats in the seventh and eighth innings allowed the top seeds to advance directly to the championship game on Sunday afternoon. With their season on the line, the AMCATS turned to sophomore left-hander Michael Shorey and Shorey responded by allowing only two runs over seven innings. With the win, Shorey improved his record to 5-2. Anna Maria will be back in action on Sunday when they will look to avenge their first game with two victories over the Johnson & Wales Wildcats for the Great Northeast Athletic Conference championship at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletics Complex. The first pitch is scheduled for noon. Elms defeated Lasell 10-5 to advance to their game with Anna Maria.

Plattsburgh State concluded its 2023 season on Senior Day with a doubleheader sweep, 3-0 and 13-0, over Fredonia in State University of New York Athletic Conference action. Plattsburgh dominated the Fredonia batters on the mound, holding them scoreless on the day in 16 innings of work, also earning the series sweep with the two wins. Chris Santic finished one of the best pitching campaigns in program history with eight shutout innings on Saturday, allowing just six hits and one walk, while striking out a career-high eight batters. In game two, Veit continued the great pitching for the Cards, as held the Blue Devils hitless over his first five innings of work. Despite just eight hits, Plattsburgh was able to score 13 runs as the Blue Devil staff hit seven batters and walked eight people to give the Cardinals plenty of base runners. Offensively, Jack Defayette (lead the way with multi-hit outings in both games, grabbing four total hits on the day. Alex Kornblau set the single-season program record for hit-by-pitches, as he was hit twice in game two to up his season total to 15, besting the previous record of Billy Rombauts who was hit 13 times in 2015. Nick Cergol tied the single-game program record for hit-by-pitches, as he was hit three times in game two on Saturday.

Wisconsin Lutheran College collected its second consecutive Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference doubleheader split against Lakeland on Senior Day at Neumann Family Field. The Warriors defeated the Muskies 8-3 in the opener before falling 6-2 in game two on Saturday. In the seventh of game one, Carter Raabe drew a bases-loaded walk and Danny Cain followed with a two-RBI single for an 8-2 advantage. Lakeland scored a run and loaded the bases with just one out in the eighth, but senior Glavine Matthes came on in relief to get the final two outs and retired the side in order in the ninth for his first save of the season. In the eighth inning of the nightcap, LU scored four runs on just one hit, all coming after two outs to take a three-run lead. Lakeland added an unearned run in the ninth for the 6-2 final score.

Beloit swept a doubleheader from Illinois College Saturday afternoon, giving the Buccaneers 19 conference victories this season, which is the most in Midwest Conference history. The Bucs won the first game convincingly, 16-1, before completing the sweep with a 7-4 victory in game two. Beloit (27-11, 19-4 MWC) scored early and often in the opening game, plating one run in the first inning on a sac fly by Brett Kiger, before adding seven more runs in the second. That inning included an RBI single by Matt O'Leary, a two-run single by Garrison Ferone, an RBI double from Connor Vogel, and a two-run homer by Kiger, extending his school records to 13 long-balls on the season and 26 in his career.

The 22nd-ranked Catholic Cardinals clinched the number
two seed in next weekend's Landmark Conference
Championships with a doubleheader split at Juniata this
afternoon. Catholic sits at 25-9 on the season with just
tomorrow's Landmark Conference regular-season finale
remaining.
Catholic athletics photo

Keystone enjoyed another CSAC sweep as they took down Rosemont 14-6 and 9-4 Saturday afternoon at Christy Mathewson Field. Keystone moves to 27-11 (17-1 CSAC) while Rosemont falls to 15-20 (7-11 CSAC). Anthony Raimo enjoyed a four-hit game with two RBI. Greg Verano went 3-for-3 with two RBI. Hadsall and Thomas both enjoyed two base hits while Griffijn Yastremski hit a monstertwo-run home run in the first game. Robert Estrada and Josh Parks combined for four hits. Parks tallied a two-RBI double in the second game. Bobby Pokorney went 2-for-3 with a two-run home run. Nathan Hinkley earned the start and win going six scoreless innings with one strikeout. The senior right-handed pitcher and the 2023 Sean Murphy Memorial Award recipient forced 12 flyouts and five ground outs. Diaz and Murphy appeared in relief as each pitcher struck out a batter.

Despite learning Friday afternoon that it was unfortunately eliminated from postseason contention, a gritty and admirable Otterbein stayed focused to earn a doubleheader sweep against Wilmington across a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Fishbaugh Field. The Cardinals, winning a pair of very competitive games by scores of 8-6 and 4-1, move to 27-12 overall and 11-7 within the Ohio Athletic Conference. Otterbein lands in a tie with John Carroll at fourth place in the league standings, but misses out on the last tournament spot due to tiebreaker scenarios.

Dylan Beers pitched six no-hit innings in the opener and Cortland combined for 28 runs on 36 hits over the doubleheader as the Red Dragons closed out the regular season with a 12-0, 16-4 non-league sweep of visiting Moravian in the first-ever meetings between the schools. Cortland increased its record to 29-9 and will be the host and top seed for the four-team, double-elimination SUNYAC postseason tournament Thursday through either Saturday or Sunday. Cortland will open versus fourth-seeded Oswego at noon, followed by second seed Brockport and third seed Oneonta at 3:30 p.m.

Oberlin split a doubleheader at Ohio Wesleyan on Saturday, winning game one 6-4 before dropping the nightcap 5-4. Oberlin trailed 2-1 going into the seventh inning of the opener, but rallied for four runs in the seventh and added a big insurance run in the eighth to hold on for the win. Roles were reversed in the backend of the twinbill as the Bishops scored all five of their runs from the sixth inning on to steal away a potential sweep for the Yeomen.

Well-placed bunts and pure speed gave The College of Wooster the edge it needed to turn away Wabash in a 9-4 game-one win, then the Fighting Scots ran out of steam in the 11th inning, enabling the Little Giants to claim the nightcap 8-4 on Saturday at Art Murray Field. Ian Leon earned the senior day start in game one and sent the Little Giants back to the dugout in order in his inning of work. Senior Owen Barnard was charged with an unearned run in three innings of work, senior Ryan Sullivan allowed three runs on five hits in 2 1/3 innings, then senior Ethan Samangy (3-0) kept the Little Giants scoreless in his 1 2/3 innings on the hill. Senior Christian Johnston bent but did not break in the ninth inning en route to posting a scoreless frame. In the nightcap, Caleb Everson had a strong straight for the Little Giants, fanning 11 Scots in his 6 2/3 innings. He struck out six straight Wooster batters before first-year catcher Colin Leslie had enough and roped a single into center field to lead off the third inning.