KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Alma College baseball team defeated the Kalamazoo College Hornets, 4-3, in opening round of the MIAA Postseason Tournament. The Scots were ranked fifth while the Hornets were ranked fourth in the postseason coaches poll in what decided seeding for the Tournament. With the win, Alma improves to 14-18 on the season and 3-2 against Kalamazoo this year. 

Alma was led by its two All-Conference honorees in Dylan Dzendzel and Joshua Robinson. Dzendzel pitched seven innings while only giving up one run on two hits while Robinson hit a two-run home run. Jayden Drake earned his first career save by getting the final five outs of the game. 

The Hornets struck first with a run in the bottom of the first. Dzendzel then faced runners on the corners with two outs and was able to finish off the inning with a strikeout. 

The Scots' bats got going in the top of the second. Alex Dwan reached on a Kalamazoo error and then advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Jacob Cornman then stepped into the box and brought Dwan home on a single through the right side to make it a 1-1 ballgame. Macguire Hawley followed with a double down the right field line to score Cornman and give Alma a 2-1 lead. 

Alma kept the momentum heading into the third as Avery Carnicom earned a walk to lead off the inning. Robinson came up and hit one over the right field wall for his fifth home run of the season while making the score 4-1 Scots. 

While Alma's offense put some runs on the board, Dzendzel was locked in on the mound as he went on a run of nine-straight batters retired into the fourth inning. He faced runners on first and second with no outs in the fifth but then got the next three batters to go down and keep the three-run lead. The senior did not allow a hit or walk for the rest of the game. 

Drew Koenig relieved Dzendzel in the eighth and earned an out. Kalamazoo eventually scored its first run since the opening frame and then Drake was brought in with runners on first and second and one out. The Frisco, Texas native got the first batter he faced to go down swinging and then forced the next batter to pop out to end the inning. 

Drake went back out to the mound to close things out in the ninth. After hitting the first batter, the junior got out the next two batters. The Hornets were able to cut the lead to one and put the tying run in scoring position, however, Drake pulled through by forcing the Kalamazoo batter to ground out to the shortstop Kevin Tuttle who threw across the diamond for the final out and earn Alma the playoff victory. 

Cornman led the Scots with two hits. The nine-inning game took almost three and half hours to be completed.

The Scots now advance to the Winner's Bracket of Tournament. The Bracket has been split into two four-team Pools with the winner of each pool advancing to a Championship Series. The Scots will head to Adrian College to face the No. 1 seed Bulldogs on Thursday at 12 p.m. The winner will advance to the Pool A Finals on Friday while the loser will have to play in a elimination game later in the day on Thursday. 

Stay up-to-date with the latest news, schedules, scores, recaps and more by downloading the official mobile app for Alma College Athletics. Search "Alma Scots Front Row" in the Apple App Store or on Google Play and download today for free.