ANDERSON, Ind. – The Alma College baseball team returned to action after a week off on Tuesday, March 21st, as they played a doubleheader against Anderson University in Indiana. The Scots were battling hard in the first of the two but ended up falling by a final score of 16-14 and were defeated in the second game 16-6.

Anderson scored early and held the Scots off the board until the fourth as they created a 4-0 lead through the first three. In the fourth inning, Padyn Kesselring drew a walk and Cameron Bleasdale hit a single to put runners on first and second. Dalton D'Alexander put a sacrifice bunt into play and reached first on an error and advanced to second, while Bleasdale reached third and Kesselring scored on the play for Alma's first run. The next batter, Wyatt Nyswaner hit a two RBI single to right field which allowed for Bleasdale and D'Alexander to score bringing the Scots within one of the Ravens. Two batters later, Kevin Tuttle singled to center field while Nyswaner was on second, and allowed for Nyswaner to round third and tie the game a four aside. Later in the same inning, Avery Carnicom drew an intentional walk with his impressive season at the dish so far which put runners on first and second. Cole Grunwald then hit a ball into deep center field and scored both Tuttle and Carnicom while he made it to third safely for his second triple of the season. Alma ended the fourth with a 6-4 lead over the Ravens. 

The following inning, Nyswaner got Alma on base with a single before Nolan Chilcutt doubled to left center, putting Alma runners on second and third. Kevin Tuttle added another two RBI with a single to center field which left him as the only runner on first. Carnicom then later singled and advanced to second on an error which allowed for Tuttle to score from first due to the error. Grunwald and Kesselring both drew walks in the fifth to load the bases with Carnicom on third. Alma would take a 10-4 lead on a passed ball which allowed for Carnicom to score their final run of the fifth inning.

Anderson added another run in the sixth with a solo home run and bought the score to 10-5. In the top of the seventh, Ethan Krafft reached first on a single to left center field. Grunwald added to his already solid game at the plate with a double to left center and allowed for Krafft to score to increase the Scots lead back to six. The Ravens responded with 11 of their own runs in the bottom of the seventh to regain the lead over Alma, 16-11. The Scots put together a rally in the ninth with their final three outs to try to send it to extras. Carnicom led the Scots off in the top of the inning with a single through the left side. Carnicom was able to reach third on two groundouts by the next two batters. Bleasdale then singled with two outs and sent Carnicom home, bringing Alma within four. Bleasdale then reached second on a wild pitch. D'Alexander recorded an RBI double to score Bleasdale from first cutting the lead to three with one out remaining. Following behind, Nyswaner singled to center field and sent D'Alexander home bringing the Scots within two in the final inning. The Scots would record another hit in the inning but would ultimately come up short on the comeback and drop the first contest of the day.

Tyler Johnson started on the mound for Alma and struck out three batters which tied for a game-high. Davin Reif came in as relief and added a K in his three innings on the bump.

For the second game of the day, Alma started out trailing after the first when Anderson recorded a run to take the lead. The Ravens held Alma scoreless early again and added another 11 runs in the bottom of the third to take an early 12-0 lead over the Scots. Alma was able to cut into the lead in the fourth starting with two singles by Bleasdale and D'Alexander. Nyswaner added to the singles with one of his own that as able to score Bleasdale, giving Alma their first run. Chilcutt also singled which loaded the bases for Alma as Mitch Foley came up to the plate. Foley grounded out to third but was able to score D'Alexander and advance the other runners. Tuttle then put a ball in play towards shortstop for a single and scored Nyswaner while Chilcutt was able to score right behind on a throwing error. Tuttle was sent home at the next at-bat by Krafft as he doubled to left center bringing the score to 12-5 in favor of the Ravens.

The Scots added another run in the sixth as Foley and Tuttle both singled as Tuttle advanced to second on the throw and Foley reached third. Carnicom would pop a ball up into left field and hit a sacrifice fly as Foley tagged up and reached home to bring Alma within six, but the Ravens would add two additional runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh to take game two, 16-6.

On the mound for the Scots in game two, Grunwald led the Scots tying for a game-high three strikeouts and Zac Olseuk recorded two of his own. 

Alma will be back in action in seven days as they travel to Earlham College to play in a single game on Tuesday, March 28th. First pitch will be at 5:00 PM at the Randal R. Sadler Stadium.

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Story Credit: Eli Pinter, Sports Information Intern