RICHMOND, Ind. – The Alma College baseball team continued on their with non-conference portion of the season on Thursday, March 7th, as they headed south for a doubleheader against Earlham College. Alma split the day with the Quakers winning the first game 6-5 though they would drop the second by a final score of 12-6.
In game one of the day, the Quakers tallied the first scores in the bottom of the opening inning, put the Scots behind early. It took some time for the Scots offense to warm up, but tin the third inning, Alma put the ball into play. Kyler Warren led the inning off with a single to right field and advanced to second on a ground out later in the inning. Back-to-back walks from Dalton D'Alexander and Mac Hawley would load the bases for Alma, still alive with two outs in the inning. Kevin Tuttle would draw the third consecutive walk and the Scots would be on the board as Warren was awarded home for free. Following the walk, Cole Grunwald put an extra base hit into play with his double to right field, allowing for Hawley and D'Alexander to score and give Alma their first lead of the game.
Alma would hold the lead by one until the top of the sixth inning, where the Scots would stretch their lead to three. Grunwald kicked off the inning with a single through the left side, and would advance to second on a Stephen McGlade walk. Both runners then advanced a base after a Mitch Foley sacrifice bunt, putting both runners in scoring position. A single to right field by Warren would score Grunwald and advance McGlade the third, now putting runners on the corners. Avery Carnicom also singled and ultimately scored McGlade, putting the Scots up 5-2 shortly before finishing up the inning. Earlham cut the Alma lead down by one in the bottom of the inning, and brought themselves within one score in the bottom of the seventh. Alma would look to pull away in the top of the eighth as Carnicom reached base after being hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a balk. Colin Czajkowski sent Carnicom home with a double to center field, putting Alma up by two. Earlham continued to chip away at the Scots lead once again and brought the score within one again in the bottom of the eighth. Warren came in as relief on the mound to close out the eighth and had runners on the base paths in the ninth, but was able to seasl the deal and close out game one with a win for the Scots.
Tyler Johnson was credited the win for the Scots as he started the game on the mound. In five innings, Johnson struck out five batters and only allowed one earned run. Hayden Hileman, Davin Reif and Warren all saw action on the mound, with Warren recording Alma's other two strikeouts for the game.
After a short break, game two was underway under the lights. Earlham again kicked off the scoring in game two with a solo run in the first inning and another run in the second, taking a 2-0 lead after two. After both offenses stayed quiet for the middle frame of the game, the Quakers tacked on their third run of the game in the sixth, starting to pull away from the Scots. Alma would tighten the deficit in the top of the eighth as D'Alexander stepped into the batter's box with the bases loaded as Warren and Tony Smith would reach first on walks and Carnicom recorded a base hit. D'Alexander ultimately took a pitch to the body, scoring Alma's first run of the game. The Scots then added two more runs on a dropped fly ball by Tuttle, tying the game at threes. Earlham responded in the bottom of the inning with nine of their own runs to put Alma's backs against the wall with one inning left to play. Alma fought back in the top of the ninth with three runs, but the final out would come on a fielder's choice and round out the first day of games in Earlham.
Czajkowski started game two on the mound for Alma, going five innings, with seven strikeouts and three hits. Zac Olesuk, Chase Balhoff and Josh West all came in as relief on the mound for the Scots, awhile Olesuk recorded the other three strikeouts for Alma.
Alma's Friday game with the Quakers has been canceled due to weather. The Scots will now look towards next weekend for a series with the Quakers of Wilmington College.
