ADRIAN, Mich. – Filling in the prime time slot of the first day of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Baseball Tournament, presented by Collegiate Credit Union, the two-seeded Ama College baseball team faced off against the three seeded Kalamazoo College Hornets. The Scots, after sweeping the Hornets in the regular season when they were top ten in the nation in a handful of polls, knew this would be a tough, close game as the prior three games all came down to a single run. Alma was tied heading into the ninth inning though would be defeated in the opening game of tournament play by a final score of 3-1.
Kalamazoo opened the scoring for the game just two batters into action as a home run from Robert Newland was the game's first and only run for the first five and a half innings. Hits were hard to come by in the early action and the home run to score Kalamazoo's run and a single following would be their only hits until the top of the fifth. The Scots also found some trouble at the dish as Alma only had two hits as well going into the bottom of the fifth inning, breaking the silence in the batter's box and bringing momentum to the sixth for the Scots. Momentum transferred over to the following inning and the Scots dugout came to life as a first pitch solo home run from Alexander Kavalick to lead off the inning knotted the game at ones aside, drawing up a dramatic finish for two teams that know how to create drama.
Hits became more frequent following the Scots score, but pitchers still took the spotlight to the show as each staff was finding ways to get out of innings and jams to keep the game tied at one. Kalamazoo was able to break the scoring silence heading into the top of the ninth as a triple and a sacrifice fly would bring home two runs, forcing the Scots to score two in the bottom of the inning or three for a third walk off game of the series. Alma was able to get base runners aboard in the ninth following a walk, but strategic pitching and ground outs would be all the Scots wrote for the final inning and forcing a needed but capable win streak moving forward to compete for the tournament championship.
On the mound, Cole Grunwald was the Scots ace starter to open tournament play, working on the bump for five innings, only allowing three hits and the one run. Tyler Sparks, a normal starter for the Scots, saw two innings of relief action, striking out one. Brady Sager concluded the final two innings of play, striking out one as his record moves to 5-2 on the season.
Alma will have a quick turnaround as the elimination game is the first game on the day on Thursday, May 7th, with a first pitch slated for 10:00 AM. The Scots will face the four-seeded Albion College Britons, who were defeated in extra innings to the top-seeded Adrian College Bulldogs, who hosts of the tournament as well.
