By Justus Clark
The Grand Rapids Community College baseball team split a doubleheader, dropping the first game 3-2 and securing game two 9-6, when they faced off at home against Kellogg Community College in a tight battle on Friday, April 15, moving to 14-18 overall.
In the top of the first, freshman Jackson Kitchen started it off for the Bruins with an RBI triple and sophomore RJ Sherwood also had an RBI single to put the Bruins up 2-0 early.
The Raiders got both of their runs in the fifth, and sixth inning, with hits coming from freshmen Dylan Chargo and Dominic Palamara.
Pitching the whole game for the Raiders was freshman Jerad Berkenpas. In seven innings he only allowed three runs and struck out nine batters in the process. Normally, an outing like this would get the job done, but the offense just wasn’t enough.
For the Bruins, freshman Ashton Potts pitched five and a third innings, giving up two runs and striking out three. Out of the bullpen was freshman Nate Ross pitching one and two thirds innings and striking out four.
In the top of the seventh, Noah Warren hit an RBI double to give them the go-ahead run, 3-2, which ultimately ended up winning the game for the Bruins.
Some notable players in game one for the Raiders were Chargo and Berkenpas.
In the second game of the doubleheader, the Raiders came out victorious in a 9-6 battle.
The Raiders had a great offensive game in this one with 15 hits, with the biggest inning coming in the fifth, scoring six runs.
The first run scored for GRCC came from a wild pitch. Then in the bottom of the third, freshman Dylan Chargo hit an RBI single, following that up with a two-RBI single in the bottom of the fifth. Also in the inning, freshman Zach Salinas had an RBI single, freshman Andres Rivera-Calderon hit an RBI double, and freshman Camden Keatley had a two-RBI single. The last Raider run came on an RBI single from Salinas.
For the Bruins, Kitchen hit an RBI single in the top of the second. The Bruins scored three runs in the top of the third on an RBI single from freshman Kike Gutierrez, an RBI double from freshman Noah Warren, and a single from freshman Tate Peterson.
The starting pitcher for the Raiders was freshman Drew Murphy, pitching four innings, allowing six runs, and striking out four. Out of the bullpen was freshman Caden Van Deburg pitching two innings and freshman Elliot Traver pitching one inning closing out the game.
Notable players for Raiders: Chargo with three hits and three RBI’s, Salinas with three hits and two RBI’s. freshman Xander Reisbig, Ryan Dykstra, and Caleb Engelsman, also contributed with two hits each.
