The Grand Rapids Community College baseball team swept both home and away doubleheader series against Delta College on Thursday and Friday. GRCC won Thursday’s doubleheader 12-0 and 10-0 and Friday’s 7-2 and 9-4.
On Thursday, March 28, GRCC began Michigan Community College Athletic Association (MCCAA) Northern Conference play.
In the first game, GRCC sophomore right-handed pitcher Lucas McKinney gave up only two singles and struck out seven batters in the win.
GRCC head coach Mike Eddington was pleased with McKinney’s performance in Game One.
“He pitched good…battled and did his job,” Eddington said.
In game two, GRCC freshman Camden Seth changed positions from infielder to right-handed pitcher after going 2-2 at the plate in game One. Seth pitched a shutout in game two, and threw 10 strikeouts. Both McKinney and Seth have three wins this season.
“They pitched awesome today,” said GRCC pitching coach Patrick Clark. “They both found the zone and executed their pitches and kind of taught them about what we talked about all year, just compete and execute.”
In the batter’s box for the Raiders, freshman outfielder Ty Sandwick had a team-high four hits (of the team’s 23) in the series against the Pioneers. In the second game, freshman infielder Austin Gates was 3-4 with four runs-batted-in including the game-winning walk-off hit. Sophomore infielder Dylan Nguyen and freshman middle infielder Chad Fisher Jr. both had three hits in the series, including a triple and five RBIs by Fisher.
On Friday, March 29, GRCC faced the Pioneers once again in an away doubleheader series on Delta’s campus in University Center.
In Game one, after shutting out Delta 12-0 in the first game of the series Thursday, Delta finally got on the scoreboard. Despite this, GRCC picked up a 7-2 win. GRCC got RBIs from Fisher Jr., sophomore catcher Aaron Bess and Nguyen. Bess and Seth each tallied two of the Raider’s eight hits. Sophomore pitcher Colton Blankstrom picked up the win, allowing just four hits in five innings of work.
In Game two, GRCC had an early 2-0 lead after the first inning. Delta responded though with four runs of their own, putting the lead to 4-2. The Raiders then responded with a five-run fourth inning and tacked on two more in the seventh inning to defeat the Pioneers 9-4.
Sophomore outfielder Trevin Laming, Sandwick, and Fisher Jr, all had doubles in the second game and combined for seven of the Raider’s eight RBI’s. Freshman right-handed pitcher Logan VanSurksum picked up the win in relief, pitching the final 4.1 innings and allowing only two hits in the win.
The Raiders are now 14-9 overall. Up next, GRCC faces the Stars of Lansing Community College in a nine-inning game on Tuesday, April 2 at 3 p.m. at Belknap Park. GRCC has won 13 of their last 14 games.
