By Jared Tobaison
On Friday, March 14, Grand Rapids Community College Raiders Baseball played Kalamazoo Valley Community College Cougars in a doubleheader for the Raiders home opener. The Raiders came out with the sweep, winning their first game 3-2 and the second game 7-5.
Game One
The Raiders came out hot offensively scoring all three runs of the game during the second inning. Raiders freshman first baseman Peter Heintz started off the scoring with an RBI double, bringing in freshman shortstop Cannon Paul. Freshman Haiden Noakes contributed with an RBI groundout, scoring sophomore J.T. Ten Eyck. To round off the second inning, Sophomore Chad Fisher Jr hit an RBI double, bringing home Heintz.
Besides the second inning, the Raiders were not able to gather any more runs despite hitting two triples, one in the fifth inning by sophomore Ty Sandwick and one in the sixth inning by Heintz.
KVCC started to come back, scoring two runs, once in the third and once in the fifth inning.
The Raiders pitching however, held on strong and did not give up the lead.
Starting Pitcher sophomore Andrew Pohlmann got his first win of the season with a strong performance, recording five strikeouts and allowing six hits and two runs through five innings.
Coming in with his first save of the season, sophomore Ohlen Bond pitched two scoreless innings allowing one hit and striking out two batters.
Game Two
The Cougars started off scoring one run in the first inning giving them the 1-0 lead. Once again, the Raiders came alive offensively in the second inning, this time scoring six runs due to good base running and multiple errors from the Cougars.
The star player of this inning was freshman Jack Lockman. Lockman had a two-run double, then later stole third base and scored off of a wild pitch to give the Raiders their last few runs of the second, bringing the Raiders to a 6-1 lead after two.
The Raiders extended their lead in the fourth inning by one run. The scoring started with a double by freshman Carter Gulick who later scored off of an RBI double from sophomore Joey Hysell, making the score 7-2.
The Cougars had a late comeback scoring four more runs in the final four innings, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Raiders offensive onslaught in the second inning, resulting in the Raider’s 7-5 victory.
Starting pitcher sophomore Thano Klett picked up his second win of the season allowing two earned runs on seven hits and striking out six. Freshman Sam Schmuker recorded his third save of the season with a no-hit seventh inning and striking out the final batter to secure the win for the Raiders.
The Raiders travel to Mott Community College for another doubleheader on Saturday, March 15 hoping to secure another two wins. The Raiders currently sit at 4-10 on the season.
