Grand Rapids Community College baseball wrapped up its final regular-season game on May 4, with a dominating 7-0 finish over Lansing Community College. This improves the Raiders’ win streak to 14 games, bringing their overall season record to 27-12 and 22-3 in the conference.
This game was monumental as the Raiders defeated their rivals while displaying outstanding work from both defense and offense. And this secured their last win before the regional playoffs.
Head Coach Mike Eddington was very happy with the final results of the game.
“They’re (LCC) a great program with good players, so it’s a good one for us,” Eddington said.
This rivalry hit close to home for some of the players on GRCC. Some of the players embraced their former LCC teammates after the game.
“We have a couple guys that played LCC last year, so it was just a little bit more personal for the guys in this game, and obviously. LCC is always personal. Gives us a little bit more of a match,” Freshman Rightfielder Michael Hurlbutt said.
Offensively, the Raiders overcame some of the defensive plays made by LCC, including a homerun made by Hurlbutt. This resulted in Hurlbutt leading the team with three runs batted in. This marked Hurlbutt’s fourth homerun of the season.
“Oh, it felt good, I think it was one, two, down in the count…just looking to put something in play, and honestly then hit it,” Hurlbutt said. “I didn’t think it was going to go out at first, because the wind is cracking today, and it was blowing, (the hit) was lucky enough to make it go out.”
Not only were the batters making their rounds in hits, but defensively, the team did an outstanding job of holding LCC to zero points for nine innings. The team did do something unusual and switched out a pitcher after each inning, other than the first pitcher of the game, Freshman Samuel Vanneste. He pitched the first two innings and helped contribute three strikeouts.
Sophomore Pitcher Sam Schmuker further explained how this strategy is beneficial.
“It’s kind of scripted, so that’s just a new pitcher every inning. This mixes up the arm angle and mixes up the look of the pitchers,” Schmuker said.
This strategy proved beneficial as the pitchers contributed to a total of 10 strikeouts and only allowed a total of four hits from LCC.
“No runs, very limited walks, and that’s all we can ask for from the team,” Schmuker said.
Yet, Eddington was looking ahead when deciding to use this strategy.
“Just kind of make sure every pitcher’s ready to pitch… (this) Thursday, best two out of three games, and all games are nine innings. We got to make sure all our kids are rested and ready to go,” Eddington said.
This game highlighted the immense teamwork displayed by the team, rallying together defensively and offensively to defeat LCC.
“Everyone really talks the field, and it’s good to see the boys getting to ice the team out there, especially against LCC feels a lot better going into the playoffs,” Hurlbutt said. “The pitchers executed very well, and the hitters just backed him up, so it was overall just an amazing team win.”
Due to the rivalry, there was a decent crowd of fans to cheer on each team, but they weren’t the only ones watching. There were also a couple of recruiting coaches from schools like Davenport, Calvin, and Aquinas, who were observing from behind the scenes.
“There were probably four or five colleges checking on our players and Lansing (LCC). A lot of the bigger schools started to not play on Mondays, so that’s one of the reasons we’re playing on Monday is to try and get more colleges to see our guys,” Eddington said.
On Thursday, May 7, the Raiders will face Mid Michigan College in round one of the 2026 Region XII Division II Baseball Championship. Starting at 1 p.m. at Belknap Park, the Raiders will play two nine-inning games to kick off the tournament.
“We are excited, we are hot and…ready to go,” Schmuker said.
Although the Raiders have defeated Mid Michigan five times in the regular season, Eddington is prepared to make sure the Raiders are prepared for anything.
“We took five, but anyone can beat anyone in baseball. We got to be ready to show up and play,” Eddington said. “I’m excited to see what our team does. They worked hard, and they worked for regional space.” So
