After a 19-6 conference record, earning the squad a trip to the conference tournament, the Grand Rapids Community College baseball team’s season has concluded. The Raiders’ success in the MCCAA paved the way for eight different players to earn top honors, as well as Head Coach Mike Eddington, who won Conference Coach of the Year for the third straight season.
The Raiders started the year with their annual trip to Florida, where the team got off to a rocky start with a 1-10 record, but soon rebounded once they returned to Michigan. It was a successful season in the conference for GRCC, going 19-6 and earning a trip to the conference tournament series, where the Raiders would face Lansing Community College, to end their season.
Sophomore outfielder Ty Sandwick led the Raiders in batting average, hitting .370 for the year with an OPS of .875.n conference play, Sandwick’s numbers rose to a .405 batting average with a .964 OPS. Sophomore catcher Joey Hysell led the team in home runs with six on the season. Hysell finished third in batting average on the team with .354 percentage, while also leading the team in OPS, finishing at 1.050. Freshman third baseman and outfielder Peter Heintz also put together an impressive year at the plate, finishing second in batting average and OPS, putting together a slash line of .367/.486/.540 for an OPS of 1.026. Heintz also led the team in on-base percentage, getting on base at a .486 clip, after putting together a very strong walk-to-strikeout ratio of 28/13.
GRCC had plenty of success on the pitcher’s mound as well this season. Sophomore Thano Klett led the team with a 7-1 record in eight games started. In those eight games, Klett managed a 2.14 ERA and struck out 49 batters in 46 ⅓ innings pitched. Second in wins for the Raiders was sophomore southpaw Andrew Pohlmann, who went 6-2 in nine games started. Pohlmann put up a 3.99 ERA (2.97 in conference play) on the season and led the team in strikeouts with 59 in 47 ⅓ innings pitched. Lastly, freshman Kyle O’Hearn also had a dominant year on the mound. More specifically, in conference play, where O’Hearn managed an outstanding 0.60 ERA in 30 innings. In those 30 innings, O’Hearn struck out 37 batters, walked only four and held opponents to just a .146 batting average.
With the on-field success came off-field awards for many different Raider players. Hysell, Klett, Pohlmann and O’Hearn all earned the All-Region, All-MCCAA and First Team All-Conference awards. Heintz, Sandwick, Jack Lockwood and Cannon Paul all received Second Team All-Conference honors, as well as Freshman honors for Heintz and Lockwood. Coach Eddington also took home his third consecutive Conference Coach of the Year award for the Raiders successful season in the MCCAA.
Although their season has passed, the Raiders will look to build off of their conference play into next year, in hopes of another successful season and perhaps a deeper playoff run.
