Kalamazoo, the No. 4 seed, continued its remarkable run through the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) baseball tournament with a 3-1 win over No. 3 Hope in the final championship game to clinch its first automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament on Friday.
It took two games for the Hornets to secure its inaugural NCAA berth. After falling to Hope 4-2 in the first game of the MIAA Championship series, Kalamazoo rebounded with the clinching win in game two.
The Hornets find out their draw for the NCAA tournament late Sunday night.
Game Seven: Kalamazoo 3, Hope 1
No. 4 seed Kalamazoo (24-18-1) hurler Ryan Orr held Hope (25-19) off the scoreboard through 8.1 innings as the Hornets built a 3-0 lead. Orr gave up just seven hits and struck out four to improve to 8-3 on the year.
Both teams were scoreless for the first four innings of play, but Kalamazoo made the breakthrough in the bottom of the fifth as Jack Clark doubled to left field driving in Josh Reuter for a 1-0 edge.
The Hornets added a run in the sixth when Nate Donovan doubled driving in Brett Garwood. In the next frame, Garwood drew a walk with the bases loaded to extend the Hornets' lead to 3-0.
The Flying Dutchmen threatened in the top of the ninth with one out after back-to-back singles. Landon Brower then scored on a mishandled grounder off the bat of Danny Carrasco.
Kalamazoo’s Aaron Schwark then came on in relief to earn the save and seal the win by forcing a 5-4-3 double play for the game's final two outs.
Game Six: Hope 4, Kalamazoo 2
In the first game of the day, Kalamazoo struck first in the top of the second as Josh Reuter doubled down the left field line to score David Kracht and jump out to a 1-0 lead.
Hope took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second and never trailed the rest of the way after Jordon Fairchild drew a bases-loaded walk and center fielder Ben De Ritter followed with an RBI single.
The Flying Dutchmen tacked on a fourth-inning run on Fairchild's sacrifice fly and a seventh-inning run when third baseman Danny Carrasco scored in a rundown for a 4-1 lead.
The Hornets made a comeback effort in the top half of the eighth as Jordan Wiley and Ian Kobernick led off with singles but the rally fell short with only Wiley making it home to yield the final score.
Hope starter Ty Van Wieren (2-2) scattered eight hits and two runs over seven innings for the win. Flying Dutchmen reliever Michael Thomas pitched a scoreless eighth while closer Matt Glowacki set the Hope single-season save record by retiring three of the five batters he faced in the top of the ninth.
