Grand Rapids, Mich. -- The Raiders baseball and softball teams celebrated game one victories on Saturday afternoon with walk-offs from Freshman first baseman
Dakota Phillips (Middleville, MI) and Sophomore shortstop
Sierra Stoepker (Freeport, MI). Phillips led off the bottom of the seventh with a home run, his third of the season, carrying his team to a 9-8 come from behind victory over Glen Oaks Community College. Stoepker had her second walk-off of the season with an RBI triple lifting her team to a 10-9 victory over Muskegon Community College.
The baseball team played from behind the entire game with their only lead of the ball game after the Phillips homer. A three run home run by Glen Oaks Jeremy VanOosterum (2 for 2 with 3 runs scored) gave the visitors a 3-0 lead in the first. The Vikings also had leads of 4-3 in the third, 6-3 in the fourth and 8-6 in the sixth. In the bottom of the sixth inning the Raiders lead off hitter,
Trevor Patterson (Galesburg, MI) singled with one out and
Dylan McMaster (Belding, MI) followed that up with a single of his own. Two batters later with two outs,
Calvin Syrjala (Greenville, MI) was intentionally walked loading the bases. On the next pitch all batters would move up on a wild pitch making it an 8-7 ball game. Then on the ensuing pitch, Sophomore
Alec Lockwood (Grand Rapids, MI) scored the tying run on a single to third.
The Raiders ended up with 10 hits in the ball game and from seven different players. Patterson, Syrjala and Lockwood each had two hits. Sophomore reliever
Logan Fleming (Grand Blanc, MI) picked up his first win of the season giving up just one hit while striking out two in 1 and 2/3 innings. The Raiders only struck out once all game and drew five base on balls.
In game two of the double header, the Raiders defeated the Vikings 14-5, completing a four game series sweep. They led 6-0 after the first and never looked back. All but one starter finished with a hit with Lockwood and
Jared Bujdos (Ada, MI) each having two.
Garrett Cheslek (Sparta, MI) would pick up his second win of the season giving up just two earned runs in four innings, while striking out three Vikings. With the sweep, the Raiders improved to 20-21 overall and 15-9 in the conference. They sit in a tied for third with Lake Michigan College. Only the top three teams qualify for Regionals, so it will come down to how the Raiders do against KVCC on Friday and Saturday and how LMC does against Muskegon, to see who with get that final spot in regionals.
The Raider softball team also had to make a big come back in their first game of the day against Muskegon CC. The Jayhawks scored four in the opening frame and two innings later had a 7-1 lead. With the visitors holding on to that same score in the bottom of the fourth, the Raiders would rip of five runs and none bigger than a base clearing three run triple by Sophomore
Stephanie Kruskie (Harbor Springs, MI). In the bottom of the sixth, tied at 7, the Raiders starter pitcher
Alexa Abrahamson (Wyoming, MI) hit a two out-two run single through the left side putting her team up 9-7.
The Jayhawks would take advantage of two Raider errors in the top of the seventh and tie the ball game up on a two out single from Grace Hall. In the bottom of the seventh, Kruskie would hit a one out single (her third hit of the game) and Stoepker followed that up her third hit as well, a walk-off triple. It was her second triple of the game and third RBI. Lead off hitter
Andi Chipman (Saranac, MI) was the third Raider to go 3 for 5 in the ball game. Abrahamson struck out six in the game to pick up her eight win of the season.
In game two, the Jayhawks scored nine runs in the first three innings and ended up beating the Raiders 13-2 in the six innings. The Raiders did up with nine hits from seven different players, led by Chipman who was 3 of 4 from the plate scoring the only two Raider runs.
The regular season will come to an end for both teams next Saturday. Here's a look at this upcoming week's schedule:
Tuesday, April 30th: Softball at Kalamazoo Valley (3/5pm)
Wednesday, May 1st: Baseball vs. Ivy Tech (2/4pm)
Friday, May 3rd: Softball vs. Lansing (3/5pm), Baseball vs. Kalamazoo Valley (2/4pm)
Saturday, May 4th: Softball vs. Mid Michigan (1/3pm), Baseball at Kalamazoo Valley (1/3pm)
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