Since March, the teams on campus have been training daily and working hard. Now, in late April, all their seasons are wrapping up. Even if a team didn’t find success every player should be celebrated. This past weekend was very crucial for most teams at K. Tennis played in the MIAA tournament, baseball played a key series against Olivet and some team’s seasons ended. The following breaks down the current situation for various teams at K.
Baseball
The Hornets end the weekend in first in the MIAA with a 13-5 conference and 25-9 overall record after a series win against Olivet this weekend. After a benches-clearing brawl caused by a home plate collision between Hope and Adrian, the two teams were reprimanded and forced to double forfeit their next game. The double forfeit allowed Kalamazoo to take possession of first place if they won both the series, which they did. The Hornets were heavily favored to win because of their 11-4 record going into the series compared to Olivet’s 2-13 record.
One of those leading the charge for the Hornets offensively is the second-baseman David Stechow ’25. Stechow is currently batting .415 and boasts an on-base percentage of .496. The catcher, Harrison Poeszat ’26, leads the team in RBIs with 51. Poeszat also leads the team in home runs with 6.
On the mound, the senior, Braden Mussat ’24, has the team-leading 41 strikeouts in under 30 innings pitched. The team’s ace, Jacob Davis ’25, holds a 5-2 record having pitched 3 complete games. Davis is the only pitcher on the team to have pitched a complete game. The Hornets also have a bright prospect in their freshman pitcher Robert Ahlgren ’27. Ahlgren’s record is 5-1 in 7 starts and 11 appearances. He has recorded 24 strikeouts so far this season.
The Hornets look forward to a nonconference series against Grace Christian and then a regular season-ending conference series against Alma. Senior Day will be Friday, May 3rd at 4 p.m.
Softball
The softball team is 12-20 overall and 5-9 in the conference. They are in 6th place in the MIAA and only have one more series left against Adrian. After playing 6 games in 4 days this past week, the team’s tournament odds dropped significantly after going 1-3 in league play during that stretch.
Leading the softball team is the senior, Lizzy Rottenberk ’24 who after this weekend now holds 5 program records: single season stolen bases (31), career runs (105), career at-bats (450), career hits (147) and career stolen bases (64). Rottenberk leads the team in runs, hits, stolen bases, batting average and on-base percentage.
The team prepares to recieve Adrian to end the season on a high note.
Men’s Lacrosse
The men’s lacrosse season came to an unfortunate end on April 27th on senior day. The team finished in 5th place in the MIAA with a 2-4 conference record and 5-8 overall record. Hopes were high for the team when they started the season 2-1 in March. The Hornets stayed in the middle of the standings through march but took a dip in the standings after losing four straight games–three of them being conference games. With there only being 6 conference games in a season, losing 4 in a row made it impossible for the team to bounce back.
Last Saturday the Hornets faced Trine at home on a beautiful 80-degree day on Mackenzie field. Logan Gillis ‘25 helped power the team to a 9-5 win over Trine with 2 goals and 2 assists. This game capped his team-leading season with a career-high 25 assists and 42 points. The top goal scorer for the Hornets this year was Cam VanGalder ‘25, with a career-high 29 goals. Though the Hornets missed the tournament or league championship, the team has many young players, and the team will be back next season with another chance.
Women’s Lacrosse
The women’s lacrosse finished the season off with three straight conference wins. One of which came from a dramatic overtime win on April 24th. The Hornets beat Trine 14-13 with an overtime game-winning goal from senior Hannah Heeren, after being down 11-7. Heeren had 5 goals and 1 assist on the night. The team finished the season in second place in the MIAA behind only Hope. Kalamazoo was 5-2 in league play and 10-3 overall.
The women’s lacrosse team’s success was in their offense with a team 50.6% shot percentage on the season. Heeren has been a major help to the team this season with 58 goals. After Saturday’s 19-2 win over Adrian, Heeren is now only 6 goals shy of the career goals record at K, and 1 assist shy of the career assist record. Heeren holds records for career points (278), games played (61) and single-game goals (10).
This Wednesday at 7 p.m. the Hornets will face Trine again at home for the tournament semifinal. Be sure to support the Hornets!
Men’s Tennis
The men’s tennis regular season ended this weekend against the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Whitewater took the day at 7-2. Whitewater made it through the day relatively easily sweeping in doubles and picking up 4/6 singles matches. The team finished the regular season as conference champions with a 6-1 conference record and a 7-9 overall record.
After Tuesday, April 23rd, the men’s tennis team became conference champions for the 89th time in program history and for the seventh straight year. Had Trine defeated Kalamazoo on Tuesday, they would have become the conference champions. Trine finished the doubles up 2-1, but Kalamazoo was able to sweep Trine in the singles to win the day 7-2. Although the Hornets had a great conference record, they struggled outside of the conference with a 1-8 non-conference record.
The Hornets shined in their conference games with every player having a winning conference singles record, and nearly every player having a winning conference doubles record. Standout players include Alex Fleming ’27 and Gabe Vidinas ’24, both with 7-0 conference singles records on the season.
The Hornets look ahead to the MIAA tournament where they will face hope in the semifinals at home. Be sure to support the Hornets on May 1st at home!
Women’s Tennis
After the Kalamazoo Women’s team swept Trine at home, Kalamazoo slid into fourth place and earned their shot in the MIAA tournament. In the tournament semis they will travel to hope where the Hornets got swept by the conference champions just one week before.
With a 5-3 conference record and a 9-9 the team has faced many tough opponents, yet they delivered in the conference games that have mattered. They will have to continue that trend if they hope to have success in this tournament
Julianna Pullen ’27 was a major factor in K’s conference success with a 7-1 conference singles record and a winning conference doubles record. Molly Stevison ’26 was also a key factor in the Hornet’s success with a 6-2 conference singles record and a 5-2 conference doubles record. Against Trine, Pullen dominated in singles. Pullen won in 2 sets, 6-1 in the first, and 6-0 in the second.
Though the team suffered a tough defeat to Hope last they eagerly wait this weekend hoping to come out with a different outcome and make their way to the tournament finals.
Leave a Reply