by Lenny Padilla

Al Money dove head first into home plate in the fifth inning. When the freshman emerged from the cloud of dirt, the Hope College baseball had tied the game.

Scoring looked like so much fun that his teammates decided to get in on the action. The Flying Dutchmen scored eight runs in the fifth and went on to beat Trine University 11-2 in Game 2 of a doubleheader. Hope won the first game as well, 12-3, to clinch its first MIAA regular-season title since 2013. It is the 23rd title in school history.

The Flying Dutchmen concluded the regular season with a 17-4 mark in the MIAA and 26-8 overall record. Hope advanced to the three-day MIAA Tournament play, which begins on Wednesday, May 11, at 4 p.m., as the No. 1 seed.

Photo by Alan Babbitt

When Hope pitcher Matt Plaehn (Okemos, Michigan / Lansing Catholic) got the final out of Game 2, his teammates rushed out of the dugout and mobbed him on the infield as they whooped and hollered with joy. 

Plaehn, a junior left-hander, pitched five innings of scoreless relief, giving up just three hits and striking out six batters. Graham O'Gorman (Champaign, Illinois / Champaign Central) started the game and went four innings, giving up two earned runs on seven hits. 

So how did Hope score in that wild eight-run fifth inning? It's worth a recap.

Money (Midland, Michigan / Midland) led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch. Spencer Cable (Hudsonville, Michigan / Hudsonville) hit a single to right field to score Money to tie the game at 2-2. Brant Kym (Libertyville, Illinois / Libertyville) doubled to center field to score Cable and Evan Maday (Grand Rapids, Michigan / East Kentwood) to make it 4-2.

Robbie Stuursma (Grand Rapids, Michigan / East Grand Rapids) had a wild inning. He singled past the shortstop into left field to score Kym for a 5-2 lead. He then stole second, stole third and scored when the catcher threw the ball past third base for a 6-2 lead. 

Grant Barrett (Chelsea, Michigan / Chelsea) walked, and then Nolan Gardner (Grand Rapids, Michigan / East Grand Rapids) stepped to the plate. The junior infielder ripped a ball down the right field line that cleared the chain-link fence for a two-run home run, his first of the season for an 8-2 lead. Money stepped to the plate for the second time in the inning and doubled down the left-field line. Cable would single to right again, scoring Money for a 9-2 lead.

Hope finished with 14 hits. The top three batters in the lineup each had three hits apiece. Gardner was 3-for-4 with four RBIs, Money was 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored and Cable was 3-for-6 with an RBI. Maday was 2-for-5 with an RBI and Stuursma was 2-for-5 with two runs scored. Kym was 1-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

In Game 1 of the doubleheader, Hope scored six times in the top of the ninth inning. Kainan Bayn (Zeeland, Michigan / Zeeland East) homered and went 2-for-6 with four RBIs. It is the first home run of the season for the senior outfielder and the third of his career.

Hope finished with a whopping 16 hits. Cable was 3-for-5 with two RBIs and a double, Kym doubled and was 4-for-6 with an RBI and two runs scored. Stuursma was 2-for-4 with two runs scored, and catcher Caleb Regan (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Byron Center) had two doubles and was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored.

On the mound, Owen Krizan (Grand Haven, Michigan / Grand Haven) got the win to improve to 5-2. The sophomore right-hander gave up one earned run on nine hits and no walks in five innings.