April 28, 2023, ESCANABA, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Community College baseball and softball teams finished their first trip to Bay College in the Upper Peninsula, winning nine of 10 games played during the series.
The baseball series included GRCC winning its 32nd conference championship since 1962, and fifth-year head coach Mike Eddington earning his 100th career win at GRCC.
For the softball team, pitching ace Izzy Regner won three games during the series to improve her record to 19-3. The team completed the regular season with a 23-16 overall record and 15-10 in the conference.
Both teams played three games on Friday before making the trek back over the Mackinac Bridge.
The baseball team sent 12 batters to the plate in the first inning of its first game of the day, scoring eight runs on seven hits, including a two-run homer by Xander Reisbig.
The team scored eight more runs over the next five innings to win 16-2.
Lucas McKinney picked up his fifth win of the season, allowing just one earned run while striking out four.
GRCC won the second game 12-1 in five innings, and concluded the series with a 4-1 victory.
Colton Leatherman picked up the win in game two, tossing a two-hitter while striking out six.
The Raiders offense had 11 hits, including home runs from Trevin Laming, Fernando Rivera-Calderon and another by Reisbig.
Blake Waibel picked up GRCC’s final win, allowing no earned runs while fanning 10 in a 4-1 victory.
Jacob Gumieny and Andres Rivera-Calderon had four of the team's eight hits.
The baseball team is now 31-11 overall, and 23-2 in the conference.
The softball team nearly won all five of its games, but couldn't complete a comeback in Friday’s second game.
GRCC jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two innings in the first game, but Bay College cut the deficit in half in the sixth. GRCC responded with 10 runs in the top of the seventh to win 16-4.
GRCC came back from an 8-3 deficit in game two, coming within a run. But Bay College escaped with a 12-8 victory.
The final game of the series was all GRCC, a 16-5 rout with the team piling up 16 hits, including four home runs.
GRCC had a staggering 72 hits in the series, including 12 home runs and nine doubles while batting .431.
Nearly every player boosted their season batting average, with seven players batting .421 or better.
Lauren James led all players with a .650 batting average and a team-high 13 hits.
Brynn McArthur batted .579 with a team-high 11 RBI mostly in part to three home runs.
Jaye Guichelaar went 10-for-18 with three home runs and two doubles. Annika Roersma hit a team-high four homers and added nine RBI. Samara Kolehouse also had a homer and nine RBI.
The softball team will await its opponent for the regional tournament that begins on May 11, while the baseball team is scheduled to play a few more non-conference games before it begins postseason play.
This story was reported by Ben Brown.