Ocelots Split With KVCC

DETROIT, Mich- On Tuesday (April 18) the Schoolcraft Ocelots looked to extend their seven game winning streak with a twin-bill against visiting Kalamazoo Valley Community College. Kalamazoo Valley came into the doubleheader sitting in third place in the MCCAA Western division and a 12-14, 5-8 record. 

Game 1- Schoolcraft got out to a quick lead in game 1 by shutting the Cougars down in the top of the first and putting up four runs in the bottom half of the first. The bats got going quickly for the Ocelots as the first five batters of the inning reached base with 3 hits and 2 walks. Nate Saavedra got the first RBI of the game by drawing a bases loaded walk, scoring Andrew Thorning, who singled to lead off the inning. Bryan Tuttle would follow Saavedra's walk up with a double, plating Slade Douthett (single) and Landon Kempainen (walk). The fourth and final run of the inning would come off of the bat of Ryan Koch who drove Saavedra home on a sacrifice fly. Kalamazoo would follow up with a run in the top of the second on an error and that would be the only run they score all game. Schoolcraft would score three more times in the game, Kempainen triple scoring Thorning, Koch doubling to score Tuttle, and Tuttle singling to score Douthett. Carlos Plasencia got the start on the mound and turned in a quality start for the Ocelots. Plasencia's final line would read, 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, and 8 K. Connor Scheer would throw the final 2 innings, allowing 0 hits and getting 3 strikeouts. Offensively in game 1, Schoolcraft was lead by Slade Douthett (2-4, 2 R), Bryan Tuttle (3-3, 3 RBI), Ryan Koch (1-2, 2 RBI), and Andrew Thorning (1-3, 2 R). The final score of game 1 would be 7-1 in favor of Schoolcraft and push their winning streak to 8 games. 

Game 2- Game 2 saw a different result for the Ocelots, Schoolcraft would lose their now 8 game winning streak, falling by a score of 12-2. Kalamazoo would score all of their runs in two innings, 7 runs in the second inning and 5 runs in the sixth inning. Schoolcraft would only muster 2 runs on 7 hits. Andrew Thorning doubled in Sawyer Pace in the first inning and Pace would score Jacob Gresham on a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning. Pace went 1-2 on the day, including a lead off triple off of the top of the wall to lead off the game for the Ocelots. Other key offensive numbers were, Andrew Thorning (1-1, 1 RBI), Bryan Tuttle (1-3), Arturo Delgado (2-3, 2 SB), and Jacob Gresham (2-3, 1 R). 

Schoolcraft is back in action on Thursday (April 20) as they host St. Clair County Community College (9-15, 4-9) for a divisional doubleheader starting at 2:00 PM. Schoolcraft won the first matchup of the season between these two teams by a score of 6-5.