GRANVILLE, Ohio– The Kalamazoo College baseball team battled to the wire against host #1 Denison University Sunday in the Regional Final, losing 13-12.
Robert Newland led off the game with a walk, and came around to score on a sacrifice fly as the Hornets took a 1-0 lead. Denison responded with two runs in the second inning to go ahead 2-1.
Ryar Rinehart tied things up at two with a leadoff homer to left-center in the fourth. Kalamazoo tacked on three more in the top of the fifth to grab a 5-2 lead.
The Big Red bounced back with two runs in the bottom half to cut the deficit to 5-4. The Hornets were buzzing in the sixth, though, batting around to put up six runs before Denison got two back in their half of the sixth to make it 11-6.
Kalamazoo scored one more in the seventh, but the Big Red wouldn't go away, scoring once in the seventh and once in the eighth to cut the gap to 12-8. Denison then surged with five runs in the bottom of the ninth to win in walk-off fashion for the third straight day.
Jackson Isaacs had four hits for the Hornets, and tied Caleb Moore for a team-high three RBIs. Newland scored four runs on two hits and two walks with two stolen bases. Owen Schihl led the pitching side for Kalamazoo, throwing three innings and allowing two runs with three strikeouts.
With the loss, the Hornets finish the season 33-13, setting program records for wins and winning percentage in a season. 2026 was the first time in school history that Kalamazoo won multiple games in the NCAA III Tournament.
