GRINNELL, Iowa – Grinnell saw its championship season draw to a close Friday at the 2017 Midwest Conference Tournament at Pioneer Park.
The Pioneers lost a 14-2 decision to Beloit College to start the day and were then eliminated with a 15-7 loss to Cornell College.
Grinnell, the MWC South Division champ seven of the last eight seasons, saw two school records broken or tied on the day.
Andrew Shults '19 finished the season with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage on 91 chances and
Ben Binversie '17 tied a season mark for pitching appearances with 21.
Additionally,
Niko Takayesu '17 added to season-record totals for runs (48) and walks (31).
The Pioneers finished with a 20-16 record, the win total being the fifth-highest total in team history.
The first game was close before Beloit erupted for nine runs in the ninth inning.
Matt Hammond '17,
Nathan Zaroban '18 and
Ravi Levens '19 all had two hits for the Pioneers in their 10-hit attack.
Beloit opened the scoring in the fourth, but the Pioneers tied it in the bottom of the inning on
Benjamin Wong's '18 RBI single down the left-field line.
The Buccaneers made some noise after that, scoring twice in both the fifth and sixth innings for a 5-1 lead. Grinnell got a run back in the bottom of the ninth on Zaroban's sacrifice fly to center.
Sam LaMotte '20 suffered the pitching loss while fanning three.
In the second game, Grinnell got contribution from everyone as all starters had at least one hit in the 17-hit attack. Shults had four hits, Zaroban three and Hammond, Levens and Wong two each.
Cornell scored four runs in the second inning, but Grinnell roared back in the third on Takayesu's solo homer to right,
Brad Weaver's '18 RBI infield singles and run-scoring singles by
Carson Gampell '20 and Zaroban to center field to make it 5-4.
But the Rams struck again and led 12-4 after the fourth inning. Grinnell got a run back in the fifth on Levens' RBI single to center, and scored in the eighth via an error to make it 12-6.
Cornell tacked on three more runs before Zaroban concluded the scoring with a solo homer to left.
Sam Lopez '18 suffered the pitching loss.
Several Pioneers made movement on the team's all-time season-best lists. Shults is second in hits (58), third in at-bats (144) and 10th in runs (37), while Takayesu is second in assists (129) and eighth in double plays (25).
LaMotte ranks fourth in innings pitched with 67.2, Hammond is seventh in at-bats with 141 and Gampell ranks eighth in fielding percentage, putouts and total chances with .996, 237 and 246, respectively.
