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Hope College Baseball Records
Updated through 2013 season
Flying Dutchmen & Coach Schouten circa 1920s
Historic Moments and Notable Performances
The first recorded Hope baseball game occurred on June 6, 1872. The Flying
Dutchmen defeated the Grand Haven Eagle Club 30-12. It was also the first recorded
Hope athletic event in any sport.
Hope's first MIAA season was the spring of 1927. The Flying Dutchmen finished
third in their inaugural season. Baseball was dropped as an MIAA-sponsored
sport from 1930 through 1947.
The format of MIAA games changed from single games to doubleheaders in 1956
and to a three-game series format in 1992. An expanded 28-game league
schedule began with the 2006 season. The schedule now exists of home-and-away
doubleheaders against each team.
Five Hope players have signed major league baseball contracts over the years
-- John Lavan (St. Louis Browns, 1911); Jim Poppen (Baltimore Orioles, 1925);
William "Bill" Rink (Philadelphia Phillies, 1955); Jim Kaat (Washington Senators,
1957); Joey Bosworth (Kansas City, 1964).
John Lavan, Class of 1908, went on to earn a degree in medicine from the University
of Michigan. According to the Society for American Baseball Research, Lavan
was one of a small group of Major League players (25 between 1876 and 1991) to practice medicine.
Lavan was a shortstop who played on four different teams over 11 seasons,
ending his career with the St. Louis Cardinals (1919-24). He began his medical
practice
in 1927,
pursuing his longstanding interest in public health. He gained national recognition
as the director of social hygiene at clinics in St. Louis, Kansas City, Toledo
and other cities. During World War II, he served
as commander of the Brooklyn Naval Hospital and later became the director of
research for the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. Born in Grand Rapids, he
died at the age of 61 in 1952. He is one of 16 Major League players buried at the Arlington National Cemetery.
Sherwood VanderWoude pitched all 13 innings in a 3-2 loss to Calvin, 5/2/60
Three pitchers -- Don Kroodsma, Mark Johnson and Gary Frens -- combined to
strike out 18 batters over seven innings in a 5-2 victory over Goshen, 4/5/68
Jim Bultman reached base six consecutive times in a game -- four walks, a
single and one hit-by-pitch -- versus Union, Ky., 4/4/62
Jim Van Til struck out 10 consecutive batters, striking out the side in the
first, second and third innings and first batter in fourth inning in 6-5 win
over Calvin, 5/15/62. (It should be noted that Van Til also walked nine consecutive
batters later in the same game.)
Hope's first game on its current field was a 1-0 nine inning victory over
Ferris State on 4/18/63. Glenn Van Wieren singled home the winning run, scoring
Jim Bultman from third. Joey Bosworth pitched a two-hitter with 10 strikeouts.
Catcher Art Kramer caught four baserunners trying to steal in a 5-4 victory
over Alma, 4/27/63
The first recorded no-hitter in Hope baseball history was thrown by Don Kroodsma,
a 17-0 whitewashing on Alma on 4/24/65. He followed with a pair of one-hitters
versus Albion (4/28/65) and Olivet (5/1/65).
Cal Beltman stole home in the final game of the 1966 season to give Hope
a 3-2 victory over Adrian and clinch the MIAA championship. It was the second
time Beltman had stolen home that season.
Three Central Michigan University pitchers struck out 20 Hope batters in
a seven-inning game won 3-0 by the Chippewas in 1967.
Twice in one season (1968), Gary Frens pitched both victories in a doubleheader.
Against Kalamazoo on 5/3/69, Frens was the starter and left in the sixth inning
with Hope ahead 5-0. Fortunately he didn't leave the lineup, moving to rightfield.
Kalamazoo rallied in the seventh and had the bases loaded when Frens returned
to the mound to get the final out. In the second game, he gained the win in
relief, not only through his pitching, but by delivering the game-winning single
with two outs in the seventh. On 5/14/69 Frens gained both victories in a doubleheader
with Alma, first as a starter and in the second game in relief. Frens pitched
a league record seven victories and was also the league's leading batter.
The longest game in Hope baseball was a 16-inning 2-1 loss to Albion in 1969.
Gary Frens pitched all 16 innings.
In 1984, Randy Cutler became the first player in MIAA baseball history to
win back-to-back league batting championship. He won the 1984 crown (.450)
in dramatic fashion by getting a hit in his final at-bat for the season. He
batted .500 in 1983 league games.
Just seven years later, Vic Breithaupt set MIAA history by winning the league
batting championship for a third consecutive year -- 1989 (.487), 1990 (.500)
and 1991 (.486). He gained notoriety for his achievement by being included
in the Faces of the Crowd feature of "Sports Illustrated" magazine.
The Flying Dutchmen have appeared in the NCAA Division III championship tournament
four times -- 1998, 2001, 2003 and 2007.
Pitcher Kenny Bart picked three runners off first base in an NCAA tournament
game against Anderson, May 16, 2003.
B.J. Maas hit two walk-off grand slam homeruns in the 2002 season. He had
two more grand slam homeruns in 2003 enroute to a Hope career record 30.
The Flying Dutchmen turned a triple play in an 8-1 victory over Kalamazoo
on April 15, 2005. Shortstop Mike VanderVelde snatched a liner headed for leftfield,
wheeled around to catch the runner trying to return to second base. There,
second baseman Jon Edmondson took the throw and then fired to first baseman Kyle
Trapp whose catch just beat the
Kalamazoo baserunner. Just two weeks later, the Flying Dutchmen were the victim
of a triple play by Tri-State.
Brothers Mike and Matt VanderVelde were both voted to the 2007 All-MIAA baseball team. It marked the fourth time
that brothers on the Hope baseball team achieved All-MIAA honors. The others: John (1986) and Jim (1987 & 1988) Klunder; Roger (1966)
and Don (1965, 1966 & 1967) Kroodsma; and Jim (1971 & 1972) and Bob (1973 & 1974) Lamer.
Nine pitchers combined to throw a three-hit shutout as the Flying Dutchmen, playing their first game-ever on foreign soil, blanked the Swedish National team 5-0 in a "friendly" game in Prague, The Czech Republic
on June 25, 2007. Few games in the 137-year history of Hope baseball had as much historical significance as this contest as the Flying
Dutchmen played an international opponent for the first time and in a stadium nearly 4,500 miles from Holland, Mich. Nine pitchers, each
throwing for one inning, was also unpredecented. Each threw a single inning in a pre-determined rotation. Hope's unique pitching rotation
began with Shawn Grose followed, inning-by-inning, by 2. Matt Richardson, 3. Mike Rodgers, 4. Brian Guerriero,
5. Pete Zessin, 6. Steve Tompkins, 7. Matt Schrader, 8. Anthony Pastrick, and 9. Michael Dekker.
The 2007 trip to Prague also marked another first -- the Flying Dutchmen
played in their first-ever nationally televised game. The game on national
Czech television began with the U.S. Ambassador to The Czech Republic, Richard
Braber, throwing out the first pitch. Hope won the game,
10-3.
The Flying Dutchmen began play in the new Boeve Baseball Stadium on April 2, 2008. Brock Doud's walkoff three-run homerun in the eighth inning
highlighted a 4-1 first-game victory over Albion. The stadium was formally dedicated on April 26, 2008. Joey Goeb's two-run homer rallied the
Flying Dutchmen to a come-from-behind 4-3 victory over Kalamazoo in the second game of that day's doubleheader. The Flying Dutchmen were 6-8 at Boeve Stadium in their first season (2008).
On April 10, 2010 the Flying Dutchmen scored more runs in an MIAA game than anytime in school history as they defeated Alma 28-2 at Boeve
Stadium. The Flying Dutchmen scored a school-record 20 runs in the third inning, sending 25 batters to the plate, including three players who
batted three times in that inning. Hope had 25 hits in the game. The previous mark was 25 runs in a 25-11 victory over rival Calvin on May 8, 1951. Hope's big inning in that game was 13 runs in the eighth inning.
The margin-of-victory was also a school record. The previous mark came in a 22-0 win over Olivet on April 19, 1954. Willie Rink struck out 15 batters in gaining the pitching victory.
The MIAA championship won by the 2013 Flying Dutchmen was the ninth under coach Stu Fritz over a 20-year career. The nine league championships (1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2013) placed Fritz in a tie for the most MIAA baseball titles by a coach, sharing the honor with Frank Joranko of Albion (1973-95).
Freshman brothers Matt and Nick Glowacki are identical twins who played on the 2013 MIAA championship team, Matt a pitcher and Nick a catcher. They were battery mates in five of Hope's games.
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