hope athletics    
hope.edu | hope athletics | miaa | ncaa | links   

 
Baseball Home <
Schedule/Results <
Roster <
Coach <
Statistics <
Previous Season <
Records <
History <
Hope in the NCAA <
Ticket Info <
Information for Prospective Students <

Visit Boeve
Baseball Stadium

LIVEScoreboard
of home games

Hope Offers Athletes Top-Notch Training Facilities

2009 CAPTAINS

ROBBY POLL

MATT VANDER VELDE

DUSTIN WUIS

 

2009 Season in Review

Season Results and Statistics

The Flying Dutchmen finished the season strong to gain a .500 record (20-20). At one point the team was seven games below the .500 mark, but nine wins over the final 11 games salvaged the season and put the Flying Dutchmen in a tie for third place in the final Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) standings (15-13).

A season highlight was the no-hitter thrown by sophomore Derek Fairchild of Saline, Mich. (Saline HS) The 8-0 gem against Albion was the sixth in school history.

Senior first baseman Matt VanderVelde (Grandville, Mich./Grandville HS) ranked third in all of NCAA Division III as the toughest player to strikeout. Over 39 games and 147 at-bats, VanderVelde struck out only twice.

Two Hope players were voted to the All-MIAA second team -- senior outfielder Paul Neumann of Holland, Mich. (West Ottawa HS) and freshman catcher Jon Ponte of Novi, Mich. (Dearborn Divine Child HS).

Hope players named MIAA Players of the Week during the season included sophomore pitcher Derek Fairchild of Saline, Mich. and senior third baseman Dustin Wuis of Kalamazoo, Mich. (Comstock HS).

Dutchmen Make International Trip
Prague Baseball Week / Team Journal / Game Reports / Photo Gallery

The 2007 MIAA champion Hope College baseball team competed in a tournament in the Czech Republic. The Flying Dutchmen joined teams from Australia, the Czech Republic, Russia, Slovakia, and Sweden in the 26th annual "Prague Baseball Week" tournament. ESPN recently included the Prague Baseball Week among its top ten baseball experiences. Hope won five of six games, including four in the tournament to finish in third place. Hope's game with the Czech National team was televised nationally. This was the first international trip for a Hope baseball team. A feature of the tournament was that only wooden bats were used.