The Hillsdale College baseball team won 7–4 against its alumni in its second annual homecoming alumni game Oct. 11. 

“It’s a great experience for the guys and former players. The alumni get to play under the lights in our incredible stadium, and the recent alumni get to be on the field one more time with their old teammates,” head coach Tom Vessella said in an email. “I couldn’t imagine a better way to get some of the older players back to campus and be around the current team. 

Vessella said the team prepared the stadium as if it was hosting a home game, with concessions, umpires, and media. The team also roped off an area for the alumni where they could enjoy food and drinks.

Right-handed pitcher and junior Brodie Romnek, said his favorite part of attending the game was smack-talking former teammates.

“It’s fun to be competitive again with those guys as they move on with their life and see how they’re doing,” Romnek said.

Romnek said he would love the opportunity to attend an alumni game and see the team after he graduates. Many of the players have gone on to pursue other careers, according to Romnek, though he met Zane Barnhart last year, who was drafted after his junior season, and is playing professional baseball in the Detroit Tigers organization.

“After the game, we go to the baseball house and watch football and have fun,” Romnek said.

Vessella said he enjoys meeting alumni from before his time as coach. His favorite moment was watching James Krick ’22 bring back his team’s old “double celebration” — after he reached second base.

“Every baseball team nowadays has a unique celebration when they hit a double,” Vessella said. “James hit a double and did the ‘salt and pepper’ where he mimicked a pepper grinder to put ‘some seasoning’ on the ball after he hit a double. It’s just part of the fun of the game.”

Romnek said since this game is the baseball players’ first real fall game before their season starts in the spring, he enjoys getting out on the field and competing.

“We have three fall games or three series against other colleges, like Spring Arbor University, and two other DIIs and junior colleges,” Romnek said. “But this is the first game we put on a uniform in the academic year.”

Augie Hutchison ’25, a former outfielder for the Chargers, said he played in the first ever homecoming alumni game last year — also as an alumnus.

“I played the full game with a majority of the guys that I played with whether it was only one year or my full four years, so taking the field with those guys for old times’ sake, to play a serious baseball game, was super fun,” Hutchison said.

Hutchison said he loved playing baseball without pressure to win.

“Baseball is so much easier when you have no expectations for yourself and nobody has any expectations for you,” Hutchison said. “It’s a lot different than when you’re actually playing a real college baseball game, and winning is so much more important.”

Hutchison said he has not played much outside of the alumni game, since he played every year from when he was 12 until he was 22 years old. 

“I’ve been trying to play some other sports, do some other activities, but honestly, I could definitely see myself joining an adult league of some sort,” Hutchison said.

Hutchison said the baseball team hosts Alumni Day during the spring that invites baseball alumni back on campus for a game dedicated to them. He is glad the college started the tradition of an alumni game during homecoming.

“It was a beautiful 68-degree evening with a great sunset,” Hutchison said. “The coaching staff and everyone involved in putting that together does a really nice job. I’ve heard only super positive things about it from the alumni. As long as they keep doing it, I’ll probably show up every year.”