ADRIAN — Five Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association baseball games during the 2019 regular season and postseason tournament against Hope College showcased the competitive drive of Dugan Darnell.

“Dugan is a competitor,” Adrian College’s Craig Rainey said. “He likes to have the ball in tough situations. His role on our team really led him to be the closer.”

Rainey, who will enter his 33rd season at Adrian College in 2026, and his staff decided to put Darnell — the team’s starting third baseman — in the role of closer for Adrian College at the beginning of the 2019 season.

It was a decision that paid off for Darnell.

On Aug. 1, Darnell made his Major League Baseball debut with the Colorado Rockies as a short reliever on an up-and-coming staff.

“Dugan was a technician as a player,” said Adrian College assistant coach Aaron Klotz, who worked closely with Darnell as his infielders coach during his career. “Mind you, he didn’t pitch us much until his senior year. A student of the game, who wanted to win and wanted to be the best to help his team win.”

In those five games against Hope in his senior campaign, Darnell pitched 5.1 innings and earned four of his eight career saves against the Flying Dutchmen. He allowed no earned runs on one hit with 10 strikeouts and two walks.

“We wanted him in the lineup, hitting and playing third base as much as possible, so that role fit what we needed,” Rainey added. “He has an explosive fastball at our level and went right after people; that is what made him special. Hitting against Dugan is no comfortable task for opposing teams.”

Undrafted after graduating from Adrian College, Darnell went to the independent leagues, where he reached out to every MLB team in the league. Colorado answered, and Darnell worked his way through their minor league system, posting a 21-8 record and 3.74 ERA in 200 career games.

“Dugan has a goal to pitch and play as long and at the highest level he could,” Rainey said. “I think he is relentless and always believed there was a way to the MLB. He had to work hard to get where he is today.”

Through seven games with the Rockies since his Aug. 1 debut, Darnell was 1-0 with a 2.89 ERA. His stats included three earned runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and three walks in 9.1 innings pitched.

“He needed to prove himself every step of the way,” Rainey said. “The Rockies didn’t have a big signing bonus invested in Dugan; he wasn’t a first-round draft pick. He had to jump over all of those players along the way. Every stop at each level, he had to prove he belonged.”

Darnell becomes the fourth player in Adrian College baseball history to reach the Major Leagues, joining Rube Kisinger (Detroit Tigers, 1902-1903), Clint Rogge (Pittsburgh Rebels, 1915; Cincinnati Reds, 1921), and Ryan Dorow (Texas Rangers, 2021).

“He had a dream,” Klotz said of Darnell. “He worked tirelessly, never took no as an answer, and now, he’s living every boy’s dream in the big leagues.”