By John Leerar

The Calvin baseball team faced off against the Thunder of Trine University in a conference twinbill Saturday afternoon. The Knights were coming off a doubleheader sweep of the Thunder Thursday night. Calvin split the Saturday twinbill, winning game one 2-0 before dropping the nightcap 11-7.

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the second, when the Knights loaded the bases and were able to get a run on an infield single by sophomore Travis Kraai (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) to lead the game 1-0.

Calvin added another run to their lead in the bottom of the fifth when junior Grant Van Putten (Holland/Holland Christian HS) drove a sacrifice fly to center, bringing the score to 2-0.

The Thunder brought the tying run to the plate in the top of the seventh, but were unable to score and the Knights came away with the game one victory 2-0.

Senior Cory Laster (Ludington/Ludington HS) earned his fifth win of the season, striking out two in a complete game one-hit shutout.  

"We had a great pitching performance from Cory [Laster], said head coach John Sparks. "We did enough offensively to get the win."

In game two, Trine struck first with a run in the top of the first. Calvin responded in the bottom of the inning with and RBI single to right by sophomore Jalen Bouma (Ann Arbor/Huron HS).

Trine scored seven runs on seven hits in the top of the second, then scored three more in the third to lead 11-1.

Calvin cut into the Trine lead in the following innings. In the third, freshman Colt Wolfe (Eaton Rapids/Eaton Rapids HS) drove in a run on a single. A double by Grant Van Putten and a triple by senior Matt Schepel (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) added a couple more runs, and then Schepel scored on an overthrow to bring the score to 11-5 in favor of Trine.

In the bottom of the fifth, a single by Travis Kraai added another run for the Knights.

Calvin scored once more in the bottom of the seventh, but it was not enough as the Knights fell 11-7 in Game 2.

Senior Grant VanderWall (Wyoming/South Christian HS) took the loss for the Knights, dropping his record to 1-5.

"Their bats came alive in the second game," said Sparks. "You can't expect to give up seven runs in an inning and win. We took three out of four [from Trine] though, which is what we wanted to do."

After today, the Knight's record stands at 21-13, 15-9 in the MIAA.

 The Knights return to action on Wednesday, when they travel to Illinois Tech to play a non-conference doubleheader.