Box Score A ninth-inning rally was not enough to prevent Calvin from dropping a 7-6 decision to rival Hope in a first round MIAA Tournament game at Calvin Field Wednesday afternoon.
Calvin (20-20) falls into the loser's bracket and will face Kalamazoo in an elimination game at 3 p.m. at Adrian's Nicolay Field while Hope (23-17) advances into the winner's bracket to face Adrian Thursday at noon. Adrian defeated Kalamazoo 3-2 in Wednesday's other first round MIAA Tournament game.
In Wednesday's game at Calvin, Hope built a 3-0 lead through five innings and then held on late to claim the win.
Calvin scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth but Hope came up with four important insurance runs in the top of the ninth. Calvin scored four runs of its own in the bottom of the ninth and had the tying and go-ahead runs on base with two outs before Hope closer Matt Glowacki was able to get a game-ending strikeout to preserve the win.
Hope starter Currey Thomas (4-5) outlasted Calvin starter Nate Schepers (5-2) as Thomas went eight innings while Schepers departed with two outs in the sixth after tossing over 100 pitches.
Nick Glowacki singled in a run for Hope in the second and the Flying Dutchmen scored an unearned run in the third. Devin Schaefers then delivered a run-scoring single in the fourth to give Hope a 3-0 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, Calvin's Matt Kotva smacked a two-run RBI double to right to cut the score to 3-2.
In the ninth, Schaefers hit a two-run RBI triple for Hope and then came home on a double by Ryan Konkle. Konkle then scored on a Calvin error, giving Hope a 7-2 advantage.
Calvin refused to fold though as sophomore Jordan VanderWall drive in one run on an RBI single. Calvin then loaded the bases and brought two more home on a single by sophomore Colton Wolfe. Senior Peter Cupery scored on a groundout to bring the Knights to within 7-6 with one out.
Hope extenguished the Calvin threat however with a pair of strikeouts to seal the win.
Both teams had 12 hits. Schaefers led Hope at the plate with a 3-for-5 performance while Konkle, Landon Brower and J.P. Batts had two hits apiece.
Wolfe was 3-for-4 at the dish for Calvin. Grant VanPutten, VanderWall and Jeff Murdoch all had two hits apiece.
Thomas struck out four and walked four in picking up the win for Hope on the mound while Matt Glowacki was credited with the save. Schepers took the loss for Calvin, striking out five and walking only one in 5.2 innings of work.
