HOLLAND, Mich. – Calvin dropped its opening game of the double-elimination MIAA Tournament, falling to rival Hope 2-1 Wednesday afternoon.

Calvin drops into the loser's bracket and will face Adrian in an elimination game Thursday at 1 p.m. at Hope's Boeve Stadium. Kalamazoo defeated Adrian 7-6 in Wednesday's other first round game.

The contest featured stellar pitching and standout defensive play.

Hope (27-8) struck first with a one-out solo home run to right by senior centerfielder Evan Mayday in the bottom of the first. Calvin (18-17) answered with a two-out rally in the top of the second to tie the game 1-1. Senior J.C. Fortman (Elgin, Il./Elgin HS) singled to right and raced home with the tying run on a booming double to right-center by freshman Gabe Bonnemer (Okemos, Mich./Okemos HS).

Calvin threatened again in the third when senior Rick Padilla (Poway, Ca./Poway HS) doubled down the left field line with two outs but a deep fly ball to right by senior Matt Raymond (Chicago, Il./Loyola Academy) was snared by Hope's Kainan Bayn on the run.

The two sides traded goose eggs over the next few innings until Hope was able to push across a run in the bottom of the sixth. A walk and a hit batter placed two runners aboard for Hope with one out. A flyout to right advanced a runner to third with the corner bases now full. Hope's Nolan Gardner bounced a high chopper over the pitcher's mound that squirted under the reach of the Calvin infield and into centerfield to bring home the go-ahead run. Calvin sophomore starter Ian Doyle (Grandville, Mich./Grandville HS) closed out a strong outing however with an inning-ending strikeout.

Calvin went down in order in the seventh and eighth against Hope starter Sean Hoey. In the top of the ninth however, Calvin junior Caden Penn (Macomb, Mich./Macomb Lutheran HS) dropped a leadoff single to left and moved to second on a wild pitch and to third on a passed ball. Hope relief pitcher Shane Hykin got a pop-up to short and a strikeout to allow his infield to move back. Calvin senior Andrew Hung (Waterford, Mich./Waterford Mott HS) belted a hard smash to third with two outs but Hope third baseman Al Money was able to snare the ball on his knees on a short hop, recover and fire to first in plenty of time for the final out of the game.

Calvin outhit Hope 5-3 with Penn collecting two of Calvin's five hits. Doyle (3-3) took the loss, striking out two and allowing only two hits in six innings of work. Freshman Ryan Brown (Caledonia, Mich./Caledonia HS) and senior Eli Johnson (Stillwater, Okla./Stillwater HS) tossed an inning of scoreless relief for the Knights. Hoey (9-0) got the win for Hope, striking out six and allowing four hits in eight innings of work. Hykin picked up his sixth save of the season for Hope.

The loss was Calvin's third of the year against Hope with the three defeats coming by a combined margin of four runs with two of the defeats coming by one-run margins.  

COACHES COMMENT: "It was a well-played college baseball game," said Calvin head baseball coach Kevin Van Duyn. "Both teams had opportunities. They made some plays including some great plays in the field. We had solid pitching. Ian Doyle gave us a chance. Two weeks ago he (Doyle) shut Hope out and he had another great performance today. We were in it at the end with a runner on third with no outs, but we couldn't get that runner home. Those are things we work on in practice but credit Hope for finding a way to keep us from tying the game. We'll come back tomorrow ready to grind and put this one behind us."

NEXT UP: Calvin will face Adrian at 1 p.m. in an elimination game of the MIAA Tournament.