DAVENPORT, Fla. – The Calvin University baseball team finished its spring break trip to Florida in style with a pair of wins on Saturday at Northeast Regional Park.
 
Calvin (7-5) won the opener 8-2 against Chatham (4-4), and then came back from a pair of four-run deficits to win 15-10 over Pittsburgh at Greensburg (1-5) to finish its Florida trip with a 7-2 record.
 
Game 1
 
The Knights broke open a low scoring game in the final innings to win the opening game 8-2 over Chatham on Saturday morning.
 
The game remained scoreless through five innings until the Knights finally opened the scoring with a Josh Winkle (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) RBI-single, followed by a Matt Reynolds (Hopkins, Mich./Hopkins) sacrifice fly to push the lead to 2-0.
 
After the Cougars scored once off Calvin starting pitcher Evan Steinbacher (Sparta, Mich./Sparta) in the bottom of the sixth, Nate Mason (Portage, Mich./Portage Northern) drove in Ryan Brown (Caledonia, Mich./Caledonia) to extend the Calvin lead back to two at 3-1.
 
Steinbacher ran into trouble in the seventh when the Cougars scored one run and had two men on base with two outs, but Nolan Coil (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso) came in to get the final out of the inning to keep the Knights ahead at 3-2.
 
It would be smooth sailing from there for Calvin, as it scored twice in the eighth on RBI hits from Ryan Schummer (West Lafayette, Ind./Central Catholic) and Reynolds, and then added three more in the eighth with the help of a solo home run from Mason to take home the win.
 
Steinbacher (2-1) earned the win after pitching the first 6.2 innings and allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits while striking out three. Coil earned the save with 2.1 innings of scoreless relief with three strikeouts.
 
Schummer finished the game 3-3 with a pair of walks, three runs scored and two RBI. Ryan Tschirhart (Clinton, Mich./Clinton) went 3-4 with two runs scored. Mason, Winkle and Reynolds each drove in two runs apiece.
 
Game 2
 
Calvin overcame two four-run deficits to defeat Pittsburgh at Greensburg 15-10.
 
Patrick Gillen (Jensen Beach, Fla./Jensen Beach) was the hitting star for the Knights, blasting three home runs and driving in eight runs in the win. Gillen now has an MIAA-best eight home runs through 12 games this season.
 
The Knights fell behind 4-0 early, but rallied to take the lead with a pair of strong innings. Reynolds hit a two-run triple to start the scoring in the third inning, and Gillen hit a two-run home run in the fourth to help the Knights take a 5-4 lead after four innings.
 
The Bobcats answered with four runs over the next two innings to take a 9-5 lead, and then followed a two-run home run by Mason in the sixth inning with another run in the top half of the seventh to keep their lead at 10-7.
 
The Knights had two more big innings in them, however. Gillen led a four-run seventh inning with a three-run home run to left field that tied the score at 10-10. After a Winkle walk with the bases loaded gave Calvin an 11-10 lead after seven, the Bobcats loaded the bases in the eighth inning off Reynolds, who started the inning in relief for Calvin, but Reynolds slammed the door shut with a pair of strikeouts to keep the Knights ahead by one.
 
In the bottom half of the eighth, Gillen put the game away with another three-run home run to right centerfield.
 
Ian Schuster (Howell, Mich./Hartland) started the game and allowed eight runs in 4.1 innings against the tough Pitt lineup. Alex Owen (St. Johns, Mich./St. Johns) earned the win after allowing one run on two hits in one inning to improve to 1-0. Reynolds earned his first save of the season after two scoreless innings in relief.
 
Caden Penn (Macomb, Mich./Lutheran North) finished the game 6-6 at the plate with a pair of stolen bases and two RBI. He also hit two doubles, helping him break the Calvin record for most career doubles with 49.
 
Mason finished 2-4 with four runs scored and two RBI, while Reynolds and Will Mueller (Aurora, Ill./Metea Valley) each finished with two hits.
 
COACH'S COMMENT: "Today was a sign that we are becoming a resilient bunch," Calvin head baseball coach Kevin Van Duyn said. "Our pitching was terrific in the first game, and then in the second game it was impressive for us to come back from two different four-run deficits in our ninth game of the trip really showed our character as a team."
 
NEXT UP: Calvin baseball will return to action next weekend when it plays a three-game series at Rose-Hulman. The two teams will play one game on Friday (March 15) at 6:00 PM, followed by a doubleheader on Saturday (March 16) starting at 11:00 AM.