GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Calvin University baseball team split its home doubleheader against Adrian College on Saturday.
 
Adrian (20-13, 12-3) won the first game 11-3 before Calvin (18-13, 10-4 MIAA) won the second game 2-1 on a walk-off fielder's choice by Ryan Brown (Caledonia, Mich./Caledonia) in 10 innings.
 
Game 1
 
The Adrian bats recorded 14 hits on the way to an 11-3 win for the Bulldogs in the opening game.
 
Calvin took an early lead on a Nate Mason (Portage, Mich./Portage Northern) single in the first inning, but the Bulldogs would take control with three runs in the third inning, one in the fourth, and two more in the fifth to take a 6-2 lead.
 
Adrian added another run in the seventh inning and then put the game away with a four-run eighth inning.
 
Calvin finished with 10 hits but left 11 runners on base for the game. Mason led the offense with three hits, while Brown finished with two hits and two runs batted in.
 
James Ross (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) started the game on the mound for Calvin and fell to 0-2 on the season after allowing three runs on four hits in three innings.
 
Game 2
 
Evan Steinbacher (Sparta, Mich./Sparta) and Cam Seth (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian/GRCC) combined to only one hit in 10 innings to lead the Knights to a walk-off 2-1 win in 10 innings in game two.
 
The game was scoreless through three innings before the Knights finally jumped on the board with a Mason sacrifice fly that scored Ryan Schummer (West Lafayette, Ind./Central Catholic) to put the Knights on top 1-0 through four.
 
Steinbacher was dominant on the mound for the Knights, throwing six no-hit innings before the Bulldogs finally got their first (and only) hit on a solo home run from Linken Hayward in the seventh inning to tie the score at 1-1.
 
Seth came on relief in the eighth inning and helped push the game to extra innings with two scoreless frames. In the 10th inning, the Bulldogs got the leadoff batter on base, but Seth picked off the Adrian base runner at second before earning the third out on a strikeout to keep the score knotted at 1-1.
 
In the bottom half of the 10th, Nathaniel Graham (Lake Odessa, Mich./Lakewood/Kalamazoo Valley CC) got on base with a one-out single and Noah Swope's (Portage, Mich./Portage Central) sacrifice bunt attempt resulted in an error that put runners on second and third with one out. After an intentional walk to Gabe Bonemer (Okemos, Mich./Okemos), Brown hit a ground ball to second base that allowed Graham to score before the throw at home plate to earn Calvin the win.
 
Steinbacher finished with seven innings of one-hit, one-run ball with two strikeouts. Seth (3-2) earned the win after allowing only one walk with three strikeouts in three innings.
 
Schummer recorded two doubles for two of the three Calvin hits.
 
COACH'S COMMENT: "Got to give Adrian a ton of credit for its performance all weekend," Calvin head baseball coach Joel Schipper said. "Proud of the guys for scratching a 'W' in the last game of the series. Outstanding stuff from Evan Steinbacher and Cam Seth in game three. Ryan Brown is built for those big moments and it was great to see him walk it off for us."
 
NEXT UP: Calvin baseball will return to action on Wednesday, April 23, when it hosts Alma College for a single game at 4:00 PM.