GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Calvin University baseball team lost the opener to its three-game series against Albion by a 5-2 final on Thursday.
The game featured a battle of two of the top starting pitchers in the MIAA, as Calvin's (19-14, 11-5)
Nolan Coil (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso) faced off against Albion's (14-17, 7-9 MIAA) Cole Giesige and the two pitchers did not disappoint.
The two pitched a pair of scoreless innings until the Britons got on the board in the third inning with the help of a passed ball, but Coil escaped further trouble and allowed the Knights to tie the game 1-1 in the fourth on a
Nate Mason (Portage, Mich./Portage Northern) double down the left field line that plated
Ryan Tschirhart (Clinton, Mich./Clinton), who led off the rally with a triple.
The score remained tied until the seventh, when the Britons finally chased Coil from the game with another run to take a 2-1 lead, but the Knights answered right back in the bottom half of the seventh with a solo home run from
Nathaniel Graham (Lake Odessa, Mich./Lakewood/Kalamazoo Valley CC) to left field to once again tie the score at 2-2. The home run was Graham's second of the season.
Both teams threatened but could not score in a scoreless eighth inning, and the Britons finally broke the game open with four straight hits to lead off the ninth inning off Calvin reliever
Alex DeAngelis (Plymouth, Mich./Salem) to take a 3-2 lead, and then added a two-run double with two outs to push the lead to 5-2.
That would be more than enough for Giesige, who pitched a scoreless ninth to finish off a complete game in which he held the Knights to six hits and struck out 10.
Coil finished the day with six strikeouts in 6.2 innings and allowed seven hits and two runs (one earned).
Tschirhart led the Calvin offense with two hits.
NEXT UP: Calvin baseball will return to action tomorrow (Friday, April 25) for a doubleheader at Albion.
