ALBION, Mich. – The Calvin University baseball team split its doubleheader at Albion College on Friday.
Albion (15-18, 8-10 MIAA) won game one 6-1 before Calvin (20-15, 12-6) won game two 7-6 to secure the split and the program's first 20-win season since 2021.
Game 1
Albion jumped in front with a pair of runs in the first inning and never looked back on the way to a 6-1 win in the opener.
The Britons got two runs off Calvin starting pitcher
Evan Steinbacher (Sparta, Mich./Sparta) in the first inning and then added two more in the fourth to take a 4-0 lead near the midway point of game one.
Ryan Tschirhart (Clinton, Mich./Clinton) put the Knights on the board in the sixth with an RBI-double that scored
Ryan Brown (Caledonia, Mich./Caledonia), but the Britons added two more runs (both unearned) in the eighth inning to help close out the win.
Steinbacher (2-1) pitched 7.1 innings and allowed all six runs (four earned) on 13 hits while striking out two.
The Knights finished with seven hits, including two apiece from Brown and
Landen Mikula (St. Johns, Mich./St. Johns).
Game 2
Calvin earned the split with a 7-6 win in game two that featured several big swings before the Knights took the lead for good in the eighth inning.
The Knights scored three times in the second inning on a two-run triple from
Noah Swope (Portage, Mich./Portage Central) and an RBI-double from
Christian Stevens (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon), and then added two more in the fifth inning on run-scoring hits from Brown and
Hunter Scholma (Allendale, Mich./Allendale) to take a 5-1 lead.
Defensive issues proved costly for the Knights throughout game two, as the Britons scored an unearned run in the second inning and then three more off Calvin starting pitcher
Cam Seth (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) in the fifth to cut the deficit to 5-4. Albion tied the game 5-5 one inning later with the help of another Calvin error.
The Knights took advantage of an Albion error to take the lead briefly in the seventh, but the Britons answered with a run of their own on a wild pitch in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game once again at 6-6.
In the eighth, Brown put the Knights on top for good with a two-out RBI-single that scored Swope, and
Drew Diehl (Lansing, Mich./Lansing Catholic Central) came on to pitch two scoreless innings to close out the win.
The Knights out-hit the Britons 13-5 in the game, including four extra base hits (three doubles and one triple). Brown led the offense with three hits (including two doubles) and two RBI. Mikula and
Nate Mason (Portage, Mich./Portage Northern) added two hits apiece, while Swope finished with two RBI and two runs scored.
Seth started the game on the mound and pitched the first 5.1 innings, allowing five runs (two earned) on four hits while striking out two.
Noah Etnyre (Northville, Mich./Plymouth Christian Academy) improved to 2-0 thanks to 0.1 innings of scoreless relief, while Diehl earned his second save of the season with two shutout innings and three strikeouts.
NEXT UP: Calvin baseball will return to action on Tuesday, April 29, when it plays at Heidelberg University in a game scheduled to start at 4:00 PM.
