HOLLAND, Mich. – The Calvin University baseball team closed the regular season with a pair of wins at Hope College on Saturday to finish off the program's first series sweep of the Flying Dutchmen since 2008.
 
Calvin (23-16, 15-6 MIAA) won Saturday's opener 9-1 before topping Hope (12-27, 7-14) 8-4 in game two.
 
With the Saturday sweep, Calvin clinched the number-two seed in next week's MIAA Postseason Tournament. The three-day tournament will be hosted by Adrian College and will start on Wednesday, May 7.
 
Calvin finished the regular season with 23 total wins, which is the most for the program in a season since 2014. The second-place finish in the final MIAA standings is the program's best since 2017.
 
Game 1
 
Calvin out-hit the Flying Dutchmen 15-3 on the way to a 9-1 win in game one.
 
Hope jumped out first with a run in the second inning, but the Knights quickly answered with two runs in the top half of the third on RBI-singles from Ryan Tschirhart (Clinton, Mich./Clinton) and Matt Reynolds (Hopkins, Mich./Hopkins) to take a 2-1 lead.
 
Tschirhart came through again for the Knights in the fifth with an RBI-double to push the lead to 3-1, while starting pitcher James Ross (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) and reliever Cam Seth (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian/GRCC) combined to keep the Hope bats in check through six innings.
 
The floodgates opened for the Knights in the seventh as Calvin sent eight batters to the plate and put the game away with five runs. Logan Nelson (Fremont, Mich./Fremont) started the scoring with a two-run home run, and Reynolds followed three batters later with a two-run triple. Noah Swope (Portage, Mich./Portage Central) ended the scoring with a squeeze bunt that scored Reynolds from third base to extend the lead to 8-1.
 
That would be more than enough for the Calvin pitching staff, as Ross, Seth, Noah Etnyre (Northville, Mich./Plymouth Christian) and Reed Grinstern (Kentwood, Mich./South Christian) combined to hold the Flying Dutchmen to one run on three hits while walking five with seven punch outs. Seth (4-2) earned the win with three scoreless innings in relief.
 
Nelson led the charge on offense with four hits and two RBI. Ryan Brown (Caledonia, Mich./Caledonia), Tschirhart, Reynolds and Landen Mikula (St. Johns, Mich./St. Johns) each finished with two hits apiece for Calvin, with Reynolds recording a team-best three RBI.
 
Game 2
 
Calvin finished off the doubleheader (and series) sweep of the Flying Dutchmen with an 8-4 win in game two.
 
Nate Mason (Portage, Mich./Portage Northern), Aidan Jaworowski (Zeeland, Mich./Zeeland East) and Brown each drove in one run in the early innings as the two teams got through five innings tied at 3-3.
 
Isaac Hubka (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) came off the bench to make the biggest offensive contributions late in the game as he gave the Knights the lead with an RBI-single in the sixth inning (another runner scored via error) and then pushed the lead to 7-3 with a two-run single that scored Christian Stevens (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon) and Parker Seth (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) in the eighth inning. Reynolds also added an RBI with a single in the eighth to extend the lead to 8-3.
 
Five different Calvin pitchers would make that lead stick to help secure the win, starting with Evan Steinbacher (Sparta, Mich./Sparta), who moved to 3-1 on the season after throwing the first five innings and allowing three runs on six hits. Drew Diehl (Lansing, Mich./Lansing Catholic Central), Kyle Koning (Kalamazoo, Mich./Kalamazoo Christian) and Ian Schuster (Howell, Mich./Hartland) followed with one shutout inning apiece, and Alex DeAngelis (Plymouth, Mich./Salem) secured the final three outs to finish off the win.
 
The Knights added 13 more hits in game two with 10 different players recording at least one hit. Gabe Bonemer (Okemos, Mich./Okemos), Hubka and Parker Seth each finished with two hits for Calvin.
 
COACH'S COMMENT: "Incredible finish to the regular season," Calvin head baseball coach Joel Schipper said. "Couldn't be more proud of this group for grinding all year long. Going to enjoy the sweep this weekend and get back to work Monday in preparation for the conference tournament."