DAVENPORT, Fla. – The Calvin University baseball team continued its spring trip in Florida with a doubleheader split against Keystone College on Tuesday at Northeast Regional Park.
Keystone (6-5) won the opener 14-4 before Calvin (5-5) won game two on a walk-off single by
Josh Winkle (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) 4-3.
Game 1
Keystone jumped in front early and added seven more runs late on the way to a 14-4 game-one win.
Calvin opened the game with an unearned run in the top of the first inning, but the Giants scored five times off Calvin starting pitcher
Ben Ferguson (Grandville, Mich./Grandville) and added one run in both the second and third innings off reliever
Hunter Burkett (Los Angeles, Calif./Pacifica Christian) to take a 7-1 lead after three innings.
Burkett kept the Knights within striking distance, allowing only the two runs in 4.1 innings of relief with four strikeouts, and the Calvin offense came alive in the sixth inning on a two-run home run by
Sam Hungerford (Wyoming, Mich./Grandville) and cut the deficit to 7-4 later in the inning on an RBI-single from
Luke Gallagher (Farmington Hills, Mich./Novi Christian), but the Giants answered with seven runs in the bottom half of the inning to put the game away.
Gallagher and
Hunter Scholma (Allendale, Mich./Allendale) each recorded two hits for the Knights. Ferguson fell to 1-2 on the mound in defeat.
Game 2
The Knights won a back-and-forth game two in walk-off fashion on a Winkle bases loaded single with two outs in the seventh inning.
Calvin once again jumped in front early on an RBI-fielder's choice by Scholma with the bases loaded, and starting pitcher
Landen Harris (Paw Paw, Mich./Paw Paw/Concordia University Ann Arbor) made that lead stick early with three no-hit innings to start the game.
The Giants got to Evans in the fourth for one unearned run, but the Knights answered with another RBI-single from Scholma to take a 2-1 lead after five innings.
Keystone fought right back with two runs in the sixth off Harris, but
Ethan DeBlecourt (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian/Spring Arbor) ended the threat with runners at second and third with a strikeout, and then pitched a scoreless seventh inning to keep the Knights deficit at 3-2 heading into their final at bat.
In the bottom of the seventh, Scholma tied the game with his third RBI of the game on a groundout that scored
Peyton Ruthven (Portage, Mich./Portage Central) from third base with one out. After two walks to load the bases and a popout, Winkle walked to the plate with the bases loaded and sent a 3-2 pitch right back up the middle to score Gallagher from third to win the game.
Harris finished the day with eight strikeouts and allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits in 5.2 innings. DeBlecourt (1-0) earned the win after 1.1 shutout innings with two strikeouts.
The Knights finished with four hits and 10 walks in the game offensively.
COACH'S COMMENT: "Really proud of the grit we showed today," Calvin head coach
Joel Schipper said. "After a tough game one, Landen and Ethan were fantastic against a great offense and gave us a chance at the end, and we had so many great at bats at the end of the game to put us in position to get the win. Tomorrow is a good time for an off day for us before we get into the final stretch of the week starting Thursday."
NEXT UP: Calvin baseball will return to action on Thursday, March 12, when it faces Clarkson University in a doubleheader starting at 10:45 AM.
