AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The Calvin University baseball team closed its 10-day Florida spring break trip with a pair of wins over Penn State Altoona and SUNY Fredonia at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex on Saturday.
Calvin (9-7) won the first game against Penn State Altoona (5-7) 11-6 before closing the trip with a 17-1 win over Fredonia (1-5).
Game 1
Calvin jumped in front early against Penn State Altoona with two big innings and cruised to an 11-6 win in the first game.
The Knights started the game with a bang, scoring four times in the first inning with the help of a three-run home run by
Jack Vargo (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon East).
James Ross (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) pitched the first three innings for the Knights, allowing one run on three hits, and the Knights added three more runs in the third inning on a three-run double by
Christian Stevens (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon) to push the lead to 7-1.
Hunter Burkett (Los Angeles, Calif./Pacifica Christian) came on in relief of Ross in the fourth inning and pitched four innings, allowing four runs (only one earned) on five hits and struck out four and earned the win to improve to 1-1 on the season.
The Knights' offense added two more runs in the sixth on a
Gabe Bonemer (Okemos, Mich./Okemos) RBI-double and then scored twice more on an error and a
Thomas Paplawsky (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Northern) single to push the lead to 11-5 before closing out the win in the ninth inning.
Calvin finished with seven hits and eight walks in the game, with Bonemer leading the charge with two hits. The Knights also stole 10 bases in the game led by three from
Ryan Tschirhart (Clinton, Mich./Clinton) and two from
Landon Evans (Richland, Mich./Gull Lake).
Game 2
The Knights closed the day with a 17-1 win over Fredonia in seven innings.
Calvin scored at least two runs in five of the first six innings, including four in the first inning, four in the second and three more in the third.
Brock Savage (Sterling Heights, Mich./Sterling Heights Stevenson) opened the scoring with an RBI-double and
Luke Gallagher (Farmington Hills, Mich./Novi Christian) followed with a bases-loaded doubles for three more RBI.
Bonemer hit a solo home run in the second inning, and Calvin added RBI-singles by Savage and Paplawsky on the way to an 8-0 lead through two.
Mason Stryker (New Baltimore, Mich./Anchor Bay) added to the scoring with a solo home run in the third inning, and the Knights pushed the lead to 11-0 after another Savage RBI-single.
That would be more than enough offense for
Ben Hoekstra (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian), who started the game for Calvin and pitched the first five innings, allowing only one hit and one walk while striking out four in five innings to earn his first career win and improve to 1-1 on the season.
The Calvin offense was not done scoring with an 11-0 lead through four, adding two more in the fifth and then three in the sixth and one in the seventh, capped by a sacrifice fly from
Brendan DiBartolomeo (Oakland Township, Mich./Rochester Adams) to make it 17-0 in the seventh.
Savage led the line-up with four hits and four runs batted in. Bonemer added three hits and two more stolen bases.
Parker Seth (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) scored four runs to go with two hits and two runs scored.
COACH'S COMMENT: "Great way for us to end this trip today with a pair of wins," Calvin head coach
Joel Schipper said. "We asked a lot of our guys during this trip to play 16 games, and I'm really pleased with how they responded. I think we've found out a lot about our guys during this trip and I can't wait to get back up north with this group as we prepare for conference play at the end of the month."
NEXT UP: Calvin baseball will return to action on Friday, March 20 when it opens a three-game weekend series at North Central College with a game scheduled to start at 4:00 PM.
