NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The Calvin University baseball team lost both games of its doubleheader at North Central College (NCC) on Saturday in its final non-conference tune-ups of the season.
 
NCC (7-8) won game one 7-4 before defeating Calvin (9-10) 16-5 in game two.
 
Game 1
 
NCC took an early seven-run lead and held on in the final innings to win game one 7-4.
 
The Cardinals started strong, scoring three times in the first inning and then adding four more runs in the fourth to take a 7-0 lead.
 
The Knights remained scoreless until the top half of the sixth inning when Thomas Paplawsky (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) drove home Mason Stryker (Anchor Bay, Mich./Anchor Bay) with a single up the middle, and Stryker added a second run one inning later with a solo home run to left field to cut the deficit to 7-2.
 
In the their final at bat in the top of the ninth inning, Landon Evans (Richland, Mich./Gull Lake) hit a two-run home run that scored Ryan Tschirhart (Clinton, Mich./Clinton) to cut the Cardinal lead to 7-4, but that would be as close as the Knights could get as NCC got the final out to close out the win.
 
Landen Harris (Paw Paw, Mich./Paw Paw/Concordia University Ann Arbor) started the game for Calvin and fell to 1-1 on the season after allowing six runs (three earned) on four hits and five strikeouts in 3.2 innings. Noah Etnyre (Northville, Mich./Plymouth Christian Academy) pitched the final 4.1 innings, allowing one unearned run on three hits while striking out seven.
 
Stryker and Landen Mikula (St. Johns, Mich./St. Johns) led Calvin at the plate with two hits apiece.
 
Game 2
 
Calvin started strong, but the Cardinals' offense fought back to win game two 16-5 in seven innings.
 
The Knights opened the scoring with a Paplawsky single in the first inning that scored Gabe Bonemer (Okemos, Mich./Okemos) and then added four more runs in the top of the second inning. Bonemer started the scoring with a bunt and error that scored Logan Nelson (Fremont, Mich./Fremont), and Parker Seth (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) followed with an RBI-single before Evans drove in two more with a two-run double to extend the lead to 5-0.
 
NCC was able to limit the early damage by stranding two runners in the first inning and three more in the second, and then started to answer back on offense with three runs in the bottom of the second before taking the lead with a five-run third inning.
 
The Cardinals continued to press the issue on offense, scoring once in the fourth, five times in the fifth, and then added two more in the sixth to push the lead to 16-5 on the way to the seven-inning win.
 
Cam Seth (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian/GRCC) started the game for the Knights and allowed seven runs on eight hits in two-plus innings to fall to 1-1 on the season.
 
Bonemer and Peyton Ruthven (Portage, Mich./Portage Central) each recorded two hits for the Knights, with Bonemer also scoring two runs and adding one walk. Evans had two runs batted in and two stolen bases for Calvin.
 
NEXT UP: Calvin baseball will open MIAA play on Friday, March 27, when it plays at Albion College at 4:00 PM.