GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Calvin University baseball team opened its three-game weekend series against The University of Olivet with a 3-2 win on Friday.
Calvin (10-18, 1-8 MIAA) stopped an eight-game losing streak to open conference play with the win, defeating Olivet (12-11, 4-4 MIAA) thanks to a three-run home run by
Landon Evans (Richland, Mich./Gull Lake) in the first inning.
The Comets scored first in the opening inning thanks to a two-out triple followed by a hit-and-run that helped a ground ball squeeze through the right side of the infield, but the Calvin offense came out hot in the bottom half of the inning.
Gabe Bonemer (Okemos, Mich./Okemos) led off the rally with a single and was bunted over to second base by
Landen Mikula (St. Johns, Mich./St. Johns). After a
Ryan Tschirhart (Clinton, Mich./Clinton) single to right field put runners at the corners, Evans slammed and 0-1 pitch over the right-centerfield fence for his third home run of the season to put the Knights on top 3-1.
Ethan DeBlecourt (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian/Spring Armor University) opened the game on the mound and went two innings for Calvin before exiting in favor of
Evan Steinbacher (Sparta, Mich./Sparta), who kept the game at 3-1 through seven innings.
Steinbacher and Olivet starting pitcher Bryan Carney (who entered the day with an ERA under 1.0 in seven starts) went back and forth on the mound in a pitcher's duel through the middle innings, with Carney striking out 10 in six innings while Steinbacher fanned seven and allowed only four hits in 5.2 innings before leaving with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth after the Comets cut the Calvin lead to 3-2.
With the Knights holding onto the one-run lead,
Landen Harris (Paw Paw, Mich./Paw Paw/Concordia University Ann Arbor) got the Knights out of the eighth-inning game with a pop up to left centerfield, and then struck out two Comets in the ninth to strand a runner on second and earn his first save of the season.
Steinbacher (1-1) earned the win in relief after allowing only one run in his 5.2 innings.
Bonemer and Evans each recorded two hits to lead the Calvin offense.
COACH'S COMMENT: "We really needed that one," Calvin head coach
Joel Schipper said. "It's been a frustrating start to conference play for us the last couple weeks, but our guys came out ready to go from the start and got the offense we needed early against a really good pitcher. Really happy with what we saw out of all three of our pitchers today, especially with Evan rolling in the middle innings and then Landen coming in and shutting things down at the end. Today was a really good start to the series, but we need to come back ready to go tomorrow for the doubleheader and try to build some momentum as we head down the stretch."
NEXT UP: Calvin baseball will return to action tomorrow (Saturday, April 11) when it travels to Olivet for a doubleheader and the conclusion of the three-game series. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 1:00 PM.
