OLIVET, Mich. – The Calvin University baseball team swept its doubleheader at The University of Olivet and earned its first series win of the MIAA season on Saturday.
Calvin (12-18, 3-8 MIAA) won game one 5-3 in 11 innings before defeating Olivet (12-13, 4-6 MIAA) 2-0 in game two. Because game one went into extra innings, the second game was only seven innings.
Game 1
Calvin trailed 3-1 into the late innings but came back to tie the game in the seventh and then won game one 5-3 thanks to two runs in the 11th inning.
Landon Evans (Richland, Mich./Gull Lake) put Calvin on the board with an RBI-single in the first inning, but the Comets tied the game at 1-1 in the third and then scored twice in the fourth off
Cam Seth (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian/GRCC) to take a 3-1 lead.
The Knights still trailed by two in the seventh inning when
Logan Nelson (Fremont, Mich./Fremont) hit a solo home run to left field, and
Landen Mikula (St. Johns, Mich./St. Johns) came through later in the inning with an RBI-single that scored
Parker Seth (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) to tie the game at 3-3.
The score remained tied through nine innings, as
Cam Seth entered in relief in the third inning and held the Comets scoreless from the fifth inning through the 10th frame.
In the top of the 11th inning,
Parker Seth scored
Noah Swope (Portage, Mich./Portage Central) on a groundout to give Calvin the lead, and
Gabe Bonemer (Okemos, Mich./Okemos) followed with a two-out double to score Nelson and push the lead to 5-3.
After a one-out walk by
Cam Seth,
Landen Harris (Paw Paw, Mich./Paw Paw/Concordia University Ann Arbor) entered and walked the first two hitters to load the bases before striking out the next two Comets to strand the bases loaded and earn his second save in as many games.
Cam Seth (2-1) earned the win after pitching 8.1 innings and allowing two runs on eight hits and only one walk while striking out three.
Bonemer, Mikula and
Ryan Tschirhart (Clinton, Mich./Clinton) each recorded two hits apiece to lead the offense.
Game 2
Calvin pitchers
Ben Hoekstra (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian) and
James Ross (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) combined to shut out the Comets as the Knights secured the sweep with a 2-0 game-two win.
Hoekstra (2-2) started the game for the Knights and retired the Comets in order in each of the first three innings, and the Knights scratched the first run of the game across home plate in the fourth with the help of two Olivet errors to take a 1-0 lead.
Hoekstra finally allowed a hit in the fourth but escaped a two-out jam with runners at second and third before
Thomas Paplawsky (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) added another run with a solo home run in the top of the fifth inning to extend the lead to 2-0.
After Hoekstra pitched a scoreless fifth, Ross entered for the sixth inning and struck out five hitters over the next two innings to close out the game and earn his first save of the season.
Hoekstra allowed only two hits and no walks while striking out five in five innings to earn his second career win. Ross allowed one hit and one walk while striking out five in his two innings.
Hunter Scholma (Allendale, Mich./Allendale) recorded two of Calvin's four hits at the plate.
COACH'S COMMENT: "Very good day for us to get two and sweep the series against a good Olivet team," head coach
Joel Schipper said. "We played two clean games in the field and our pitchers did a great job all day of keeping us in the game until our offense could get some runs on the board. This was a good weekend for us and we're looking forward to getting back at it next week against Kalamazoo."
NEXT UP: Calvin baseball will return to action on Tuesday, April 14, when it hosts Kalamazoo College for a single game at 4:00 PM.
