GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Calvin University baseball team could not overcome several costly fielding miscues in a 9-4 loss to 10th-ranked Kalamazoo College on Wednesday.
 
Calvin (13-21, 4-11 MIAA) out-hit Kalamazoo (29-4, 13-2 MIAA) 14-12 on the day but three fielding errors led to five unearned runs to help the Hornets take the final game of the three-game mid-week series.
 
The Knights scored the first run of the game thanks to a pair of doubles from Noah Swope (Portage, Mich./Portage Central), who started the rally and Josh Winkle (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) doubled him home with two outs in the bottom of the second inning to put Calvin on top 1-0.
 
Ryan Rohrer (Richland, Mich./Kalamazoo Christian) started the game on the mound and pitched two scoreless innings before committing a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt led to three unearned runs in the inning and gave the Hornets a 3-1 lead.
 
Rohrer kept the deficit at two into the fifth inning when Landon Evans (Richland, Mich./Gull Lake) singled home Gabe Bonemer in the bottom half of the inning to cut the Calvin deficit to 3-2.
 
In the sixth, Rohrer retired the first two Hornets but Kalamazoo followed with four straight hits to take a 4-2 lead. Reliever Cam Seth (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) entered with the bases loaded and allowed a hit by pitch and a walk to score two Kalamazoo hitters before retiring the next batter to hold the score at 6-2.
 
In the seventh, the Knights allowed two more unearned runs on a throwing error to give Kalamazoo an 8-2 lead, but Ryan Tschirhart (Clinton, Mich./Clinton) got both runs back in the bottom of the inning with a two-run home run (his team-leading fourth of the season) to make the Calvin deficit 8-4. The Knights loaded the bases with two outs later in the inning, but the Hornets escaped the jam with a strikeout to keep the four-run lead before tacking on one final insurance run in the eighth inning on the way to the win.
 
Rohrer (0-1) allowed six runs (three earned) on eight hits and one walk while striking out two in defeat.
 
Tschirhart and Swope led the Calvin offense with three hits apiece, while Thomas Paplawsky (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Northern) had two hits.
 
COACH'S COMMENT: "We did a lot of good things today but just made too many mistakes," Calvin head coach Joel Schipper said. "I thought we had a lot of good at bats and hit the ball hard all day. Ryan did a lot of good stuff on the mound, but Kalamazoo made us pay for the mistakes we made and that's what good teams do."
 
NEXT UP: Calvin baseball will return to action on Friday, April 24, when it opens its three-game weekend series against Hope College on the road for a 4:00 PM game.