COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. – The Calvin University baseball team celebrated senior day with an 8-0 shutout of Trine University at LMCU Ballpark on Thursday to open the final three-game series of the season.
Calvin (16-22, 7-12 MIAA) used seven senior pitchers to shut out Trine (8-30, 4-15 MIAA), with those seven pitchers combining to strike out 11 while allowing only four hits and one walk.
Evan Steinbacher (Sparta, Mich./Sparta) got the start and pitched the opening 3.2 innings and was followed in relief by
Ethan DeBlecourt (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian/Spring Arbor), who earned the win and improved to 3-1 on the season with 1.1 innings of work.
Fletcher Bandstra (Schererville, Ind./Illiana Christian),
Ben Ferguson (Grandville, Mich./Grandville),
Alex DeAngelis (Plymouth, Mich./Salem),
Levi Suter (Martinsville, Ind./Martinsville) and
Landen Harris (Paw Paw, Mich./Paw Paw/Concordia University Ann Arbor) combined to pitch the final four innings.
Seniors also led the way at the plate, where
Logan Nelson (Fremont, Mich./Fremont),
Gabe Bonemer (Okemos, Mich./Okemos) and
Christian Stevens (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon) each finished with two hits.
Nelson scored the game's second run in the second inning on a wild pitch, and Bonemer hit a solo home run to left field to push the Calvin lead to 3-0.
After
Hunter Scholma (Allendale, Mich./Allendale) doubled home
Noah Swope (Portage, Mich./Portage Central) in the sixth, Stevens singled home Scholma to extend the Calvin lead to 5-0.
Landon Evans (Richland, Mich./Gull Lake) added a two-run single in the seventh inning, and Stevens scored following a leadoff triple in the eighth inning on a Trine error to give the Knights the final 8-0 cushion.
The Knights out-hit the Thunder 10-4 for the game with Bonemer, Nelson and Stevens finishing with two hits apiece. Evans and Scholma both drove in a pair of runs while the Knights stole four bases as a team.
COACH'S COMMENT: "Really cool night at LMCU for our team," Calvin head coach
Joel Schipper said. "We want to thank everyone involved at Calvin for helping make it happen and I'm thrilled that so many of our seniors got a chance to shine in a win. Seven seniors combined to throw a shutout, including some guys who haven't gotten a ton of work this year but mean a lot to our team behind the scenes. And Christian, Gabe and Logan all had two hits, which was fun to see. We're looking forward to tomorrow to try to finish the season on a positive note down at Trine."
NEXT UP: Calvin baseball will return to action tomorrow (Friday, May 1) when it finishes the season with a doubleheader at Trine starting at 1:00 PM.
