REPORT FOR April 19, 2002
BASEBALL
A strong pitching performance from Kalamazoo right-handers Ben Tucker and Zach
Burton allowed the visiting Hornets to snap Calvin's school record 12-game win
streak as Kalamazoo upset the Knights 2-1 Friday afternoon in the opener of a
three-game conference series.
Tucker entered Friday's game with a minuscule 1.67 ERA and proved true to form
on Friday as he limited Calvin to just one run over seven innings of work while
striking out eight batters and walking one. Burton then came on in relief of
Tucker and pitched scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth to preseve the win
and gain the save.
The Kalamazoo victory spoiled a strong pitching performance from Calvin senior
Mike Ott (Grand Rapids Union) who tossed his third complete-game performance of
the year but suffered the hard-luck loss to fall to 4-3 on the year. Ott struck
out a season-high 11 batters and scattered eight hits but also walked four
batters including a bases-loaded walk in the first that put the Hornets up 1-0.
Kalamazoo then took a 2-0 lead on a solo home run to right field by Gary Penta
in the third. Calvin came back with a run in the fourth on a two-out RBI single
by sophomore Darrell Heuker (Unity Christian) that scored freshman Kyle Neher
(Midland).
Calvin threatened in the sixth as junior Arie Eppinga (Walnut Creek) roped a
one-out RBI double into the left-center gap but a sinking fly ball with two outs
by sophomore Aaron Griffith (Manhattan, KS) was snared by Kalamazoo center
fielder Ross Gladding to end the threat.
In the bottom of the ninth, Griffith led off with a single to right and moved
to second on a bunt single by senior Mike Noorman (Covenant Christian).
Griffith was then forced out at third on a failed sacrifice bunt situation but
the Knights were able to load the bases with a two-out walk to freshman Josh
Vriesman (Denver, CO). Burton was able to close out the game however with a
game-ending strikeout as the Knights stranded their 9th, 10th and 11th runners
of the game in the final frame.
Eppinga picked up two of Calvin's eight hits while senior Ben Dykhouse (Grand
Rapids Christian) also collected a double and a walk on the afternoon.
The loss dropped Calvin behind Hope in the loss column as the Flying Dutchmen
improved to 7-0 in the MIAA with a 7-3 win over Adrian Friday while Calvin
dipped to 19-7 overall and to 9-1 in the MIAA.
Calvin and Kalamazoo will close out the conference series with a doubleheader
Saturday afternoon scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m..
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Apr 19 2002 - 19:46:16 EDT