CSR (Baseball Swept By Alma/Men's Tennis Edges Albion)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 2007

Baseball swept away by Alma
Men’s Tennis edges out Albion for victory

BASEBALL
Alma 6, Calvin 3
Alma 10, Calvin 4

GRAND RAPIDS * The Knights dropped a pair of games this afternoon to the
visiting Scots of Alma. The losses snapped their four game winning streak and
dropped their record to 5-11 overall and 5-3 in the MIAA.

In the first game, Calvin jumped ahead early and scored two runs in the first
inning. After sophomore Jacob Vriesman (Denver, CO/Denver Christian) walked to
lead off the game, junior Kyle Fletcher (Fort Wayne, IN/Concordia Lutheran)
singled to knock in Vriesman and Nick Caudle (Grandville/Calvin Christian) for
his team leading eigth and ninth RBI's. But after the first inning, Calvin's
offense began to struggle.

Sophomore Nate Pocock (Wayland, MA/Wayland) pitched a complete game and held
the Scots off the scoreboard until the third inning when Alma scored two runs
off a Ray Foley homerun to tie the game up at 2 runs apiece. Alma came right
back in the fourth and attacked again adding two more runs to take a 4-2 lead.
The Knights were able to muster another run in the fifth trailing by only a run
but were not able to catch back up as the Scots scored another insurance run in
the seventh to defeat the Knights 6-3.

Pocock was credited the loss dropping his record to 1-3 while John Fillmore
earned the win to improve his record to 1-3. The Knights were held to only
three hits while Alma rattled off eleven.

In game two, it was the Knights again who struck first. Vriesman led the game
off with a single and scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from junior Alex
Marcus (Willmar, MN/Willmar Sr.). But the game was soon tied after Alma scored
in the third inning and then took a 2-1 lead in the fourth.

But Calvin's offense came alive in the bottom of the fourth inning as they
scored three runs to grab a 4-2 lead. Three consecutive singles by Matt
Schepel (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian), Chris Blacklidge (Comstark
Park/Comstock Park), and Brad Brummel (Byron Center/South Christian) loaded the
bases and on a wild pitch, Schepel came in to score. Blacklidge then scored on
an error and Zach Van Dyke (Lombard/IL/Timothy Christian) knocked in Brummel on
a sacrifice fly sent out to left field.

However, a 4-2 lead was not enough as the Scots came right back in the fifth
scoring eight runs off of eight hits and an error. Calvin's defense began to
struggle allowing three bunt singles and allowing another bunt to reach on an
error. Alma led 10-4 heading into the bottom half of the fifth inning and shut
the Knights down the rest of the way.

Scott Larsen (Hastings/Hastings) pitched for the Knights and suffered the loss
to put his record at 0-2 while Rob Kool (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian)
also saw action on the mound pitching three innings. Matt Goman for Alma was
credited with the win pitching six complete innings.

Calvin's next game will be Wednesday as it will travel to Kalamazoo for a
doubleheader scheduled to begin at 2:00 in the afternoon. The Knights will
then return home next Saturday to face Kalamazoo again in another
doubleheader.

MEN'S TENNIS

Calvin 5, Albion 4

GRAND RAPIDS--In its conference-opener this afternoon, Calvin (6-2, 1-0 MIAA)
pulled off a narrow 5-4 victory over visiting Albion (10-3, 2-1 MIAA). Ranked
11th in the Central Region, Calvin won its 4th straight victory over a
regionally-ranked team as Albion stands 14th in Central Region rankings.

The meet came down to a match-decision in first singles, as junior Ricky
Tilton (Gap, PA/Lancaster Christian) took three sets to defeat Albion's Niel
Forester. "Ricky's been great all year for us. He's been a tough competitor,
pulling off matches of the same magnitude twice before," said head coach John
Ross.

Ross also cites lessons learned from Thursday's loss to Grand Valley and wins
at second and third doubles as reasons for success today: "We came together
today. We learned a little bit from GVSU--we stepped up our energy level and
focused better. Winning two of the three doubles matches got the momentum
flowing early on as well."

The Knights' next match is scheduled for next Tuesday at Spring Arbor at 3:00
p.m.

SINGLES
1. Ricky Tilton (Calvin) d. Niel Forester (Albion), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
2. Marcus Zeilstra (Calvin) d. Jon Vandenberg (Albion), 6-2, 6-2
3. Rafael Siebenschein (Calvin) d. Andrew Lulek (Albion), 6-2, 6-0
4. Alex Galvin (Albion) d. Steve DeMaagd (Calvin), 6-1, 6-2
5. Nate Marshall (Albion) d. Mike Goorhouse (Calvin), 6-3, 6-0
6. Ben Miller (Albion) d. Dan Volkema (Calvin), 6-2, 1-6, 6-1

DOUBLES
1. Forester and Vandenberg (Albion) d. Zeilstra and Tilton (Calvin), 8-2
2. Goorhouse and Siebenschein (Calvin) d. Galvin and Marshall (Albion), 8-6
3. David Sneller and Volkema (Calvin) d. Lulek and Miller (Albion), 8-5

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Sat Mar 31 18:57:57 2007