CSR (Baseball Splits With Trine/Men's Tennis Drops Matches To Regionally-Ranked Foes)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR April 18, 2009 (Part One)

Baseball Splits With Trine;
Men's Tennis Drops Matches to Regionally-Ranked Foes

By Bruce Van Baren

BASEBALL
Calvin 8, Trine 6
Trine 5, Calvin 1

Calvin baseball’s bid for its first conference sweep came up short Saturday
afternoon at Calvin Field as the Knights (14-12, 11-5 MIAA) split with Trine
(7-20, 3-13 MIAA).

Calvin’s sixth inning rally gave the Knights an 8-6 come-from-behind win in
game one. But the Knights only managed three hits off of Trine starting pitcher
Cameron Heckley in the second game and fell 5-1.

“When you win the first three games, you think you have a decent shot to
(get the sweep),” coach John Sparks said. “We didn’t get the job done
today from an offensive stand point (in game two).

The Knights won their third conference series of the year, but needed a sweep
of Trine to get back into the chase for the MIAA conference title. Calvin sits
four games behind first-place Adrian and second-place Olivet in the loss
column.

Adrian (23-7, 17-1 MIAA) swept Hope to move into sole possession of first
place in the MIAA standings. Olivet (17-8, 13-1 MIAA) will attempt to sweep
Alma tomorrow to keep pace. Calvin will face Adrian on Thursday and Saturday
and Olivet the following week.

In game one, Kyle Cousin’s (Holland/Holland Christian) RBI triple that
scored Kyle Gurzynski (Ludington/Ludington) and Matt Schepel’s (Grand
Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian) sacrifice fly that scored Cousins gave the
Knights an 8-6 lead in the bottom of the sixth.

“We did a nice job hanging in there and getting a couple clutch hits,”
Sparks said. “I thought the hit and run with Kyle Cousins was really big and
got that inning going for us and we were able to push a couple runs across.”

Peter Steiner (Chicago, IL/Glenbrook South) pitched four innings and gave up
six runs, three of which were earned. Steiner surrendered seven hits, walked
three and struck out one. Calvin’s defense committed five errors behind the
starting pitcher.

Brett Cavanaugh (Muskegon/Western Michigan Christian), Joe Lambers (Grosse
Point/Grosse Point South), Rob Kool (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian) and
Jeff Groenewold (Chicago, IL/Timothy Christian) combined for three innings of
scoreless relief.

“The bullpen did a nice job today,” Sparks said. “They all did a good
job and came ready to throw. That’s good to see.”

Kool (1-1) picked up the win after pitching out of a jam in the top of the
sixth and Groenewold earned the save. Steiner (3-1) earned a no decision. Chad
Nichter gave up six runs, all earned, in five innings for Trine. Zach Bour was
credited with the loss after surrendering two runs in the sixth.

Cousins went one-for-three with a pair of RBIs and runs scored to lead Calvin
at the plate. Jason May (Chicago, IL/Walther Lutheran) also had a big day
offensively going two-for-three with a pair of RBIs and a run scored. Seven
different Knight hitters combined for Calvin’s eight hits in the game.

In game two, Heckley was masterful for Trine. The 6-0 lefty pitched a complete
game three-hitter and surrendered only one run. Heckley picked up his first win
of the season striking out three and walking only one.

“He’s a traditional soft lefty,” Sparks said. “Give him credit for a
good job. He doesn’t throw really hard, but he threw strikes, spotted up and
kept us off balance with a decent breaking ball that he threw for a strike. It
seemed like we were kind of baffled by it.”

Trine scored three runs in the top of the first inning to put Calvin in an
early hole. The Thunder tacked on two more insurance runs in the fifth inning
to extend the lead to 5-1. Calvin never was able to threaten a comeback. The
Knights stranded five runners.

“You hope (hitters) don’t press that early in the game (after getting
down),” Sparks said. “But since we’ve struggled a little bit and when you
give up that early lead we kind of have the tendency to do that.”

Calvin’s Keith Spoelstra (Oakland, NJ/Eastern Christian) lasted five innings
giving up seven hits and five runs, three of which were earned. Spoelstra
struck out one and walked four. Calvin committed two errors in the game. Derick
Vargas (Hialeah, FL/American Senior High) and Lambers pitched two innings of
scoreless relief.

“You hold them to five runs in the second game and you think that should be
good enough to at least give you a chance at the end of the game,” Sparks
said. “It just didn’t happen.”

Calvin will host Davenport in a nine inning game on Wednesday at 4 p.m. The
Knights will continue MIAA play on Thursday when they travel to first-place
Adrian. Calvin hosts the Bulldogs on Saturday at 1 p.m.

MIAA BASEBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 4-18-09 GAMES

Adrian 17-1
Olivet 13-1
Calvin 11-5
Hope 6-10
Albion 4-10
Alma 3-9
Kalamazoo 3-11
Trine 3-13

MEN’S TENNIS
Coe 5, Calvin 4
Hope 6, Calvin 3

Calvin dropped a pair of matches to regionally-ranked opponents over the
weekend, falling 5-4 to Coe College (IA) Friday afternoon in a match played in
Kalamazoo and then dropped a 6-3 decision at rival Hope Saturday afternoon in
Holland.

The Knights are now 12-5 overall and 2-1 in MIAA play.

In the loss to Coe, ranked 12th in the latest ITA Central Region rankings,
Calvin fell behind 2-1 after the doubles competition with the Knights picking
up a point at No. 2 singles behind the play of seniors Nick Steenstra (Unity
Christian HS) and Andrew Rescorla (Zionsville, IN).

The two teams then split the six singles points allowing Coe (16-3) to hold on
for the one-point win. Picking up singles victories for the Knights were senior
Marcus Zeilstra (Oak Brook, IL) at No. 1 singles, sophomore Matthew DeVlieger
(Northpointe Christian HS) at No. 3 singles and Rescorla at No. 6 singles.

In Saturday’s loss to Hope, Calvin fell behind 6-1 before rallying late for
a pair of singles victories to narrow the final margin.

All three of Calvin’s singles points came in singles play with Matt
DeVlieger winning at No. 3 singles, sophomore Andrew DeVlieger (Northpointe
Christian HS) winning at No. 5 singles and Rescorla winning at No. 6 singles.

Calvin entered the match ranked 11th in the Central Region while Hope was
ranked 15th.

Calvin-Coe Box Score:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/mens/tennis/results/2009/calcoe.htm
Calvin-Hope Box Score:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/mens/tennis/results/2009/chopem.htm

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Sat Apr 18 20:24:46 2009