CKSR (Softball Splits With Olivet/Baseball Defeats Davenport/Men's Tennis Downs Adrian)

CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR April 21, 2011
 
Softball Splits With Olivet;
Baseball Defeats Davenport;
Men's Tennis Downs Adrian
 
SOFTBALL
Calvin 2, Olivet 0
Olivet 1, Calvin 0
 
Calvin rode the right arm of sophomore pitcher Shelby Mast to gain a doubleheader split over visiting Olivet Thursday afternoon at the Gainey Athletic Complex. Mast tossed a complete-game one-hit shutout in the opener Thursday as the Knights gained a 2-0 victory. She then allowed just five hits and one run in game two but the one run proved to be enough for Olivet as it held on for a 1-0 win over the Knights. The game one victory by Calvin allowed the Knights to snap a 10-game losing streak. Calvin is now 3-5 in the MIAA, good for sixth place in the current league standings.
 
In game one, Mast struck out nine and walked just one. Mast received all the run support she would need in the third as freshman Lina Avila belted a two-run double to center that scored senior Heather Sanderson and senior Marie Prins. The pair of RBI's gave Avila 31 on the year. She is the first Calvin player since Abby Konyndyk collected a Calvin single-season record 38 RBI's in 2005 to record more than 30 RBI's in a season.
 
In game two, Mast and Olivet's Breanne Harmon waged a pitcher's dual with Harmon blanking Calvin on three hits. Mast struck out five and walked just one but Olivet was able to break through for the only run of the game in the third on a solo homerun to right by Kelsey Greene.
 
Calvin had two strong chances to score. In the second, Avila doubled to right and moved to third on a wild pitch with no outs but was stranded at third. In the sixth, senior Sass VanRooyen doubled to right and moved to third with one out but could not score.
 
Calvin returns to action on Saturday, traveling to Albion for a 1 p.m. doubleheader.
 
MIAA SOFTBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 4-21-11 GAMES
 
Alma 9-1
Hope 7-1
Adrian 11-3
Trine 3-3
Albion 5-5
Calvin 3-5
Saint Mary's 1-5
Olivet 1-9
Kalamazoo 0-8
 
BASEBALL
Calvin 8, Davenport 5
 
Calvin got back to the .500 mark with an 8-5 non-conference win over Davenport University Thursday afternoon at Calvin Field. The Knights are now 13-13 on the year, heading into a four-game weekend series with Olivet.
 
Calvin used a six-run third inning uprising to take command of Thursday's non-conference contest. Davenport (23-13) scored two runs in the first to take an early 2-0 lead but the Knights tied it with a pair in the bottom of the second as freshman Dan Happ singled in a run and freshman Trent Zwiers drove in another with a suicide squeeze bunt. In the third, Calvin used four hits and three walks to take an 8-2 lead. Junior Scott Tipton had a sacrifice fly in the inning while junior Jake VanAlten and sophomore Ben Cok had run-scoring singles.
 
Davenport chipped away at Calvin's lead with single runs in the fourth, sixth and seventh but could not come all the way back as a trio of Calvin relievers shut the door on the visiting Panthers with senior Jeff Groenewold gaining his second save of the season with three innings of strong relief.
 
Freshman Cory Laster picked up the win for the Knights to run his season record to 3-1. Laster struck out two and walked one in two innings of work. Calvin was outhit 8-7 but reaped the benefits of seven walks by the Davenport pitching staff as well as three wild pitches.
 
Cok and Happ collected two hits apiece to lead the Calvin offensive attack.
 
Calvin will open up the four-game series with Olivet with a doubleheader at 1 p.m. at Calvin Field. The doubleheader had been slated to start at 2 p.m. but has been moved to 1 p.m. to beat an oncoming weather pattern brining rain into the Grand Rapids area Friday night.
 
MEN'S TENNIS
Calvin 9, Adrian 0
 
Calvin bumped its season record to 13-7 overall and to 4-1 in the MIAA. The Knights have one league dual match left before the conference tournament and that match will take place against rival Hope next Tuesday in Holland. Both teams will head into the Tuesday tilt with 4-1 league records with the Tuesday match likely determing second place in the league standings and the second seed for the upcoming MIAA Tournament.
 
In its victory over Adrian on Thursday, Calvin rolled to straight sets victories in all three doubles flights and in all six singles flights.
 
Singles winners for Calvin included senior Andrew DeVlieger (No. 1 singles), senior Roland Eldridge (No. 2 singles), sophomore Preston Phillips (No. 3 singles), freshman Loukas Peterson (No. 4 singles), sophomore Jarrod Brower (No. 5 singles) and sophomore Phil Reinken (No. 6 singles). In double actoin, Eldridge and Phillips won at No. 1 doubles, DeVlieger and Reinken won at No. 2 doubles and sophomore Brian DeMaagd and Peterson won at No. 3 doubles.
 
MIAA MEN'S TENNIS STANDINGS THROUGH 4-21-11 MATCHES
 
Kalamazoo 5-0
Calvin 4-1
Hope 4-1
Alma 3-2
Trine 1-4
Albion 1-4
Adrian 0-6
 
 
Received on Thu Apr 21 20:42:15 2011