After splitting with Trine Tuesday afternoon, Calvin’s baseball team turned around and jumped back into the swing of things with four straight wins for the week.
Due to weather issues the men’s baseball team had to reschedule last week’s home doubleheader against Trine to the following Tuesday, forcing them to play three doubleheaders in a five-day period. This didn’t faze the Knights, however, as they came out hot against the Trine Thunder. Calvin took their home opener 3-2, but dropped the second game of the evening 2-0.
“We came out hot Tuesday,” says senior Ben Cok, “but the bats kind of died on us the second game.”
Calvin took a 1-0 lead on an RBI single by sophomore Garrett Harder in the first and then built a 2-0 advantage on an RBI double by Harder in the fifth. Pitching for the Knights, junior Jeff Victor held the Thunder to a scoreless game until the top of the sixth, where Trine was able to put 2 on the board and tie it up 2-2. Calvin, however, was able to steal the lead back in the bottom of the sixth as freshman Jordan VanderWall singled and later scored on a Trine error. VanderWall and sophomore Grant VanPutten had two hits apiece to lead Calvin’s seven-hit attack. The Knights weren’t as successful in the batter’s box the second game, only getting five hits total against the Thunder.
In doubleheader number two for the Knights, the men traveled to Kalamazoo Friday afternoon. Calvin owned the batters’ box both games, taking the games 9-2 then 11-0.
Calvin took the lead the first game right away in the first three innings, scoring 6 in the second and 1 in the third. Sophomore Nate Schepers picked up the win on the mound, going 5.1 innings and scattering eight hits. Sophomore Tom Bouwkamp came on in relief the last 1.2 innings and securing the shutout win. Sophomore Ben Wohl led the attack at the bat in the second with a grand-slam homer — his first of his collegiate career. In the fourth, Cok also sent out a two-run homer — his first of the year and the 10th of his collegiate career. VanPutten also blasted a two-run homer for the Knights in the second game.
“One highlight from yesterday was Ben Wohl hitting his first collegiate home run, a grand slam!” says Cok, “It has been great to see Benny come as far as he has.”
In game two, sophomore Austin Juza threw a one-hit shutout victory, striking out five and walking one.
“Another highlight was Austin Juza, throwing a one-hitter,” says Cok, “That is awfully impressive at the college level. When his stuff is on and he is confident in himself he is a force to be reckoned with. Like Benny, it has been great to see Juza grow as a ball player and really contributing to the team.”
Despite being their third double-header of the week, the bats didn’t stop for the Knights as they took down Kalamazoo twice again on Saturday.
“It was good to see the bats come alive this week, putting up nine runs on 10 hits the first game on Friday and 11 runs on 15 hits,” says junior Kyle Spoelma, “We are looking forward to keep the bats hot going into the Adrian series next week.”
Cok finished his phenomenal week at the plate for the Knights with a three-run homer to left field during the first game. Spoelma drove in a pair of runs the second game while freshman Jalen Bouma drove in three runs.
