Baseball team splits doubleheader at Calvin

The baseball team split a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) doubleheader today at Calvin College. After losing the first game, 3-2, in eight innings, the Fighting Comets (16-12, 5-7 MIAA) bounced back to win the nightcap, 4-2.

In the first game, the Knights (9-13, 8-4 MIAA) tallied an unearned run in the third inning. Olivet quickly tied the game at 1-1 in fourth inning as sophomore Chris Shelhart (Rolling Meadows, Ill./St. Viator) hit a home run to lead off the inning. Later in the inning, the Comets took a 2-1 lead on a RBI single by junior Jonathon VanSon (Macomb/Notre Dame, H.W.).

After two outs had been recorded in the seventh frame, Calvin scored a run to send the game into extra innings. The Knights then took advantage of three Olivet errors to score the winning run in the eighth.

At the plate, the Comets had four hits – Shelhart's home run, VanSon's single along with singles by Nick McIntosh (Petoskey) and Ben Thomas (Kalamazoo/Comstock). On the mound, VanSon was tagged with the loss. He pitched seven innings, allowing seven hits and no earned runs while striking out four.

In the nightcap, Olivet took a 4-0 lead with a run in the second and third innings and two more runs in the fourth inning. The Knights scored a run in the fifth and seventh innings.

The Comet run in the second inning came on a single by VanSon. Junior Drew Benoit (Climax-Scotts) had a RBI-groundout in the third inning. VanSon doubled to score junior James Melvin (Redford Thurston) with the first run in the fourth. Junior Chip Paddock (Galesburg-Augusta) then ripped a triple to score VanSon.

Offensively, Benoit and VanSon collected two hits apiece. Freshman Adam Bassett (Bellevue) earned the win on the mound after pitching four innings. In relief, senior Dustin Bolt (St. Joseph) pitched the seventh inning to pick-up the save.

Olivet is idle until Friday-Saturday, April 22-23, when it travels to play a three-game series at Kalamazoo College. A nine-inning game will be played Friday at 4 p.m., followed by a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.