Baseball team downed by Hope, 13-2

OLIVET, Mich. – The Olivet College baseball team dropped the first game of a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) series to Hope College, 13-2, on a sun-drenched afternoon at the Cutler Athletic Complex.

• Final Score: Hope 13, Olivet 2
• Location: Cutler Athletic Complex; Olivet, Michigan
• Records: Olivet 3-20 overall, 1-8 MIAA; Hope 12-13 overall, 5-4 MIAA

• The Flying Dutchmen wasted no time in taking a 1-0 lead, as leadoff batter Spencer Cable blasted the first pitch of the game over the fence in center field. Hope added another run in the first inning.
• Hope stretched its lead to 5-0 in the top of fifth frame when Kainan Bayn hit a three-run homer.
• The Comets dented the scoreboard for the first time in the home half of the fifth. Freshman Braden Abbott drew a walk with two outs. He stole second and came around to score on senior Sylas Woll's single.
• The Flying Dutchmen put the game away with eight runs over the final three innings – one in the seventh, three in the eighth and four in the ninth.
• Olivet managed only one run for the rest of the game, and that run came via a solo home run by sophomore Blake Hawkins.

• Olivet tallied six hits in the game.
• Abbott went 2-for-3 with a walk and run scored.
• Also recording hits were Woll, Hawkins, junior Gabriel Kirck and sophomore Mason Cook.
• Freshman Bryan Carney was tagged with the pitching loss. He allowed five runs (four earned) in three hits and five walks, with four strikeouts over five innings.
• Three relievers combined to allow eight runs (seven earned) on four hits and six walks.

• Seven players each recorded one hit.
• Bayn drove in four runs.
• Cable collected three RBI.
• Caleb Regan had a hit and walked three times.
• Bayn and Regan along with Owen Krizan and Devin Meeuwsen each scored two runs.
• Shane Hykin improved to 4-0 on the season. He gave up one run on five hits and two walks, while striking out five in six innings.
• Ian Sanders and Eli Kane pitched the final three innings in relief.

• Hope and Olivet conclude the league series tomorrow with two games tomorrow at Boeve Stadium in Holland, beginning at 1 p.m.