Baseball Continues Looking For First MIAA Win After Calvin Sweeps First Games of Series
ALMA, Mich. – Alma’s baseball team continues to look for its first MIAA victories after 5-1 and 5-3 losses to visiting Calvin College Thursday afternoon at Klenk Park. Alma falls to 1-11 on the season and 0-6 in MIAA action. It will face Calvin in Grand Rapids on Saturday.
Bobby Jock (Wales/Memphis) was the standout of the day, playing in the second game and going 3-for-3 at the plate with a run, an RBI and a stolen base while making three putouts in right field. Alma managed five stolen bases against the Knights, but could not get across home plate in the end. As a team, the Scots hit .250 for the first half of the series while Calvin hit .278. Calvin out-slugged the Scots .370 to .271 for the two games. The MIAA foes opened the first game and scored early, then played sound defensively throughout the remainder of the innings. Calvin stepped up with two runs in the first and tacked on three more in the third as Alma scored its only run of the game in the second.
Jacob Vriesman led off for the Knights with a single up the middle and moved to second on a ground out to third base and took third on a throwing error by Dan Morales (Lansing/Eastern) at second base. An Alex Marcus single down the left field line plated Vriesman. A Matt Schepel single into left center put runners at first and second before Marcus stole third. Chris Blacklidge reached base on a fielder’s choice as Marcus scored and Schepel was out at second. A Kyle Fletcher infield fly took the Knights out of the inning.
Alma’s lone run of the game came in the bottom of the second when Jeremy Stephens (Maple Rapids/Fulton-Middleton) laid down a bunt single with one out to give Alma a quick base runner. Tony Garcia (Lapeer/West) got the second out with a ground ball to move Stephens to second. Tyler Bolley (Lansing/Eastern) sent a double into left field to score Stephens before Morales hit a fly ball to right to end the inning.
But Calvin answered quickly and determinedly with three runs in the top of the third. Vriesman led off with a single and Nick Caudle popped up a bunt for the first out of the inning. Marcus doubled to left moving Vriesman to third before a Schepel double plated both Marcus and Vriesman. Blacklidge singled, putting runners on the corners and Fletcher knocked an RBI single to scored Schepel. Eric Boer ground into a double play to end the inning – and the scoring in the game – in Calvin’s favor, 5-1.
Neither team would push a runner beyond second for the remainder of the game. On the hill for Alma, Joe Thiry (Grand Rapids/GR Christian) took his fourth loss of the season throwing a complete seven-inning game, scattering 11 hits and five earned runs, striking out three and walking one.
The second game saw the Scots create significantly more opportunities than the first game, backed in large part by Bobby Jock’s 3-for-3 day at the dish. Alma played from behind the entire game and even looked to challenge late in the game, but didn’t have enough gas to see it through. Alma was plagued by errors in the field, scoring three runs on eight hits but making five errors. Calvin would score just one earned run on the day.
The first inning saw Alma with two runners aboard with just one out – a sacrifice bunt – after a Dan Merian (Milford) single opened things up and Morales moved him along with the bunt and Ray Foley (New Hudson/South Lyon) took first with an error in the field. Merian got caught attempting to steal home and Foley was caught in the same melee in an attempt to steal third, instead ending the inning.
In the first scoring inning – the top of the second – Boer led off with an error at first base before Zach Van Dyke laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Boer to second. A ground ball allowed Boer to move to third with two outs on the board. Vriesman continued to play the role of go-to with an RBI single into left field to score Boer, unearned.
The fifth saw Calvin put up three more runs to take a 4-1 lead. It was the toughest inning of the day for the Scots as defensively they made three errors in the field, allowing three unearned runs. It was tough to watch as with one out, an error at third put Marcus on base and a hit batter put runners at first and second. A wild pitch from starting pitcher Wade Slavik (Ashley/Fulton-Middleton) put both runners in scoring position before Blacklidge singled to score Marcus. An error at shortstop put Fletcher on first and scored Schepel, who’d gotten aboard when he was hit by pitch. Boer ground out to move Fletcher and Blacklidge along while an error at third base allowed Blacklidge to score and put runners at the corners. Kyle Gurzynski ground out to first to end the inning.
Slavik would make the first out of the sixth inning, going 5 1/3 innings allowing three hits and four runs – all unearned – in the loss. He walked three batters and did not record a strikeout. Tom Montgomery (Decatur, Ind./Big Rapids) would come in to throw relief, going 1 2/3 innings and allowing just one hit – a home run – in seven batters faced.
And that was the next run the Knights would put on the board as Fletcher homered over the left field fence as Klenk Park saw its first home run of the season – and so did Fletcher. The seventh inning was when the Scots began to come on as Aaron Assman (Mt. Pleasant) came in to pinch hit in the eight-spot, dropping a single into right center. A Bobby Jock bunt single moved Assmann to second. A walk issued to Merian loaded the bases and a sac fly by Josh Caswell (Houghton Lake), pinch hitting for Dan Morales, scored Assmann. A ground out by second baseman Ray Foley scored Jock. With two outs, freshman left fielder Mike McAlpin (Mt. Pleasant) ground out to the pitcher to end the game 5-3 in Calvin’s favor.
Alma now makes the return trip to Grand Rapids on Saturday (Mar. 31).
Posted: Thu, March 29th, 2007 at 7:27PM
