Baseball team splits twinbill with Calvin

The Olivet College baseball team split a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) doubleheader with Calvin College this afternoon. Olivet won the first game, 7-2, and lost the nightcap, 4-1. For the second consecutive weekend, the Fighting Comets (13-16, 5-4 MIAA) have won two of three games in a MIAA series.

In the first game, Olivet scored three runs in the first inning and held on for the victory. Freshman Chris Shelhart (Rolling Meadows, Ill./St. Viator) hit a single to plate two runs. The Knights battled back with two runs in the third inning. The Comets closed the scoring with a run in the fifth and three more in the sixth.

Olivet rapped 11 hits in the game, including three each by Shelhart and junior Chris Stambek (Decatur High School). Seniors Joe Richards (Galesburg Augusta High School) and Ricky Strain (Livonia Churchill High School) scored two runs apiece. On the mound, senior Josh Kellogg (Morley Stanwood High School) pitched seven innings, scattering six hits. He allowed two earned runs while striking out four.

After five scoreless innings in the nightcap, Calvin (8-17, 2-6 MIAA) pushed four runs across the plate in the sixth inning. Sophomore Jason Rooley (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario/Korah) broke up the shutout with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning to score junior Brian Grappin (Flushing High School), who led off the inning with a double to the left centerfield fence.

Grappin ended the game with two hits. Freshman Nick McIntosh (Petoskey High School) also had two hits. Kellogg started the game on the mound and tossed three innings. In relief, freshman Zach Langford (Marshall High School) was tagged with the loss after pitching three innings. He gave up seven hits and four earned runs.

Olivet will next play a single nine-inning game at Defiance (Ohio) College on Tuesday, April 20 at 4 p.m.