ANGOLA, Ind. – Following yesterday's rain out, the Trine University baseball team opened up Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) play at home versus Olivet College in Sunday's doubleheader. The Thunder were victorious in both games, with Trine pitching dominating the competition.
The Thunder tallied a shutout win in game one 5-0 over the Comets and secured a 7-3 victory to complete the sweep of the day. Both starting pitchers went deep into the ballgame to help preserve the bullpen for the next two days of conference action.
Trine is now 11-9 overall and 2-0 in MIAA play. Olivet falls to 2-14 this season with an 0-2 mark inside the league. The teams will conclude their three-game series on Monday, April 3 at Olivet. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m.
GAME ONE RECAP:
The Thunder put themselves ahead in the bottom of the first inning by plating two runs. Matthew Martin reached on an error and Tyler Beyke and Adam Stefanelli followed that up with a pair of infield singles to load the bases. A double play resulted in one run and Dalton Nikirk came through with a two-out single the other way to make it two runs in the frame.
After a 1-2-3 first inning on the bump, Josh Hoogewerf settled in and retired a majority of the hitters he faced. He worked around some traffic in the second and fourth innings, including a pickoff play by Matt Weis from behind the plate.
Robert Kortas led off the bottom of the fourth with a single and Easton Rhodes pushed him to second with a sacrifice bunt. A wild pitch and groundball on the infield resulted in a run to put the home squad up 3-0.
Hoogewerf continued to deal through the middle innings of the game and made it all the way through seven innings thanks to an inning-ending double play. The junior right-hander (3-1) allowed four hits and one walk through seven shutout innings and struck out five in total.
The bottom of the seventh and eighth innings saw the Thunder give their pitching staff extra run support. A fielding error allowed one run to cross the plate for Trine in the seventh while a sacrifice fly off the bat of Rhodes got the team to the final score of 5-0.
Left-handed relief pitcher Cole Decker tossed the final two innings of game one and retired one on strikes while allowing two hits and zero runs.
GAME TWO RECAP:
Unlike in the first game of the series, Olivet was able to score in the top of the first thanks to a single and RBI double. The lead was short-lived, however, as Stefanelli drove in Daniel Rumberger with a single to right field after Rumberger led off the inning with a double. Another run would score later in the inning with the help of an error by the Comets.
On the mound, Cam Nagel settled in after surrendering a run in the first. The junior right-hander would toss 5.1 innings of no-hit baseball from one out in the first until two outs in the sixth. He would retire Olivet hitters in order in the second, fourth and fifth innings to keep his pitch count low.
Trine combined for five runs over the course of the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to put the team ahead 7-1. Designated hitter Avery Fulford had a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth and Nikirk scored later in the frame via a wild pitch. A bases loaded walk drawn by Nikirk in the sixth and another wild pitch allowed two more runs to cross the plate in the sixth and in the seventh, Martin ripped a double right down the left field line to score Rumberger to get ahead 7-1.
A leadoff single and inside-the-park homerun where the ball got stuck in the muddy outfield chased Nagel (3-2) from the game to chase him from the contest after an incredible seven innings of work. He allowed just three runs on five hits and sat down five Comet hitters on strikes before southpaw Jack Villarreal took the mound.
After entering mid-inning, the freshman Villarreal worked around a walk and an error to complete the game without allowing a hit or run. Four of his six outs in the game were punchouts.
