By Mark DeHaan

Hosting an MIAA Tournament game for the first time in the two-year history of the tournament, the Knights baseball team welcomed rival Hope College to Calvin field for a the first-round, nine-inning contest.

Despite falling to the Flying Dutchmen in all four of their regular season match-ups, it was the Knights who earned a win on Wednesday, defeating Hope 5-2 behind a complete game pitching performance from senior Cory Laster (Ludington/Ludington HS).

Calvin will now face top-seeded Adrian in a winner's bracket final on Thursday at noon at Adrian's Nicolay Field. Adrian defeated Kalamazoo 17-1 in Wednesday's other first round game.

In Wednesday's game with Hope, the Flying Dutchmen got the scoring going early as a RBI single by senior Josh Kranz in the top of the first gave the visitors a 1-0 lead.

The Knights responded in the bottom of the second. With the bases loaded, senior Kyle Spoelma (Grand Rapids/South Christian HS) hit a double into right field which scored junior Peter Cupery (Holland/Holland Christian HS) and sophomore Jalen Bouma (Ann Arbor/Ann Arbor Huron HS) as Calvin gained a 2-1 advantage.

The Knights added an insurance run in the bottom of the fourth as Cupery scored on a wild pitch.
In the bottom of the fifth, Cupery was on the giving end of another run as he hit a soft line drive over the head of the third baseman that brought junior Ben Wohl (Canton/Plymouth HS) in to score, putting the Calvin lead at 4-1.

Wohl scored again in the sixth, coming across home plate due to an error by the Hope defense.

The Flying Dutchmen got a run back in the eighth as senior Tim Bodine doubled and later scored on an error, but Laster sat Hope down 1-2-3 in the ninth to earn the complete game and a 5-2 victory for the Knights.

Cupery went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI while Bouma was 3-for-4 with one run scored. Wohl went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. On the hill, Laster pitched 9.0 innings, scattering five hits and allowing just one earned run, upping his season record to 7-2.

For Hope, Currey Thomas pitched 8.0 innings, giving up 10 hits and allowing four earned runs. Offensively, Bodine was 2-for-4 with one run scored.

"Cory threw really well, weathered the first two innings, then settled in. I thought we hit the ball really well today, so I was really pleased with our approach at the plate," said head coach John Sparks.

"We've gradually gotten better throughout the year, and we've played our best baseball the last couple weeks, and it's nice to see that carry over into the tournament."