Playing for the third time in four days, the Hope College baseball team called on two pitchers to to make their first starts of the season to open a series against Olivet College.

Freshman Shane Hykin and sophomore Matt VanDyken both delivered quality starts, and with the help of some timely hitting, the Flying Dutchmen continued their hot start with a 7-1 and 9-4 sweep on Thursday at Boeve Stadium.

The Flying Dutchmen raised their record to 13-1 overall and 5-1 in Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association play.

"We get backed up in games and threw Hykin, who did an unbelievable job in Game 1. VanDyken, coming out of the pen in Game 2, struggled in the second but settled in and just gave us a chance to win," head coach Stu Fritz said. "Right now, the beautiful about it, is that our guys know we're going to score, it's just a matter of when. I cannot say enough about these 32 guys. They love each other and love the game. You see it on the field."

In Game 2, Hope scored six times after the sixth inning of the scheduled nine-inning contest.

VanDyken settled in after allowing three runs in the second inning to scatter seven hits and four runs over 6 ⅔ innings. The lefthander did not factor in the decision but struck out six.

Dane Martin, Hope's second of three relievers, picked up the win after getting Hope out a seventh-inning jam. The freshman righthander tossed 1 ⅓ scoreless innings to up his record to 1-0.

The Flying Dutchmen took a 5-4 lead on a two-run Kym single in the bottom of the seventh.

Hope tacked on three more runs in the eighth with a RBI single from catcher Trace Slancik, a two-run single from pinch-hitter Cal Barrett of Chelsea, Michigan (Chelsea) and a run-scoring single from first baseman Andrew Gilpin.

The Flying Dutchmen are scheduled to conclude their season with a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Olivet on Saturday.