Posted: Mar 29, 2024 - LINKA

ANGOLA, Ind. – In the first Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) games of the 2024 season, the Trine University baseball team dropped both games of a doubleheader to Hope College on Friday to fall to 8-11 and 0-2 inside the conference. The Flying Dutch are now 8-10 and 2-0 against league opponents.

GAME ONE RECAP:

A four-run top of the first for Hope put Trine in an early hole to begin game one of the day. After a struggle to get out of the first, starting pitcher Josh Hoogewerf settled in and tossed four straight zero's. The Thunder had a hit in four of the first five innings, but the timeliness of those base knocks was lacking and Trine was shutout in that time.

A two-out double by Hope extended the lead to 5-0, but Trine responded with their lone run of the ballgame in the bottom half of the frame. Wild pitches helped move Joel Walton and Brody Bond into scoring position for Cole Temple to score a runner on a sacrifice fly.

Joseph Closson entered the game from the Thunder bullpen and induced a key double play to get out of the seventh unscathed. He was not as fortunate in the eighth, as Hope plated one run. Two more runs off reliver Evan Shoppell in the ninth got the score to 8-1 and a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth for Trine got to the final result.

Bond and Daniel Rumberger were 1-for-3 each with a walk to reach base twice. Hoogewerf (2-3) fanned four Flying Dutch batters in the loss.

GAME TWO RECAP:

Unlike in game one, Trine took the lead to start game two. Temple drew a walk to start the game and a bunt single by Rumberger put two on for Dalton Nikirk to find a hole for an RBI single. Hope would reply with a run of their own in the bottom half, but the Thunder claimed a 4-1 lead in the second and third innings.

Nathan Gilmet led off the second with a solo homerun to make it 2-1 and a two-run blast by Walton increased the lead. Starting pitcher Will Gimbel got out of a bases loaded jam with a strikeout in the fourth to remain in front. He would also overcome an error in the fifth, but in the sixth the Flying Dutch would draw back to even at 4-4.

Easton Rhodes doubled in the eighth and a sacrifice bunt by Gilmet put him in position to score on a single by Max Hoogeveen. Two runs for Hope in the bottom of the eighth set them up to secure the 6-5 victory.

Nikirk was the only batter with multiple hits in game two, and each of the four pitchers had at least one strikeout. Gimbel left the game in position to get the win on the mound, but the loss was charged to Noah Brettin (1-2).


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