ANGOLA, Ind. –
Cole Schmidthuber singled through the left side to drive in the game winning run in the bottom of the ninth in game two of this afternoon's MIAA double header against Hope College. The win snapped a seven game slide for the hosts who are now 7-12, the Flying Dutch are 6-15 after the split. Both teams are 1-1 in MIAA play.
Game one went to Hope, the Dutch took a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth on a pair of sacrifice flies.
Joel Walton scored in the bottom of the fourth on a passed ball and Schmidthuber scored on a throwing error in the fifth to level the score. Hope answered in the sixth with an RBI single to take a 3-2 lead and the win.
Schmidthuber belted out three hits in game two. His last two gave Trine the lead. Hope struck first in the third with an RBI single. Trine responded with four runs of their own in the bottom half. With two outs,
Preston Henschen reached on an error by the shortstop that scored
Nathan Gilmet and Walton. The next at bat saw
Cole Temple step up to the plate and launch a two run jack over the left field fence. Trine led 4-1. The score would hold until the sixth. Hope scored on an RBI single and then tied it with two more in the seventh. The Dutch threatened again in the eighth, but
Cole Temple and Walton turned a double play to retire the side.
In the bottom of the eighth
Justin Hamberg earned a walk and
Noah Prewitt pinch ran and advanced to third. Schmidthuber singled to left field to score the go ahead run, the Thunder led 5-4. Another RBI single allowed Hope to tie the game once again heading to the bottom of the ninth. The Trine offense showed up when it mattered most, Gilmet earned a walk and Henschen advanced pinch runner
Tyler Wise with a single. Prewitt laid down a sac bunt to put both men in scoring position. Hope chose to intentionally walk
Dane Dubois to create a force out at each bag. There was no threat of a force out as Schmidthuber's third, and final hit of the night ran past the shortstop and into shallow left field allowing Wise to score easily and give Trine the 6-5 win.
The teams will meet tomorrow in Holland, Mich. for a single game at 4:00 p.m.