HOLLAND, Mich. – The Trine University Baseball team took game three of their opening MIAA series against Hope 12-7 on Saturday afternoon. Trine claimed the series 2-1 with the win. The Thunder are now 8-12 while Hope goes to 6-15.
 
Will Gimbel got the win on the mound, allowing four earned runs in six innings. All nine starting batters recorded a hit with Nathan Gilmet and Cole Temple each notching three hits. Gilmet had 4 RBIs and two extra base hits. Joel Walton had 3 RBIs, two courtesy of a first inning homer.
 
Walton's dinger gave Trine a 2-0 lead, Temple made it 3-0 with a single down the right field line to score Gilmet. Trine kept their foot on the gas in the second with three RBI singles, William Taczak scored Cole Schmidthuber who had advanced to third on error. Luke Burford stole second and Joel Walton scored him on a single to center. A fielder's choice allowed Taczak to score and Temple added the final run of the second with a single that scored Gilmet.
 
Hope answered in the bottom half with an RBI double, Trine added another in the top of the third with a sacrifice fly to lead 8-1. The Thunder turned a double play in the bottom half to keep the hosts off the board. Gilmet led off the fourth with a solo shot. Hope crept closer in the fourth with two runs to make it a 9-3 ball game. Each team added a run in the fifth and neither scored in the sixth. Hope scored three in the seventh to make it a three run. Gilmet added a triple in the ninth to add two insurance runs from Walton and Schmidthuber. Evan Shoppell struck out two to slam the door in the bottom of the ninth for the win.
 
Trine heads to Adrian on Wednesday for game one of their midweek series against the Bulldogs. First pitch is set for 4:00 p.m.