On Friday afternoon, the Alma College Baseball team traveled to Holland to take on Hope College in a MIAA doubleheader. The Scots broke an eight-game losing streak when they won game one 8-4, but the Flying Dutchmen came back to win the nightcap 4-3.

With the split, Alma is 6-16 in the league and 15-19 in 2015, while Hope is now 12-10 in the MIAA and 19-14 overall this season.

Game One: Alma 8, Hope 4

After a scoreless first inning, the Scots came up with a run in the top of the second frame, when Sr. 1B Blake Leddy (Saginaw/Swan Valley) scored Jr. 3B Dayne San Miguel (Wheeler/Breckenridge) with a sacrifice fly.

Hope responded with two runs off of Alma Jr. P Colin Nash (Brighton/Brighton) in the bottom of the second inning for a 2-1 lead. However, in this game, Alma had their hitting shoes on and scored runs in each of the next three innings to take a 6-2 advantage.

Jr. C Doug Walters (Brighton/Brighton) knocked in a run with a double in the third, while Leddy homered in the fourth. The big blow in the fifth came from Sr. LF Juan Dominguez (New York, NY/Blue Ridge), who doubled to right field.

Hope responded with two runs and four hits off of Nash in the bottom of the sixth, but Sr. P Eric Strickler (Lapeer/Lapeer East) came on in relief and squashed the rally with the Scots leading 6-4.

Alma added two unearned runs in the top of the seventh to increase the gap to 8-4 as So. 3B Adam Thoryk (Phoenix, NY/John C. Birdlebaugh) singled and Dominguez was hit by a pitch to start the offensive surge.

Strickler then closed out the game with a perfect seventh frame to earn the save and preserve the four-run road victory in game one. Nash got the win to improve to 3-4 on the season by going 5.1 innings with eight hits allowed. He gave up four earned runs and had three walks to go with three strikeouts.

Game Two: Hope 4, Alma 3

The nightcap was an entertaining affair that went back and forth all the way to the end. Three times Alma scored a run in the top of the inning, only to have the Flying Dutchmen respond with a run of their own in the bottom of that same inning.

Another scoreless first inning was then followed by Alma scoring a run in the top of the second. Cruz doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Leddy. The Flying Dutchmen responded with a tally in the bottom of the frame as they knotted it a 1-1 on a passed ball of a pitch thrown by starting Alma Jr. P Matt Launstein (Flushing/Flushing).

In their half of the third, the Scots went up 2-1 as Walters singled to knock in So. SS Alex Peczynski (Farmington Hills/Detroit Catholic Central). Hope responded to tie the game at 2-2 on a sacrifice fly that followed a lead off single.

The fifth frame saw Walters again come through in the clutch. This time, his sacrifice fly again scored Peczynski and the visitors had a 3-2 advantage. However, the Flying Dutchmen again responded and tied at three all on a single, stolen base and another single.

Alma would not score again and the Flying Dutchmen came up to bat in the bottom of the seventh with a chance to win the game and earn the split. Facing Strickler, Hope was helped by three Scots errors and eventually won the contest on an unearned running, escaping with the 4-3 victory.

Launstein threw five innings and allowed six hits, two earned runs to go with four walks and three strikeouts. Strickler took the loss after going the last 1.2 innings and giving up two hits to go with three strikeouts and the unearned tally. Offensively, Peczynkski finished three for three with two runs scored.