Baseball Splits Conference Opener  (4/6/05)
The Trolls played in their first home games of the season and in their first conference games as they hosted Purdue University-North Central in a double header. The Trolls took charge of the first game, winning 8-2. One inning of the second game did the Trolls in and caused a 17-5 defeat. The team is now 9-9 for the season and 1-1 in the conference. 

The Trolls got things going in the 2nd inning of the first game when Adam McIntyre led off with a double. That resulted in the first run of the game when Joel DeRuiter singled to bring him home. Andrew Van Byssum blasted a triple to start off the 3rd inning for one more run. The Trolls picked up two more runs in the 4th inning to make the score 4-0. Purdue-North Central prevented the shut out in the 5th inning as they had a couple of hits for 2 runs. In the 6th inning the Trolls put runners on base as DeRuiter and Dan Herder both singled. With two outs the Trolls then took a couple of walks to score one run and load the bases. Kale Hoyt brought all three of those runners across the plate with long ball triple. The inning ended on the next batter with the score at 8-2. It stayed there as the Panthers were 3 up and 3 down in their final at bat. 

If the Trolls could erase one inning in the second game, the outcome would be much different. The team gave up 2 runs in the first inning and one in the 4th inning before they got on the board. At that point they were able to put together some hits and not only get on the score board, but take the lead with 2 runs in the 4th and 3 in the 5th. That all fell apart in the 6th inning as Purdue-North Central went completely through their batting order twice for 11 hits and 14 runs in the top of the inning. The Trolls needed to score at least 3 runs in the bottom of the inning to keep the game alive. They had the opportunity as they loaded the bases, but ended up stranding those runners. 

The team will play next on Friday, April 8, at Judson College in a double header at 4:00 pm. (Please note this is a location and time change from the original schedule.) 
 

back to athletics