BASEBALL PICKS UP A COUPLE OF WINS IN FLORIDA   (4/3/04)

The baseball team spent their spring break week playing games in Florida. Overall the team played 7 games for the week and came away with a 2-5 record. The first outings were double headers with Northwood University and Palm Beach Atlantic University. The final 3 games were single games in the Clearwater Invitational. Including the Florida games the team is now 4-9 for the season.

The first double header was at Northwood University (West Palm Beach, FL). The Trolls lost the first game 2-10. They were tied 1-1 in the 4th inning of the second game before Northwood scored 3 runs in the 5th and one in the 6th to take the lead. The Trolls picked up one more in the 7th, but not enough for the 2-5 loss. The Trolls took on Palm Beach Atlantic University (West Palm Beach, FL) next and cranked out 10 hits for 10 runs to grab the 10-4 win. In the second game of that outing the Trolls gave up 6 runs in the first 2 innings and never recovered for the 0-8 loss. 

The Clearwater Invitational pitted them against Thomas University (ME) in the first day. The Trolls jumped to a 3-1 lead after the 1st inning. By the end of the 6th the score was tied 4-4. That tie held through regular play and forced extra innings. Darren DeBoer opened the 10th inning with a triple to get things going. Hits by Joel DeRuiter, Dan Herder, and Luke Post keep things going and brought in 4 more runs. The Trolls held Thomas in the bottom of the inning for the 8-4 win. They did not fair as well in the next two days of the Invite as they faced Williams College (MA) both of those days. In each of those games the Trolls gave away some big innings to lose 2-14 and 4-20. 

For the week the Trolls had a fielding percentage of 92.1%. They struggled to get the bats going as had only a .176 batting average. DeRuiter was .278 for the week with 5 hits and Herder was .240 with 6 hits. Herder also got both of the wins on the mound in 8 innings pitched. 

The team will be in action at home on April 6 against Olivet Nazarene University at 3:00 pm. 
 

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