DAVENPORT, Fla. — Keystone College split a doubleheader with Calvin University on Tuesday, rolling to a decisive win in the opener before falling in a late-inning rally in the second game.
Keystone erupted for five runs in the first inning and never looked back in a 14–4 victory, but in their second match-up, Calvin scored twice in the bottom of the seventh to walk off with a 4–3 win.
Game 1 — Keystone 14, Calvin 4
Keystone broke the game open immediately with a five-run first inning after Calvin scored an unearned run in the top half.
Back-to-back hits from Dee Rice (Spartanburg, S.C.) and Dante Ruby (Archbald, Pa.) set the table before Emilio Portes (Miami, Fla./Monsignor Pace) dropped down a bunt single to load the bases. Carlos Pascual (Paterson, N.J.) followed with a two-run double down the left-field line to give Keystone the lead.
Cooper Fesh (Bethel, Conn.) added an RBI single, Colson Bennett (Camden, Del.) lifted a sacrifice fly, and Dillion Bird (Westlake, La.) capped the inning with an RBI single as Keystone jumped ahead 5–1.
Keystone kept adding on throughout the game. Bennett drove in another run with a single in the second, and Teegan Monroney (Camden, Del.) launched a solo home run to left-center in the third to make it 7–1.
Calvin trimmed the deficit to 7–4 in the sixth on Sam Hungerford's two-run homer and an RBI single from Luke Gallagher, but Keystone answered with a decisive seven-run bottom half.
Bird delivered a two-run ground-rule double in the inning, Ruby added a two-run ground-rule double of his own, and the Giants drew multiple bases-loaded walks to break the game open.
Ruby finished with two hits and four RBIs, while Bird drove in three runs. Pascual added two RBIs and Bennett finished with two RBIs for Keystone.
Game 2 — Calvin 4, Keystone 3
The second game was a tightly played pitcher's duel before Calvin rallied late.
Calvin struck first in the opening inning when Hunter Scholma drove in a run on a fielder's choice.
Keystone tied the game in the fourth. Ruby singled and eventually scored when Portes reached on a throwing error by the third baseman.
Calvin regained the lead in the fifth on Scholma's RBI single, but Keystone responded in the sixth.
After Pascual walked and Benny Hess (Reading, Ohio) singled, Pascual scored on a wild pitch to tie the game. Later in the inning, Bennett doubled to left and advanced to third on an error, allowing Erick Castro (Northampton, Pa.) to score and give Keystone a 3–2 lead.
Calvin answered in the bottom of the seventh. After a walk and two wild pitches moved the tying run to third, Scholma brought him home with a fielder's choice. With the bases loaded later in the inning, Josh Winkle lined a single up the middle to score the winning run.
Keystone collected four hits in the loss, including singles from Ruby, Hess and Ethan Schimony (State College, Pa.), along with Bennett's RBI double.
The split left Keystone with one win on the day despite a commanding 17 runs across the doubleheader.
