Leftfielder Ryan Konkle and the Hope College baseball team opened the 2016 season on a winning note Friday with a 5-2 victory at Franklin, Indiana.

Konkle, the senior from Marshall, Michigan (Marshall HS), drove in a team-high two runs for the Flying Dutchmen.

Three Hope pitchers combined to scatter eight hits and one earned run over nine innings.

The two teams play again on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at noon.

Winning pitcher Jake Chipka started and yielded five hits and two runs over 5 1/3 innings. The senior from Waterville, Ohio (Anthony Wayne HS) struck out three and walked one.

Relievers Eric Plaehn and Matt Glowacki blanked Franklin the rest of the way.

Plaehn went 2 2/3 innings. The junior from Lansing, Michigan (Lansing Catholic Central HS) struck out two.

Glowacki tossed a 1-2-3 ninth for the save. The senior from Goodrich, Michigan (Goodrich HS) fanned two.

Konkle put Hope ahead 1-0 on the third on a RBI groundout that plated rightfielder JP Batts of Spring Lake, Michigan (Spring Lake HS) after Batts tripled and extended the lead to 2-0 with a single that scored shortstop Brady VanderWeele of Kalamazoo, Michigan (Parchment HS) from third.

Hope went up 4-0 with a two-run sixth.  A one-out single from pinch-hitter Nicholas Holt of Muskegon, Michigan (Muskegon Catholic Central HS) knocked home third baseman Nicholas Lepore of Clinton Township, Michigan (Warren DeLaSalle HS).

VanderWeele followed with a groundout that brought in catcher Nick Glowacki of Goodrich, Michigan (Goodrich HS). 

VanderWeele, Batts and designated hitter Luke Brower of Holland, Michigan (Holland Christian HS) each collected two hits.