The Hope College baseball team remained patient against an opponent's ace until opportunities to strike came late.

The Flying Dutchmen made the most of their scoring chances.

Hope won 5-4 at Alma Wednesday in the 2016 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament opener after scoring five times after the sixth inning.

The Flying Dutchmen (23-17) advanced to Thursday's noon second-round game against fourth-seeded Kalamazoo at Adrian's Nicolay Field. The remainder of the double-elimination tournament will be there.

The Hope-Kalamazoo winner moves into the championship round. Kalamazoo edged top-seeded Alma 2-1 in Wednesday's other tournament game.

Hope coach Stu Fritz was proud of his team's resiliency on the road.

"I tip my hat to our guys. Their pitcher was dealing early," Fritz said. "We stayed the course and trusted what we do. We were able to come back and get some runs. Good stuff."

The Flying Dutchmen chased Alma's Alex Valasek five batters into the eighth inning. Alma relieved Valasek after Hope snapped a 3-3 tie with back-to-back RBI singles from leftfielder Ryan Konkle of Marshall, Michigan (Marshall HS) and designated hitter Luke Brower of Holland, Michigan (Holland Christian HS).

In the seventh, Hope tied the score with a rally that featured two walks, one hit and two Alma errors. Luke Brower drove home the first run with a single. Catcher Nick Glowacki of Goodrich, Michigan (Goodrich HS) capped it with a sacrifice fly.

Winning pitcher Jake Chipka of Waterville, Ohio (Anthony Wayne HS) scattered 10 hits and four runs over seven innings. He pitched to one batter in the eight. 

Reliever Eric Plaehn of Lansing, Michigan (Lansing Catholic Central HS) struck out six of the seven batters he faced for his first save of the season.