by Alan Babbitt

Brant Kym's hitting and Kameron Miller's pitching sparked the Hope College baseball team to a doubleheader sweep at Albion College on Saturday.

The Flying Dutchmen won, 2-0 and 16-7, and raised their record to 3-2 overall. Both games do not count toward the MIAA standings.

In Game 1, Miller and reliever Sean Hoey combined on a two-hit shutout.

Miller, pictured at right, scattered two singles and three walks over six innings of work. The right-hander from Coldwater, Michigan (Coldwater HS) struck out seven. 

Hoey (Holland, Michigan/West Ottawa) struck out two of the five batters he faced, including the final one. He earned his first save of the season 

A two-run second provided the offense. Third baseman Joey Merucci (Northville Township, Michigan/Detroit Catholic Central) came home on a passed ball. Designated hitter Andrew Gilpin then scored when left fielder Kainan Bayn (Zeeland, Michigan/Zeeland East) reached on an error.

In the second game, Hope overwhelmed the Britons with help from its shortstop, Kym, pictured left, who recorded three of his four runs batted in after the Flying Dutchmen trailed 7-3 heading into the fifth inning.

Kym (Libertyville, Illinois/Libertyville) delivered an RBI double during an eight-run fifth that put Hope ahead 11-7. He overcame two fielding errors with a sacrifice fly in both the second and the ninth innings as well as an RBI triple in the sixth.

Hope collected five run-scoring, extra-base hits during the decisive fifth.

After designated hitter Robbie Stuursma (East Grand Rapids, Michigan/East Grand Rapids, scored on a fielder's choice, catcher Cal Barrett (Chelsea, Michigan/Chelsea) followed with a two-run double. 

Merucci knocked in Kym with a triple and scored on Bayn's double. First baseman Ted Eppinga (Saline, Michigan/Saline) closed the inning with a two-run homer.

Pitchers Jake Van Dam (Cranford, N.J./Cranford) and Reece Crabtree (Reynoldsburg, Ohio) combined to fire four scoreless innings in relief of winning pitcher Al Vasquez (Chelsea, Michigan/Chelsea).

Van Dam struck out five and yielded three hits over 3 ⅓ innings. Crabtree struck out the final two batters of the game. 

Hope returns to action with a doubleheader against Calvin University on Friday, March 19 in Westfield, Indiana.