GRINNELL, Iowa – The Grinnell College baseball team won a pair of key Midwest Conference South Division games Sunday at Pioneer Park, topping Knox College 5-3 and 14-1.
 
In the opener, Ross Voelker '15 and Yuki Kawahara '15, each starting for the first time this season, came up huge at the plate. Voelker had a hit and three RBIs, while Kawahara had two hits. Ryan Penaflor '15 also had two hits for the winners, who improved to 6-4 in the division and 13-15 overall.
 
Graham Fisher '16 earned the pitching win, firing five-hit ball and striking out eight in eight innings. John Essig '16 worked a hitless ninth inning and fanned one to get the save.
 
Grinnell grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when Voelker knocked in a run. Knox tied the game in the third and took a 2-1 lead in the fourth.
 
However, the Pioneers erupted for three runs in the sixth, two coming on Voelker's RBI single to center and another on Anthony Mack's '16 sacrifice fly to right.
 
After Knox closed within 4-3 in the eighth, Grinnell answered with a run in the bottom of the inning on another sacrifice fly to right by Mack.
 
Sam Tinkham '16 fired a two-hitter in the second game and struck out seven while earning the win. The Pioneers had 11 hits on the day, with Mack, Fisher and Michael Slattery '18 coming up with two each. Mack also knocked in two runs.
 
After Knox scored in the top of the first, the Pioneers tallied two runs in the bottom of the frame with bases-loaded walks by Matt Godinsky '16 and Kawahara.

Grinnell scored three runs in the second on an RBI double to left by Fisher and two-run double to center by Matt Hammond '17.
 
The Pioneers tallied five runs in the third for a 10-1 lead. Fisher had a two-run homer to left, Mack tripled to right to score two more runs and Slattery had an RBI single to center.
 
The Pioneers added another run in the fifth on Sam Galanek's '18 RBI single to center. Mack's three-run homer in the sixth completed the scoring.
 
The same two teams play a doubleheader Monday in Galesburg, Ill.