KENTWOOD, Mich. - Grace College's baseball team picked up its third win of the weekend after splitting with Grace Christian on Saturday afternoon.

The Lancers (3-1) used a dazzling pitching performance from Joey Diaz in Saturday's opener to fuel them to a 3-0 shutout victory before dropping a tightly contested contest 8-7 in game two.

The first inning passed without incident in the opener before Grace scored the first runs of the game in the top of the second frame.

Jose Ayala and Ian Wilson each singled their way onto base to start the inning then Gabriel Maldonado bunted for a hit to load the bases with nobody out.

The Tigers (5-4) record back-to-back outs and were on the verge of escaping the inning but Noah Dininger and Matt Friesema were each hit by a pitch which forced a runner home, picking up an RBI for both players and edging Grace ahead 2-0.

In the third inning Cayden Calloway had a lead off double and Ayala and Stogsdill also reached to load the bases with two outs but Grace was unable to produce a run as they maintained their lead.

In the midst of a dominant stretch from Diaz in which he retired 12 consecutive batters including four by way of strikeout, the Lancers added to their lead.

In the sixth inning Darl Gustin had a one single and eventually came around to score after hits Dininger and Frieseman the later of which brought him in.

With two outs in the seventh Grace Christian brought the tying run to the plate but Diaz closed the door to secure the shut victory.

Diaz allowed just three hits on the game while striking out six. Calloway and Ayala each had two hits.

In the second game of the day the runs came early and often.

Mayo Fernandez had a single in the top of the first inning and Calloway blasted a two-run shot to give the Lancers an early lead.

Grace would not enjoy the lead for long however as the Tigers responded with three runs of their own in the home half of the inning.

Both teams went down in order in the second frame and in the third inning the lancers struck with a case of Déjà vu.

Fernandez got on board with a two out double which set the plate for Calloway to hit his second two-run bomb in as many at bats to push Grace ahead 4-3.

The middle innings passed quietly as Grace carried their one run lead into the bottom of the fifth frame where Grace Christian added two more to their total to recapture the lead at 5-4.

In the sixth inning Grace answered back when Stogsdill had a two-RBI double that scored Ayala and Mason Wire to once again give the Lancers the lead.

The back and forth affair continued into the bottom of the inning as the Tigers added three runs to pull ahead 8-6 heading into the final frame of the seven inning game.

In the top of the seventh Frieseman Calloway and Ayala all worked their way on board with walks to load the bases with two outs. Wire was hit by a pitch to pull Grace to within a run, but the Tigers were able to record the final out of the frame to hand Grace their first blemish of the season.