SOUTH HAVEN — The Bob Turner era began Saturday afternoon with the Dowagiac baseball team splitting a pair of games at the South Haven Invitational.

The Chieftains defeated Gobles 2-1, but were beaten by the host Rams 13-4.

South Haven defeated Gobles as well, 4-1.

Cal Cox picked up the victory for Dowagiac (1-1) in the opening game as he went the distance. He struck out 12, allowed four hits and gave up six walks.

The Chieftains finished with four hits, including a double by Matt Smith and a two-run single in the fifth inning from Ryne Lindsey.

In the championship game, South Haven’s Chris Davis went seven innings, allowing four runs on eight hits with nine strikeouts and two walks.

Ryne Willming took the loss with relief help from Nate Lindsey. The two combined to allow 13 runs on 12 hits.

Smith had a double and two RBIs in the championship game, while Brett Scanlon had two hits and two RBIs. Todd McIntyre finished with two hits.

Dowagiac committed just two errors on the day, something that stood out to Turner.

“I think at one point we had a freshmen, two sophomores and a junior on the infield and to commit just two errors on the day was good,” he said. “We didn’t boot the ball all over the place and we didn’t give up. We are learning from what mistakes we made and we are building confidence.

“Obviously Cal pitched phenomenal,” Turner said. “We had guys coming through all the way through the line-up.”

Dowagiac will travel to Decatur today to face the Raiders at 4 p.m.

South Haven Invitational

First game

Dowagiac 000 020 0 – 2 4 0

Gobles 000 001 0 – 1 4 4

Cal Cox (W, 1-0) and Brett Scanlon; Hayward (L) and Rigney

2B: Matt Smith (D) Johnson (G), Rock (G)

Championship game

South Haven 220 530 1 – 13 12 0

Dowagiac 003 010 0 – 4 8 2

Chris Davis (W, 1-0) and Strickland; Ryne Willming (L, 0-1), Nate Lindsey (5) and Brett Scanlon

2B: Plochocki (SH), Strickland (SH), Dorow (SH) 2, Bean (SH), Davis (SH), Canonie (SH), Matt Smith (D)

HR: Bean (SH)

Varsity records

South Haven 2-0, Dowagiac 1-1, Gobles 0-2